Use Prolong as a Grid Charger to top-up

ask jeff

 

Just cause you ran the battery down to a one or 2 bars doesn't mean it needs an outboard charge its just doing its thing. It should charge right back up with a short drive unless your battery is getting soft.

A short daily charging would be very fatiguing to the battery and if not left to completely finish balancing the battery as a whole may even be detrimental. Every 4 months just put it on the charger for 30 hours. A proper charging/balancing takes a long time with that many battery's in series.

 

In the gen-II at full charge (60 SOC) the voltage is around 220-230VDC. I would imagine if you drove it everyday normally, it would level out
at around 60 SOC. If there are no iffy modules that is. So with this in mind I have recently tried to have it at around 57-59 SOC when parking
overnight. This pack is 13 years old now and still has no problems. It goes down to around the high 40's on the highway, but still comes right back up to 60 SOC (reading with scangauge) from normal driving etc.
I have thought that if I ever stored a spare pack I would use a 220VDC current limited power supply, and just top the entire pack off once a
in a while, but NOT everyday. In this mode (just sitting on a bench or a shelf) the ecu is off! So one would have to clamp onto the main terminals directly before the relay, leave the emergency cutoff plug in, maybe a fan blowing directly on the pack etc. etc.
Watch the current upon initial charge and watch it start dropping slowly as the modules charge up.
I'm thinking no more than 10A initially (assuming it was near 60 SOC) and no more time than a typical drive would take, maybe ten minutes?
This at least would preserve the modules until it goes into the vehicle.

 

How frequently should I use the Prolong Battery Charger/Discharger on my hybrid battery?
Recommended frequency of use depends on the age and condition of the battery. If the vehicle is newer and the battery still performing well, performing a charge & balance once every 4-6 months and/or anytime the car sits unused for more than a week is recommended.

If the battery is degraded, charging alone will not yield optimal results. Performing a full battery reconditioning 2-3 times per year, as well as a charge & balance every 8-12 weeks (and/or anytime the car sits unused for more than five days) is recommended. Customers with highly degraded batteries report that they charge every couple weeks, sometimes weekly or more, depending on how much 'life support' is needed to keep the battery going.

FAQ

 

Why should they read from the experts when they can post here, cherry pick the answers , and blame us if they chose wrong?

If they followed the expert answer and things went bad they would have nobody to blame but themselves.

 

Sounds like a way to put extra wear on the battery with 0 miles to show for it.

 

It's been brought up before with the idea that it might help on the initial cold-start when the drivetrain relies more on the battery while the ICE warms up.

 

Because your not charging it up to 7 bars.

Short daily charging does nothing except waste electricity. The Prolong charger is clamped at about 330 milliamperes which across that many battery’s takes forever to make an impact on the battery.
A few hour charge will do nothing. But if it floats your boat have at it.

 

Let us know how it works out for you.

 

You could do like that one guy did and put a disconnect in your center console. Just remember every time you disconnect the 12v you loose all your information. Radio presets, clock, emissions settings, engine settings. All that has to be relearned. When I replaced my 12v my mileage went down until the car relearned it’s settings.

 

The information runs around inside your car looking for a home??
Oh, you mean lose your information.

 

Thanks professor.