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Prolong Discharger problem

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by bdubs85, Jan 11, 2021.

  1. bdubs85

    bdubs85 Junior Member

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    First, hello. Long-time lurker here. I've learned a lot on here and really enjoy reading through the wealth of knowledge that exists. I've got a 2006 Prius, somewhere around 160k miles on it, with all the bells and whistles (option 6 I believe) and it's been a pretty good vehicle. I'm making this lengthy first post to give some info regarding my experience with the Prolong Deluxe Reconditioning Package I purchased early 2020 (less than a year ago).

    I first had the red triangle of death come on in Feb. 2020, accompanied by a P3000 code. With the Dr. Prius battery monitor, I learned there were a couple cells that needed to be replaced. I found a local entire pack out of a wrecked car and made a good set between them.

    To do the charging and discharging, I bought the whole "Deluxe" Prolong charger and intelligent discharger kit along with the harness. I ran through 3 cycles of charging and discharging and it worked fantastic. The battery pack even ended up at 106% capacity! I ended up leaving the harness end in the left side storage compartment for easy access in case I had a fancy to rebalance the pack any time soon.

    I carefully packed the charger/discharger units up and put them on the shelf in the garage, knowing that replacing old cells with other used cells will lead to other cells dying sooner rather than later. Finally, shortly after the new year, the wonderful triangle of doom came on, and I had a good idea of what it meant even before I plugged in the code reader.

    I reach for my nifty charger and discharger and decide to try to bring it back from the dead via rebalance before I start ripping my trunk apart again to replace the 1 bad bank of cells since it's winter time. I plug the charger in and it works perfectly, bringing the pack up to 242 volts, so I let it run for about 15 hours to balance the top end initially and plug in the discharger and turn it on. The fans kick in, the screens kick on, and upon pressing the discharge button, strangely, there is no heat coming out or change in the discharge current reading (0.002). The "Discharging" light on the left was on, and the green light on the right next to the selected discharge level as well. I couldn't remember exactly what happened last time I used it, so I shut the trunk and checked the next day. Still near-full with the same non-discharging amp reading. I turn it off and reset all the connections, thinking maybe a cable wasn't inserted properly, but to no avail.
    [​IMG]
    I try calling all day to hopefully work out a solution, but there was no answer on the phones, so I open a ticket. Apparently the only option I have is an in-warranty RMA claim, with a turnaround of 2-3 weeks at least and no option to expedite! Plus I get to pay return shipping costs! Lucky me!

    Maybe Amazon has just spoiled my expectations.

    I sent an email to Jeff, since he was extremely helpful when there was a payment processor issue on their end initially, but sadly haven't heard a response. I haven't read much as far as longevity or durability of these units, but if I can't even get a dozen, let alone half a dozen uses out of it, what good is it? I'll update as the process unfolds.
     
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  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Jeff is good about providing a warranty for this unit, but unfortunately the turnaround time does take a couple weeks. I have had this issue and it was repaired under warranty.
     
  3. bdubs85

    bdubs85 Junior Member

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    Just for reference, one of the resistors in the bank is 5.7 megaohms while the rest are around 12.5-13.5 ohms (rated for 12). I hope they can just send me the bank of resistors and I'll swap the leads and send the bad bank back.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  4. bdubs85

    bdubs85 Junior Member

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    How long/how many uses did you end up getting out of it before it let out the magic smoke?
     
  5. bdubs85

    bdubs85 Junior Member

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    George has generously offered to reach out to manufacturing to see if they can just ship a resistor bank directly to me, which should hopefully be next week. Jeff has also emailed back asking about some specifics, which was greatly appreciated!
     
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  6. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    I'm not the average user of this type of device, I have used this for testing more often than the average user. Even with my testing, the unit lasted about 2 years (right before the warranty ran out).
     
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  7. bdubs85

    bdubs85 Junior Member

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    Well, it sounds like the resistor bank should be on its way to me shortly!
     
  8. bdubs85

    bdubs85 Junior Member

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    Got the new bank installed, much better!
    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
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  9. Michael Bard

    Michael Bard New Member

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    Hey guys...Michael here. I purchased the reconditioning package for my Prius. I fully charged the system using the charger overnight. I connected the discharger this morning and selected 134v. I know mine is a Gen3 but the first level of discharge is 134v. It displayed 1.516 amps discharging while I was watching it. I walked away and came back about 45 minutes later. It was on 200v, down from 244v, but the amps were .285 amps. It has now been 11 hours and it is just at 169v, still .285 amps. I have an email into support but haven't heard anything back. How long should I expect the first discharge to take? By my calculations, it is going to take me at least 3 full days to get through the first cycle. Is this normal? How long does a full 3 cycles take? 2 weeks? I'm new to this but from what I can find, something doesn't seem right here. Any ideas?
     

