How accurate is the “Dr. Prius” app?

Yes i did and it worked i guess. Battery Expectancy percentage rose from 65 to 83% after cleaning fan and the battery points with a dilluted Acid.

 

So does this app paired with correct Bluetooth obd adapter pretty much give an equivalent diagnostic test as the one dealers charge 150 plus for? The reason I ask is that I got the check hybrid warning on my 2011 prius and went to AutoZone to use the obd adapter and got the bad error code. I have appointment at hybrid shop that is charging 100 dollars for diagnostic test

 

More like he didnt get you.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

So, at 61.89% capacity left, is it worthwhile to get the prolong battery charger?

 

I had a traction battery module blow about and vent into the cabin with "electric gas" about 10 minutes after a Dr Prius life expectancy test. Heard a loud "pop" and had a pretty good idea what happened. In fairness, my 2006 Prius with nearly 200K was limping from multiple dying modules including the pair at position 13 where the blown module was evenly found and position 12. So after the module eruption, the car was able to limp home and the car was able to start so that I could reposition it for repair a day later.

So I replaced the 4 deep cycled modules at 12 and 13 and, no, I did not recondition my other modules before reinstalling the traction battery. I should mention that all the non replaced modules measured from 7.56 to 8.04 an hour after removing it from car about 90 minutes after car was running. So not letting the modules fully drain was just my first mistake because when I tried to start the car a week later, I got the voltage leak code of P0ADC-226. I unfortunately did not capture the pic of my pre-repair battery status but did capture the pic of my pre-repair battery status but did capturet the first DrPrius pic shown below. All dash lights came on, including virtually every warning light, but when shifting into gear it went into neutral. 12v is fine.

So I removed the battery pack and replaced 6 more modules so that none measured below 7.59V. The tried again to star the car, and like the first 2 times, plenty of lights and 12v power but check out the Dr Prius pic. Doe anybody know what I did wrong here? I checked all connections, and yes, the orange safety plug was clamped and pushed down. What is that 2nd picture telling you, please? Does Dr Prius have a place where these patterns are diagnosed? Frustrated. Thanks in advance for your help. Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday for whatever you celebrate.

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Wow! They must have been running a half off sale lol

 

@Barry CLEMENTS , normally you should connect all 28 blades in parallel with copper wire and let them sit/equalize for 24 hours to equalize the voltage.

Regarding the graph, I am pretty sure the voltage value(s) are out of bound/chart, please do another round of inspection and measure each blade to make sure their voltage are in healthy range, I know it's obvious but please making sure the polarity is correct order too. Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]

Best,
Jack

 

Any picture on connecting the batteries in parallel? Appreciate it. Thanks.

 

I have found the accuracy of the Dr. Prius app's (https://priusapp.com/)hybrid battery Life Expectancy Test to be very good with a few caveats. It's disappointing that these caveats/guidelines are not mentioned by the app's creators. I have run Dr. Prius's Life Expectancy Test on 4 different models, including two different generations in Georgia, USA. I purchased the app's "Professional package - unlimited vehicle test" for $28.99. The app is free to download, the Professional package is an in-app purchase.

I use an Android phone and the recommended VEEPEAK's ODBCheck BLE ($33 - OBDCheck BLE – VeePeak) which also works with LeafSpy. As others have mentioned, you need to use common sense and consider the age, mileage, and location driven of a Prius when analyzing the results of a Dr. Prius test. It should make sense and in some cases notify you of a pending battery failure.

The most important factor in conducting a successful Dr. Prius's hybrid battery Life Expectancy Test is setting up good test conditions.

1. First, drive your Prius around the block for about a mile to warm it up. This will also charge your hybrid battery slightly.
2. When you come back, park your car in your garage or under a shade. Do not park it in direct sunlight. Also, hot temperature conditions will cause the Prius hybrid battery fan to come on which will ruin your test.
3. The Life Expectancy test will ask you to charge your Prius battery (STEP 1) and then keep a needle in the green area (STEP 2&3) while (see attached pic) while the hybrid battery slowly discharges. The test will end when your hybrid battery's State of Charge reaches around 50% to 45%.
4. You will need to conduct at least 3 tests. This is going to take about 30 mins. (In my experience from testing various Prii, the results from the 1st test have varied slightly from the results of test 2 & 3, possibly because of the existing charge on the hybrid battery. I have seen consistent test results when I charge my Prius battery in Test 2 and Test 3 after completely discharging it from the end of the previous test.)
5. In STEP 2&3, you are slowing discharging the hybrid battery while the car is in reverse, your foot is on the brake, the headlights are on MAX, and the AC is blowing on mid-low. If the needle ever falls outside the range where it is pulling too much current or too little current, then the test is VOID. You need to restart the entire test again. This can happen if the hybrid battery fan comes on or if you set the AC incorrectly. Or, you may have to retest on a cooler day. Watch the needle on your smartphone, if it tells you the current is too low or too high, start the entire test over.
6. In order to achieve more realistic results, you need to introduce variance between Test 2 and Test 3. I suggest you increase the amount of current being drawn in Test 3 (as compared to Test 2) while keeping the needle in the safe region. In Test 2, set the headlights to maximum and the AC to mid-low. In Test 3, set the headlights to maximum and increase the AC to medium-high so you are drawing more current, but the needle is still remaining within the green area.

