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Battery resistance, how to check?

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by acdii, Mar 4, 2013.

  1. acdii

    acdii Active Member

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    Something I came across this morning. I found in my car that if I can get the pack to 75% or better the ICE is more efficient, which leads me to believe that a lot of the ICE energy is being sent to recharge the pack and propel the car. While this is how the system is designed, for the most part, those with this same car are seeing good MPG, while some of us who had cars built the same week are not.

    So if the pack has a cell or few that have higher resistance than the others, would that not require more energy to recharge it?

    Is there a way to see what is going into the pack using a scan gauge II?

    I know that with my RC LiPo packs if I have a pack with a cell that has higher resistance, I have to balance charge it, and that one cell will take longer to charge up than the rest. If this is the case, it would explain a lot. I just need a way to find out if this is the case.
     
    #1 acdii, Mar 4, 2013
  2. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    2020 Prius
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    LE AWD-e
    Most Prius specific OBD2 testers (Toyota, Pridash, Torque Pro, Scanguage) can read out the Module pair voltages and resistances.

    JeffD
     
    #2 jdenenberg, Mar 4, 2013
  3. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    III
    With the use of one of the above OBD2 units you will find that the Battery Management ECU does an excellent job of always balancing the module pairs. If any adjacent module pairs' difference in voltage exceeds 0.3V it will generate a DTC code alerting you of an issue.

    You can convince yourself of this by getting something to monitor this with.
     
    #3 jdcollins5, Mar 4, 2013
  4. acdii

    acdii Active Member

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    I have a SGii, but not a clue on how to setup the xgauges on it to find out.

    Does it sound like something like this can cause poor fuel economy?
     
    #4 acdii, Mar 4, 2013
  5. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Your profile does not give your car model year. If it is Gen II then the battery data may not be available. If it is Gen III then the XGauges are available.
     
    #5 jdcollins5, Mar 4, 2013
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