Reconditioning Experience with Hybrid Automotive's Prolong System

Some people have found you need to wait after charging before driving. @jerrymildred killed a pack by not waiting.

 

An expensive mistake!! On the other hand, wifey is loving her near new battery.

 

I'm 5 hours into the third charge. Going 38 hours on the second charge gained a couple of volts. Based on that I'll probably be going to the final discharge sometime in the middle of the night tomorrow night. By the time the final charge is completed this is going to be a 6 day process but that's ok. It's given me time to thoroughly clean, clay and wax both the windshield and the rear window (can't do the other windows because they're down for ventilation), touch up the paint (thumbs up for Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and Dupli-Color's Scratch Fix All-in-one pen), headlight restoration and clean the interior. I even cut a new piece of filter for the battery intake fan by the back seat. Tomorrow the plan is to get the black restorer and return all the oxidized black trim on the exterior to black again.

I originally planned to get a solid coat of wax on the body of the car but it collected too much dust by the time the paint was ready and the other exterior projects were completed. At least I know what I'll be doing Thursday.

I am really looking forward to driving a much improved Prius to our son's house on Christmas.

 

Patience is paying off. After 40 hours I just started the last discharge. The battery must have restored some cells to a better level this time than previously because the final discharge started with 240v on the screen. All previous cycles, both this session and in June, that screen started at 237v or 238v.

 

That sounds good! I'll be doing the bi-annual full recon. in the next couple of weeks, and I'd planned to do "longies" just like you, since the last full done back in June never seemed to break the 238V ceiling (max. length was 30 hours or so) - I've been noticing more time spent in the 70-80% SoC these days, which is A Good Thing!

 

I know the Prolong user guide says don't go over 48 hours on the charger. Not being very knowledgeable about the technical details I'm hesitant to actually let it get very close to that 48 hour mark. I will probably be budgeting my time for 40 hour charges in the future, though. 24-30 hours is apparently not enough with my particular car.

 

Just don’t forget on the last charge portion to let it sit for a couple of hours after you’re done charging .

I know it has been said and you know that, but an important facet none the less .

 

@jeff652 , please enlighten us. Why the 48 hour time limit?

 

To some degree it is just to put a limit out there in general. Otherwise some folks would leave it on for much longer?

Also there is diminishing return at some point. If it isn't ready by 48 hours, not really sure more time is going to make any difference.

NiMh is pretty forgiving when working at these low rates of charge. So that is kind of the saving grace to all this type of charging/discharging.

 

This matches my results for similar timeframes of the year. So, I think this extra voltage rise/improvement may also be due, in part, to lower ambient temperatures in the cooler months. Anyone other long term users notice a similar pattern?

Folks that are doing grid charging as a preventative measure before having battery issues have "chosen wisely" <where's the Yoda emoticon?> I hope Gen 3 owners are reading these threads.

 

Although you are probably asking in terms of effects on the battery, a darn good reason is folks would just leave them plugged in and leave because "it's doesn't say you can't".

 

If you wait until a module dies you are basically too late.

If you decide to toss in a random module yourself, then you will want to use charger to mask the difference between your original modules and the replacement.

 

I believe you got the meme wrong

 

I started this thread for that exact reason:

2010 Prius II HV Battery Reconditioning

I thought it was a good idea .

 

I would say this is about 95% true when you recondition a fully functioning battery, but in the future, you may want to do this a couple weeks ahead of your trip. You don't want any surprises.

 

Ya got that right! (Don't ask me how I know that. )

On a related subject, at what age to you think a battery is ready for grid charging? Or is there a particular time frame as opposed to monitoring performance. Is there any sort of a consensus?

 

They do not yet have a charger for the PiP, unless you are volunteering...

 

…I would venture from day one! (…and, NO, I don't work for nor do I have any connection with Hybrid Automotive Systems or @jeff652 )

 

No, but I think Jeff's working on it.

I'm referring to the 2-year old (probably 3-year old by now) freshly reconditioned and installed battery in my wife's '07. I want to try to remember to ask Todd about that next time I'm over at @TampaPrius.com, but thought I'd see what you all thought.

 

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