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Working on the hybrid battery and we have some questions.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Spiritedfolf, Nov 3, 2021.

  1. Spiritedfolf

    Spiritedfolf New Member

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    We've been researching how to recondition and replace cells. According to the seller of some new cells, replacing old cells with brand new ones would cause the battery to be unbalanced. So our question is, should we buy used cells to avoid capacity issues? If so, where would be the best place to acquire used cells? Is there a seller that is more reputable/doesn't send out bad cells?
     
  2. nancytheprius

    nancytheprius Active Member

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    check out ebay, it is probably your best bet. Then obviously look at seller ratings and reviews
     
  3. alftoy

    alftoy Senior Member

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  4. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Welcome to PriusChat!!

    Here are a couple of members that sell modules and offer advice : @ericbecky and @TMR-JWAP - both have phone #'s in their profile.

    FYI : you're moderated until you've posted 5 times.
     
  5. 2010moneypit?

    2010moneypit? Active Member

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    It is my understanding for best results you must balance the pack once you put in new cells or used cells which ever way you go. You want to voltages as closest possible. The only way that I know how to do that is with a grid charger such as prolong. I have heard of people building their own but I’d be worried about overheating the battery. The idea is to charge at a very low rate for a long time. Some cells will charge faster get to their max capacity and give the extra charge off as heat. While the other ones to catch up
     
  6. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    The LeBron James explanation.....

    Inconsistent Hybrid battery readings | PriusChat

    If you've already done some testing to determine capacities of your modules, it would be very easy to provide you with modules that match your average. If you're desiring to do just a swap of the failed module(s) with no other work, and all you have is year, mileage and climate, it's a bit more of a guess, but can still be very successful. The majority of the modules I sell are matched to a buyer via the second method. I have several hundred that have been tested and documented with their capacity. A thousand more waiting to be tested.
     
  7. Spiritedfolf

    Spiritedfolf New Member

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    Thank you! All is well after cycles and replacement of modules and balancing.
     
  8. nancytheprius

    nancytheprius Active Member

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    Where did you end up getting your cells from? any useful tips from the overall process?
     
  9. Gino Veltri

    Gino Veltri Member

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    Im confused, so many places here say not to discharge below 6 volts per modules. But then i see some other people discharging eventually down to 3 volts. How can this be right? Is that 3 volts per cell?
    I also have 3 different hobby chargers, the cheap imax knockoff is garbage, but this dual port one has preset discharge voltages such that S6 is 4.8 volts. Am i damaging my modules going this low? Its actually produced some good maH numbers but im super confused by this.

    If i want to discharge to 6 volts its listed as S8, but i know there are only 6 cells in each module to Im afraid to use that setting.
    Also what should my capacity cutoff be? Im going with 6.5 just because thats the factory spec for a brand new battery. In theory this shouldnt matter because my modules are older than dirt, right? Theyll never reach close to 6.5 Ah again, correct?
     
  10. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Already asked and answered here and here.
     
  11. Gino Veltri

    Gino Veltri Member

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    Yea, noted. Now I don’t know where to reply.
     
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