1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Should I get a Prolong/Maxx Volts charger for my new OEM pack?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by bcmanucd, Jul 23, 2024 at 7:00 PM.

  1. bcmanucd

    bcmanucd Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2023
    9
    8
    0
    Location:
    santa rosa, ca
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    '06, 135k miles. My wife is currently en route in our van to a Toyota dealership in Oregon to buy a new hybrid battery, so I should have it in about a week. I chose replacement rather than try to recondition the old pack, since it seems my battery fan was out of commission for who knows how long, and there was probably a lot of cumulative heat damage. But I'm tempted to buy a charger and harness from either Hybrid Automotive or Maxx Volts (or possibly even DIY one based on the work by alftoy and PriusCamper) so I can periodically top balance the new pack.

    I'm trying to decide if this might just be a waste of money. After all, the last pack lasted 18 years, so it's likely I'll get at least 10 years out of the new one, at which point the car will be 28 years old. But, currently we don't drive it much - it might sit unused for a week or more at a time. I've read that this can be bad for the longevity of the pack. What would y'all do?
     
    PriusCamper likes this.
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2012
    11,106
    4,520
    0
    Location:
    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Your new battery pack won't need any help for 7 or 8 years... But getting that old pack charge and balanced and tested would be wise. Of course it's not worth losing the core deposit by keeping it. Unless you want to buy a Sodium-Ion pack for $1500 instead of OEM? Then you could keep the old pack to tinker with and I could loan you gear to do that.

    There's a chance I'll be in Napa on the 11th if it could wait that long... Might be able to help you get a Sodium-Ion pack despite them currently being sold out at that time. Private message me if interested?
     
  3. Brian1954

    Brian1954 Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2021
    828
    312
    0
    Location:
    South Central PA, USA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Buying a grid charger for a new OEM HV battery is a waste of money. It will not be needed for 7 to 10 years.
     
    dolj likes this.
  4. spdracrm3

    spdracrm3 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2019
    45
    38
    0
    Location:
    estacada or
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    V
    Curious what you paid here in Oregon for the new battery, mine is getting weaker and flagging codes almost daily though I'm still getting a calculated 51mpg.(did you have any issue buying direct from dealer i always thought they only sold to repair shops)

    dont know if I can wait for the sold out sodium ion batteries much as I want to try them

    SM-G960U ?
     
  5. bcmanucd

    bcmanucd Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2023
    9
    8
    0
    Location:
    santa rosa, ca
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    $1950 plus the $1350 core charge at Grants Pass Toyota. They had to order it, but it came in 2 business days. My wife hasn't picked it up yet; if they give her any grief I'll report back.
     
    PriusCamper and spdracrm3 like this.
  6. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    9,183
    1,611
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Oregon Washington State is the original poster Old mage? If not just forget this post A friend of mine from the Toyota mods list and old celica club.
     
  7. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2020
    9,183
    1,611
    0
    Location:
    Durham NC
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    I own one of these battery chargers along with the discharger instructions blah blah blah several hundred dollars and it's been used maybe twice so to be honest about it it was a poor investment for tooling for my Prius I would not do it again now I could build something like people have done here similar for whatever it is 150 bucks but at the time I was in more of a hurry and essentially had more money than sense so I would not do it again so you may want to think this over really carefully and I work on these cars own four of them and see them daily and if not needed to be charging the HV batteries at all and not because there's not anything wrong with them or anything it's just that all the charging and BS and around generally is not a thing. When your battery is bad it's bad All the people that play whack a mold and all these games with their batteries at some point wind up with another car maybe that doesn't have batteries like that or they wind up with a new hybrid battery like with your flashlight when the batteries go dead you don't spend hours playing with hobby chargers to have a flashlight working you go up to the CVS and you buy batteries so there's always things like that.
     
  8. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2013
    3,677
    1,300
    1
    Location:
    NY
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    I've read that the quality of the prolong line as well as customer service has declined since Jeff sold the business a few years ago. I think there are some threads here about it, but there are many at insightcentral.net where Jeff has an account and has posted a lot in the past.
    If attempting to use the insightcentral site, make sure you've got at least 4GB of ram in a computer or it will grind to a halt within a half hour or three of four different posted threads.
    Maybe the new owners of Hybrid Automotive have fixed the quality and customer service issues they had as new owners, but you might want to research that before buying.
    Prolong Battery Charger – Hybrid Automotive

    Maxx Volts EL-1 Entry Level Charging System

    Hybrid ReVolt Smart Grid Charger [HR-GC1] - $799.99 : HybridReVolt: Hybrid Battery Repair
     
    #8 vvillovv, Jul 24, 2024 at 3:49 PM
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2024 at 4:04 PM