Another HV battery module myth coming under fire.....

Well, I had recently posted another thread about who needs a truck when you can pack 800 pounds into the back of a Gen 2. I had 8 HV battery packs stuffed in the car at the time.

Who needs a truck when you can do this? | PriusChat

One of those was a Gen 2. I purchased all 8 batteries from a high end salvage yard. They had a TREMENDOUS amount of inventory.

This Gen 2 battery was on a shelf and covered with dust. It had 09F140 written on the top of the case with a paint marker. Any guesses what the 09 represents? The sales person who was escorting me through their buildings explained the coding to me after we had everything packed into my prius.

If you guessed its for model year 2009, you're close but not quite there. The Serial number on the case was H239IAQ0079A. Built on September 23, 2005. The 09 represents the year and the F140 is the car inventory ID number. That battery was on the shelf since 2009. They didn't even know it was there, as it didn't show up on the computer system when we pulled everything. On the shelf for almost 10 YEARS. I was thinking how glad I was that he gave it to me at a core price. There's a bit of discrepancy between the case date and the module dates, but who knows exactly what happened back in 2005ish. And it looked pretty darn original to me during disassembly.

Here comes the interesting part. I pulled the cover and started disassembly. I couldn't get the voltage sensing harness to unplug from the ecu. After a bit of minor (well, not so minor) damage to the connector, I finally got it apart. half the pins had corroded/bonded together. No big deal.

I removed the 28 modules and clamp assembly and placed it on my test bench to start the cycling program to see what could be recovered. Recovered you say? After being on a shelf for 10 years? I silently laughed to myself about how futile this was going to be. I expected all 28 modules to be at 0 volts, and probably not even take a charge.

I wasn't disappointed, as:

the first 4 modules (block 1 and 2) were 0.2, 0.3, 0.2, and 0.4 volts each.
the next 4 modules (block 3 and 4) were 1.6, 1.5, 1.9 and 1.2 volts.

And then it happened......................................7.39v
Not only on module 9, but on modules 9 through 20 and 23 through 28. They were all 7.35 to 7.44 volts

Modules 21 and 22 were 2.7 and 2.6 volts.

Are you kidding me?????? 7.4 volts on 18 modules? I couldn't believe it.

So I connected ALL the modules to my chargers to get initial discharge information. I always document how much energy remains in each module before I start cycling. The chargers wouldn't even recognize the Block 1 and 2 modules. The other 6 modules that were not in the 7.4v range recorded ZERO mAh. The 18 modules in the 7.4v range fell between 508 and 1178 mAh. Those 24 modules were then charged overnight.

I started a discharge/charge cycle before I went to work this morning and checked the data when I got home. The 6 low voltage modules were all >5000mAh on the first discharge. The other 18??????? No way.........the lowest was 6679 mAh and the highest was 7057 mAh. The manufacture date code on all 28 modules is......wait for it.....14XE...October 14, 2003. Modules that are almost 16 years old. Sounds a lot like that Dorman pack from an earlier thread.

Dorman HV Battery with a new lease on life..... | PriusChat

They built some bada** modules in October 2003. . I started another cycle after recording the data. When I checked on them about an hour ago, ALL 24 had passed 5500mAh discharge and were between 7.23 and 7.35 volts. Plenty left to go...This is going to be interesting...............

 

Land, PM your mailing info. I'll throw the ecu and the harness in a box for you. It's useless to me, at least you can do something positive with it.

 

As soon as the charger goes through its precharge checks, it faults on "short error" on modules 1 and 3. Modules 2 and 4 fault on "connection break". I'll do a bit more checking out after I've put the others through a few cycles.

Maybe this is one of those times where connecting the Prolong would come in handy. Connect it and let it do a charge cycle for a few hours to see if it can bring those modules back to a condition where they can at least pass the pre-checks.

 

This post is for @landspeed

Date code on modules is October 2003, Date code on battery case indicates it was assembled in 2005. Inventory code written on case, under 5 pounds of dust, showed it was placed into the salvage yard inventory in 2009. Other than pulling the plug from the socket, the ecu and wire harness have been untouched. I hope it gives you some interesting observations. After you check it out, feel free to post some photos in this thread or wherever is convenient. take a good look at the harness and busbars. It looks like the busbars associated with the plug damage have "corrosion" significantly different from the other busbars.

 

Brad, I agree. I mentioned it, in passing, in post 1. There's a bit of discrepancy between the case date and the module dates, but who knows exactly what happened back in 2005ish. And it looked pretty darn original to me during disassembly.

The case/module year code is different by 2. So an "L" on a module is 2010 but on a case is 2008.

 

I think @strawbrad said it well enough. There is so much discussion about old batteries and old modules not being worth the time or effort to try to use again. We all seem to assume that every battery out there that has a failed module is going to be a whac-a-mole project every 3 months.

Although I do believe the whac-a-mole problem is a significant issue out there, I also believe it's not true in every case. You'll never know until you try. Although I am NOT a proponent of it, there are situations where it's the only available option for a person.

Just over two years ago, I helped a fellow forum member who had a Dorman battery that failed. It wasn't under warranty, because they purchased it from a wrecked car. I installed a battery with 2015 modules and took the Dorman. I'm pretty sure it's somewhere on the forum. Pretty sure I did some testing on the modules and swapped out one or two. Installed it in the blue 2005 my son was using for college. We sold that car to one of his friends a couple months ago. That car and battery are still going strong. I asked her to bring it by the house every month or so to allow me to do basic checks on the car and health check it.

A couple months ago, another Dorman. All modules from October 2003, except one gen 3 module that had been installed. The gen 3 and one 2003 module failed. All the others were rockstars. That battery is now installed in my car for testing.

Now, a battery that's been sitting on a shelf for 10 years. 4 dead modules, probably due to draining from ecu connector failure. 4 semi-drained but came back to life and testing >6000 mAh. +18 rockstars. That's 48 modules date coded October 2003 that are all testing >6000 mAh and probably actually averaging >6500

Just like in life, old doesn't always mean useless or dead.