Bumblebee BeeMax installed over the weekend

Great report! These guys seem as expensive as Toyota, though. For Gen 2 it's $2,945 - $750 core = $2,195. 2KToaster sells a kit with cylindricals for $1,600 and no core (you can recover some cash by selling good cells from your old pack), but he is sold out till October AFAIK.

The big advantage with Bumblebee is that they have it in stock and are ready to ship in 3-4 days. I am glad to hear your initial experiences have been good. Keep us posted.

 

Awesome! Thanks for posting your experience with the community

 

Yes, in your case it totally makes sense. I wonder if these are the same quality cells that 2kToaster is selling. I am glad there is an easily obtainable choice. Thanks again for sharing. I did not know about it.

 

I am not sure added capacity is relevant as the car's software may not be aware of it and treat the battery as a 6.5Ah one. I don't know how the software works on this cars, so it's a guess, but I am not sure extra capacity will show up as better fuel economy or anything. Maybe more longevity, but I am not sure. Would be interesting to know. Also, if the extra capacity makes the pack more expensive I would opt for the stock capacity and save a few bucks, but I think the (higher capacity) cells used are what is easier to buy from the manufacturer.

 

Yes, it would be helpful to know the algorithm of operation on that system, but I assume it monitors SOC and makes decisions based on that as to when to charge and when to discharge. More capacity could potentially increase gas fuel economy, but again, I have no idea how the algorithm works. Please keep us informed as to how this works out for you. I am very interested as I am driving an '07 with 194K miles on it. So far no signs of weakness on the battery and I do own a Prolong system that I have used once now and plan to use again when the weather cools down. But I know the battery is not a spring chicken and am keeping tabs on all the options. I really love this car (after a year of ownership so far) and want to keep it going.

 

Well Mr Gleason........this is an interesting day.

This is a prime opportunity for you to provide information to the group. Seems like a lot of what I hear about these 8000mAh modules is that someone's blowing smoke you know where, but I've never had the opportunity to verify it one way or the other. Any chance you have an android phone and Hybrid Assistant app? Maybe you can do a load test on your new battery and see what kind of results are obtained? Compare it to a decent OEM battery. Maybe some acceleration and deceleration tests to see what kind of max amperage? Inquiring minds want to know............

 

Max amperage test will not tell us anything about capacity. Load test may, though. Hybrid Assistant and an inexpensive OBDII dongle is all it takes.

And again, if the algorithm only allows for 6.5Ah of capacity, it may not allow the higher capacity to show up on the test performed using such algorithm (i.e. inside the car). The battery needs to be bench tested to know for sure.

 

10-4....I'm with you on that. I'm just curious if these modules can provide the same current peaks. The ecu controls the max limits for discharge and charge (I typically see 25kw charge & 21kw discharge limits) for the OEM battery. If I remember correctly, that was around 157 amps discharge and 110(?) on regen. I'd probably have to look back through my files to verify that. Just curious if this cylindrical can obtain the same rates.

 

Well I'm going to give them a for honestly describing their cheaper rebuilt versions accurately and avoiding the word "new". (bold mine)

"The “BeeLine” Rebuilt Battery for the Toyota Prius from Bumblebee Batteries is a highly affordable hybrid battery replacement option to keep your Prius on the road. Each BeeLine Battery has been carefully rebuilt using meticulously tested and reconditioned OEM cells."

OTOH, their new cylindrical pack seems cost prohibitive to me at $3,200 upfront (core and shipping charges). Best for folks like the OP who can avoid those extra charges.

 

Yes, indeed, great report.

I'd also be interested in any reports and follow up, if you can find the time.

One thing though,

I don't seem to see an attached image. Not too worried, really just curious to see what they look like.

Not that it matters to you, here are a couple of answers to questions you raised:

Free shipping to any of the 48 continental US states.

The capacity matches the OEM at 6.5 Ah, tested and verified on his equipment. There has been discussion in one of the newpriusbatteries threads that one of the reasons for creating his own product was that when he tested modules that were currently available, the claimed capacity was proved to actually be less than claimed and usually less than 6.5 Ah. some were barely 3 Ah.

I do understand that the availability of the BeeMax vs New PriusBatteries was the key factor.

So, as I said above, this is all moot to you. I'm glad you are happy and I hope that you can continue to report good things about the BeeMax product. I do know that company has a good reputation among the people that know the company and who also work in the industry, so I don't expect they will be offering anything other than a good product.

 

are there any long term reviews yet? how long have they been selling the new battery?

 

I had a similar problem and I fixed it, but do not remember how.... I think I set the gallons to US (non-imperial) and then killed the app and restarted it. I think that worked. It's a good app once the silly things are worked out.

 

The miles unit is the same across the world (thank goodness), so that won't be the problem.

Check and make sure you are set to US gallons as VFerdman suggests.