Lastly, I would like to share some of my test results and analysis. Attached are the hybrid battery Life Expectancy Test results from my son's 2005 2nd generation Prius. The test found a Weak block on battery #7 (see attached). This could be that particular battery block going bad or just a bad connection that is limiting charge. However, the overall battery condition is 63% fair. So he needs to start saving money because he might need to buy a new battery pack in a year or so. We can do a local pickup and I can help him install it for $1831 with core return. I have also attached the test result from a friend's 2013 Prius with 165k miles. He has 57% capacity left and is rated in fair condition. How long will this last? Well, it's hard to tell. But at least there are no bad blocks and it will likely last to 200k easily.

I hope this post helps!

 

Nice notes. Thank you! USed app a few times. In2020 mod 15 (middle) went and life expentancy showed 17%. We replaced module, clean busbars and teminals, fan etc. Its been a year now and i just did another test showing 67%.. Can say they are all original modules because i bought used at 10 years. and the modules had markings on them... sadly.. 2004 184k miles - getting about 45 mpg with A/C on. Better if i drive on highway under 59 mph. Post said fan cuts off in traffic, but i can attest if its hot it will come on....
(new york city traffic)

Dr PRIUS QUESTIONS
Are we suppose to keep it in reverse for the whole life expec test once it says to put in reverse, or only if needed to keep in green area?
Are we suppose to accelerate and decelerate only when the voice says so? ( it keeps blinking to do so)
ANd repeat ? - at what % of life is Prolong a waste of time? - what is best time / freq for reconditioning? thanks.

Obviously i have to see more vidies to relearn proceedurs... THis is a nice collection of notes - thanks all...

 

How did you nmake out with this issue - obviously sumething was not registering. bent pin ?

 

Yes, keep the car in Reverse during that part of the test and keep your foot on the brake. On the acceleration, you are supposed to accelerate to the floor and hold it for a few secs and then let off the acceleration. And then repeat this process. As you do this, you will see the battery charging very quickly (as viewed from the DR. Prius app).

Personally, I would drive my Prius until you get the battery error - hence a dead battery. Drive it into the ground, man. But if you don't have a backup car, find a free weekend and replace a battery when several conditions are met. The car repeatedly tests "lower than 40%" and it makes sense that you would need to replace the battery due to the age of the battery and the mileage on the car/battery (like more than 200k miles). Lastly, find a dealer close to you where you can drive to drop off your dead battery and pickup a new battery so you don't have to pay shipping costs. Good luck and have fun!

 

same thing happened with me just now. as soon as I read your post, the engine kicked in and literally took a second to kick me off. is this normal?

 

No. Try to run the test again.

FYI, the longer it takes to run the test, the better your battery is.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

What I’m trying to say is that the test got to a point where the energy being drawn went past the green for a split second and the test ended abruptly.

Question: at what temperature should the batteries be at? My middle batteries reached around 110F from an hour of highway driving.

 

After getting my fan cleaned, I noticed my EV fan turning on during some drives. I've never noticed it the fan before but now that I know it's there, I can hear it kick in. It's a soft noise.

Here is a screenshot of where my car was at after my drive from Lancaster, CA to LAX. I drove between 60-80mpg and managed to squeeze 60mpg in this 70ish mile trip. The fan kicked in around 45 minutes of driving once I hit that 405 traffic. From what I've read here, you shouldn't hear it? Or hear it at all? It's been cold here so weather shouldn't be a factor.

I stopped by the shop where I had the fan cleaned. Long story short, we tried another fan and took my car for a test drive with the scanner on. The fan kicked in as soon as the car started moving during our test drive.

If the fan is clean and functional, why are my batteries getting that hot while getting great gas mileage?

 

Personally, I think that now "you've noticed" that the fan comes on and can't "unnotice" it. Really, as long as the ecu can keep temps in control, ignore it.

On my Gen2, the fan comes on to speed 1 or 2 more often than I thought - it usually doesn't catch my attention (until I started looking for it). After awhile I forgot about it and "all's good" once more

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