Just picked up a cherry 2001, have a question

That's what I have. Lots of money for it, but it apparently extends and improves the hv battery by a lot. I've reconditioned my battery twice, still need to do the third round. On a small sample, my mileage has gone from 37 or so to about 45. l have kind of a lead foot, tho.

Not exactly a difficult installation, but installing the wiring does require pulling the back seat out and a bunch of carpeting and fasteners to get the top off the battery. Once it's done tho, it is simple to use, you only have to connect the wiring harness to the grid charger and plug the charger in to house current. Then after it's charged up to around 320v, you use the very third worldly discharger to get the voltage down to specified levels, then repeat the process twice more. I plan to do the 3 cycle process two or three times a year as maintenance.

I can't say I'm too impressed with the discharger portion of this thing. It works, but it's basically two light bulb sockets mounted on a piece of 2 x 4 with a digital multimeter to read the DC volt level. Easy to over discharge the battery, using the two 200w bulbs suggested. Final cycle takes the battery down to .5v per element, 19v or so for the complete battery, I'm going to use a couple of 60w oven bulbs. Hybrid Automotive has a higher tech automatic discharger on the way, tho.

I've got the Intelligent Discharger preordered; should be here in mid to late March. The whole thing really does cost an arm and a leg. I justified the expenditure by the thought that it beats the $2 to $3 grand that a replacement HV battery would cost. It really helps with the battery paranoia, my 03 is pristine enough that I'm planning on keeping it for a good long while, so if it need to have the battery either repaired or replaced, I'll probably bite the bullet and do it.

 

Wow, in Toyota dollars, that's almost enough to buy another car!

 

Wow, that is one clean, straight looking 2001 Prius.

I'd say if you are sitting in it and smell something, it's either New Car Smell or your Hybrid Battery burning out.

I agree with just enjoying it, but also budgeting for eventual Hybrid Battery replacement.

 

Very nice 01. White paint holds up so well.

 

I guess you were asking me? I use Techstream

 

Lol, I guess I'm the only one old enough to think of this when I read the thread title:



That you got yourself a robot...