Starting a Gen 2 with a dead Traction battery-Is it Possible?

hi jerry!

 

Hey Jerry,

I've never tried this myself, but you might can send an "engine start' command via an elm terminal.

You might could also try having press the brake and keep this fiber on the start button.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

i never thought of keeping the fibre on the start button, good call

 

In theory this would work. However, it really comes down to what the computers decide, specifically the hybrid computer and the engine computer. The problem would be that the engine would be in ‘off’ mode, so even if you spin it up, it won’t inject fuel as it won’t work.

One day I will have the computer code reverse engineered but, the ECUs will get in the way of easy fixes like this (almost certainly, but you don’t know till you try!)

You can get a power supply for driving LEDs that puts out about 240 volts at a low current. I have one but haven’t used it yet. This could be used to get just enough charge to allow the engine to start.

Once you do get the engine to start it will go into high current charge mode, which could kill the battery. I would be tempted to charge it for a short time, shut down, try again in an hour etc, to reduce heat / chemical pressure on the battery (given it has been very low on charge)

As a side note, the Prius has a blank plate where a starter motor would be installed if the engine was in a Gen 2 Yaris. However, in addition to the complexities of multiple ECUs, the flywheel doesn’t have the ‘cogs’ for a starter to engage with. It would be cool to modify the system to start off of a larger 12v battery, but the effort would be much more than a DIY bench charger and would almost never need to be used.

 

How low of a current would the power supply have? It can get quite hot where the OP lives during the day and the cooling fan would not be running.

 

Wouldn't a Prolong reconditioning system do the job? It runs the cooling fan while charging & discharging the battery.

Is the OP any where near @Raytheeagle ? He may rent his system out if the OP buys the harness.

 

I suggested that back in post #6. The charger and cable alone are around 400 bucks

 

I see post 9 says there is an available harness too.
I think @Raytheeagle has moved on to a Prime so he may make a deal on the harness & use of the charger

 

The one I have, still boxed, was about $80 US or less. It puts out about 100 watts. Depending on ambient temperature it could work, without fan. Especially if he gave it a few days, and ran it for half an hour on, 4 hours off etc. the question is - does the battery ECU power up the monitoring functions when the HV battery itself isn’t being linked up? Given it has a permanent 12v supply it could. Something for me to try at weekend. Alternatively the Prolong charger would be safer, purpose built, and much cheaper than a ‘rebuilt’ battery (which is a bad idea) or a new battery (good idea if needed), and prolong would cost the same or less than 1x charge at Toyota... and you get to keep the prolong in the longer term to maintain your battery.

A hobby charger could be used to add a few hundred mAh one module or block at a time but that is a lot of work...

 

jerry?

 

I assume you meant to tag @jerrymildred and not the OP

 

na, i was hoping the op would come home

 

My 2010 sold with the harness .

And eventually the new owner will need to use it, so the other co-owners out here have been apprised .

 

Me too. Whatever happened to @Jerry G?

 

Although lethally dangerous, you could jump the pack from another pack. Use high voltage personal protective equipment if attempting this.

Or buy an inexpensive high voltage 350milliamp Meanwell power supply and wire it up to slowly trickle charge the pack.

 

Politics to a minimum? Well, of I was at your place, we'd talk about my President! I love that guy.

 

In doing any of these, are the voltage sense wires not going to be impacted? I mean, stressed out, since high voltages would be passing through them and the orange cables?

 

The high voltage runs through the battery every day. High voltage when attaching to the farthest most positive and negative posts.

 

Actually that is incorrect factually and otherwise, NIMH and NiCD cells dun mind being stored fully discharged, if it self discharges it should be intact if other storage conditions are met. Li-ion batteries on the other hand will actually damage themselves to the point where they can be seriously unsafe as in blowing up.
As for the OP a meanwell LPC-100-350 with a diode and 2 crimp rings some wirenuts will set you back 30 bucks and a 12V 4-5A supply for the blower fan another 5-15 bucks charge for a few hours and the motor will start however if you wanna do it right charge it for 24 hours rig up a lightbulb discharger and cycle the pack like 3 times this can be done without taking the battery out of the car and as long as you wear cat3 gloves (you can get away with cat 2 if you know what your doing you don't so spend the extra 10 bucks) you should be safe there are plenty of threads on HV battery reconditioning your just charging first because your battery is down for the count.
good luck
terramir

 

And the smart way of doing all that is the Prolong reconditioning system mentioned in post 6. It was designed to automatically SAFELY recondition with less guesswork & danger.