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  10. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    The first discharge cycle could last the length of time you're experiencing. The 2nd and 3rd cycles usually are a little faster. It seems to be normal
     
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  11. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Thats probably correct. The gentler the better really. It takes quite a while.

    I had the first version using light bulbs and the 200 watters were super bright and super hot still took about 10 hours to hit 85 volts. But the battery does a self rebound if its somewhat healthy it will quickly start to creep back up when the load is removed. I would hit 85 volts with the bulbs but by the time I took the light bulbs off and hooked the charger up it had rebounded to 115 volts and creeping up.
    If its a slower discharge it will not have as much of a rebound. Just takes a long time though.

    The first version they didn't care how hot the light bulbs got they were easily replaced. With internal load resistors they are worried alot more about internal heat so there software limits it to .285 or a 1/4 of an amp. That's a nice place to discharge but takes time but will be gentle to the battery and not incur alot of battery heat either.

    Mine was a sledge hammer yours is a scalpel.

    Its superior to what I had. Patience....
     
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  12. bdubs85

    bdubs85 Junior Member

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    If you check out the standard lightbulb discharger guide (Light Bulb Discharger User Guide | Automated Prolong Battery Discharger | Hybrid Automotive), you'll see that they mention discharging voltage is not a constant rate thing. If you want to deep discharge the battery safely, they recommend switching to lower voltage bulbs later in the discharge cycle since battery voltage can drop quickly at the end. The discharger running at a lower voltage is as Ed said, a gentler thing, which is always good for battery longevity. Also, don't worry about battery rebound voltage after discharging, I had the same concerns.

    These are exactly the reasons I got the digital discharger since I didn't want to have to sit there and watch it, much nicer to just come back to an "idle" status.
    As a side note, I did usually begin discharging it in the evening and charge starting in the morning.
     
  13. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    I just pull out my discharge last night just to find out it’s out service only use for 2 discharge, I bought it in July 2020 and now February 2021 it’s not functioning, am really concerned about quality it failed in less than the recommended 3 discharge process this is unacceptable, something went wrong with it while was seated unused.
    By the way my discharge panel light are all off only light on is a red one inside the unit but the 2 display on panel power on, don’t seem to be same as your because you have 2 green light on and my don’t.
     
    #13 Frank1234, Feb 16, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2021
  14. bdubs85

    bdubs85 Junior Member

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    You should contact their support directly, they are extremely helpful.

    Contact Us | Prolong Battery Systems | Hybrid Automotive
     
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  15. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    This could just be a fuse problem, something you can pick up at Home Depot. Contact their support and they will advise.
     
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  16. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    It’s up working again, it seems to be last time I run the discharge it didn’t finish the cool off circle, so I plugged in power on for couple minutes and bingo, a working unit again, I didn’t know this needs to complete finish the cool off but now I know.
     
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  17. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Was this posted somewhere, or was this in a reply from HA support?

    I've never heard of this 'cool off' before, could you please explain it again so that we can all benefit from the knowledge.

    Thank you!
     
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  18. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    No it was not posted somewhere neither was a reply from hybrid automotive actually they didn’t even know what was going on so they ask me to send it back for repair but I didn’t want to do that before some troubleshooting so I asked but they said they believe it needs to be back for repair so I just want to try something at my end and I remember that the discharge at the end of the discharge go into cool off mode but last time I did my battery discharge I just powered off without letting it cool off so that is why I decided to maybe the discharge still in the cooling off cycle so I plugged in went to do something and when I got back about 15 minutes it was working the light on top panel that was off now in on when power on, I don’t know the design or software of this discharge but I give a shot and it worked otherwise it will be in a box going for repair, good thing I didn’t give up without trying something, maybe make not sense but my discharge is working, want to add something the discharge probably warm up on those about 15 minutes from the storage it was probably about 60 degrees to 73 or more at the room I plugged in, make you own judgment.

    This is from hybrid automotive manual:

    When the discharge is complete the LED will flash red for seven minutes as the discharger system cools itself down. Once the cool down is finished, the idle LED will come on and the alert buzzer will sound, i didn’t have the flashing led neither the buzzer sound but my idle light did come back on.
     
    #18 Frank1234, Feb 16, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2021
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  19. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Interesting there's a cool off cycle. I've never heard of it. I guess I'll have to try that and maybe my unit will last longer.
     
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  20. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    I guess sometimes is a good thing to wait a bit before taking, I going to have to back off from my conclusion about the cool off theory because am trying to start the second discharge and the discharge is doing the same and already 30 minutes waiting and the thing still unwilling to work so my apologies, feeling stupid here but not worries I survive lol, I going to keep it on to see if it magically work again, I guess after all it needs a trip to hybrid automotive.