Battery life and rejuvenation

Thanks! Will have plenty of time to do more work on Prius while rebuilding battery/reconditioning! Thinking about getting the ProLong kit, my wife drives 2013 Prius C and son just got a 2012 Prius. Thinking that the they have a 3rd gen charger that will work with all 3, just will have to get 2 extra harnesses. Thanks for the tip about the EGR system!

 

Believe it or not I did it with 7 hobby chargers instead.. for most I'd recommend just doing with the grid charger as it'll dramatically save time.

 

Am fairly certain that there are at least a couple bad cells, #10 looks almost flat lined using Dr Prius and using the Hybrid Reporter app that works with Hybrid Assistant it consistently is the weakest and again looks close to flat lined. But want to test and work carefully with each cell at this point and try to balance it out as well as possible, plus like the idea of putting outer cells towards middle of pack, seems like it would be a good idea to balance and move them around every couple years while using the Prolong to balance once a month for 1st six months then maybe once every 2 months depending on what results are looking like. I'm planning on 4 to 7 days process, have a lot to do at home anyway. Can't remember where I saw an idea to set up spare phone, for kiln watching!, with baby sitting app so you can constantly check in with what's going on no matter where you are. But not planning on being away from property while process is underway.

 

After having my Prius sit for several days thought I'd take a reading the results of which surprised me. The normally lower middle packs were higher including #10 and #6 which have been looking awful. This makes me think that just having it sit allows the packs to become balanced out more.
But I'm proceeding just because it's an 8 year old vehicle with a hundred and eighty thousand miles on it. Besides my curious nature makes me want to investigate it as well as clean everything up.

 

I would check with Hybrid Automotive before assuming the same charger would work on the Prius & Prius c. I believe the pack is a lower voltage on the Prius c.

 

The Prius c has a smaller pack. 20 modules versus 28.

 

All contacts have corrosion, some worse than others. The 3 worst corroded copper pieces also show signs of heat stress, am glad I'm taking the time to clean it all up and check each module. Did also notice that nuts on modules were not consistently torgued, one was actually loose- the worse corroded one with most heat stress.
Can't seem to upload pics right now.

 

Helps to be logged in.

 

Yep, EGR was blocked by about 1/5th with plenty of carbon. took about 15 minutes to remove, a couple hours soaking in fuel injector cleaner then took a copper brillo pad, (copper is a bit softer,) cut it to fit in and spun it with my Ryobi, finished with a little wire hobby cleaning brush on surface. Thanks again for the tip, also ,made me check on my 1998 Chevy Van which has been having problems at low idle speed - will be cleaning that egr later this weekend.

 

Saw on e-bay a charger that is claimed to be applicable for 2013 Prius C, very cheap price, anybody have experience with this? 110V/220V Switchable 140W 120AH Intelligent Pulse Car SUV Battery Charger Repair 110V/220V Switchable 140W 120AH Intelligent Pulse Car SUV Battery Charger Repair | eBay

 

Other than RC hobby chargers that charge individual modules, I do not recall anybody successfully using any grid charger other than the Prolong one.

That charger is for 12 volt or 24 volt lead-acid batteries. It may work for your auxiliary battery but that is not what you want.

 

yep, thanks, reread the specs which state lead acid battery. Been using RC charger on the weaker, problem batteries, reconditioned 8 of them, they all now seem stronger than the replacement modules I got off the internet...they hold charge under load 2 to 4 times as long. But am trying reconditioning one of the 4 replacements I bought to see if it improves it much. Just juggling before putting it back together. I've seen a couple videos where the pack is made into one big 7,2 volt parallel pack and charged to uniformity that way using an RC charger at a amp charge. Anybody try that here or have knowledge about it? Thanks again for great feedback and info... been close to buying Prolong charger, just not enough dough right now.

 

I think @TMR-JWAP uses multiple chargers.