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Swapping cells of gen 2 hybrid battery

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Gaby03, Apr 24, 2024.

  1. Gaby03

    Gaby03 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2021
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    Location:
    Puerto rico
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    One
    Previously i noticed issues wth my traction battery the big ol thing responsible for powering the big motor near the ice, i took the car to my parents and removed the cell, previous owner gave us a pack of used cells that he said where good, i load tested the cells of the old pack and the ones i was given and replaced all the cells wth a voltage drop above 0.40v upon a 1 minute load using a headlight as a load 55~ ish watts if i recall... Most of the cells in the active pack where above 7.7v as the vehicle had been recently driven. Now the new used cells had a sustained voltage of 7.4 ish but i also load tested theses and various of them gave me a voltage drop difference of 0.2-0.3 wich seemed to me like these where in atleast minimally better contidion. Its been a headache to do this been 9 hours already, currently midnight and i have not connected the service plug back in yet and i will probably not do so until i am sure things wont jiffy up... Anyhow does anyone have any opinions on my process or usage of lower voltage cells even tho they have a better load score than the rest?
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
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    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    This is how this becomes a real tough game to play whack A Mole. That's United States terminology It's a game you play at the fair You're trying to find bad things out of 28 individual things and as you fix one another one pops up that you have to beat on the head and straighten out get it straight and then another one pops up this is why generally when battery start to fail most opportunistic thing to do is get another battery It's just the way of the world or how the game generally should be played If you have nothing else to do and have time and want to play then you're more than welcome I guess but as you see here you've been nine hours and so on and all this and you're getting frustrated and yeah it's a pain I feel for you I'm pretty poor and I don't even do this. But where you are you may have no choice I don't know it's been years since I've been down in the areas of Puerto Rico.
     
  3. Gaby03

    Gaby03 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2021
    27
    8
    0
    Location:
    Puerto rico
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    One
    I just finished installing and arming the thing, car turned on fine and cycles every 2-3 minutes or so it'll recharge itself wth ac on max seems like normal behavior so far ill update yall soon
     
    bisco likes this.
  4. Gaby03

    Gaby03 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2021
    27
    8
    0
    Location:
    Puerto rico
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    One
    Yes im aware of what wack a mole is lol things are relatively livable here, we are afterall part of the usa, the amounts of help we get from the feds keeps most things fines, yes technically we are below the us poverty level but its not as bad, although yeah i do not have the cash for a new battery lol but i always wanted to work on the hv battery itself
     
    bisco likes this.
  5. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    8,272
    1,434
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    My buddy does all mine right up the road here He's a millwright and one of the big shops and he does this battery business part-time all kinds of batteries not just Prius and I guess he's got a bunch of equipment and charging and power supplies and all this and that so you know he seems to do a pretty good job I guess when you're stuck with hobby chargers and things like that they can just take a really long time.