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Can I tel lithe age of a battery?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by lordofthereef, Mar 11, 2020.

  1. lordofthereef

    lordofthereef Junior Member

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    I have a battery on marketplace that the owner states is less than a year old. It was installed by Toyota into a 2007 Prius which was then in an accident. Seller is effectively parting out.

    is there a way to tell the actual age of the battery by looking at it (or serials and etc). He's going to look and see if he can find paperwork on the install for me. But short of that, can I confirm it's build date somehow?

    asking price is $400.

     
  2. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    @TMR-JWAP You are one of the battery experts.
     
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  3. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    Never seen an OEM painted case. Look closely at the stickers, they've been masked for painting with some red overspray (there's your sign).

    The absolute best way to determine age is to remove the cover and review the date codes on the modules. I'd wager that one is a rebuilt and has modules from several different years.

    GOOD LUCK!
     
  4. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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  5. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    The 'advance search' feature still works for some reason o_O

    https://attachments.priuschat.com/attachment-files/2018/08/152015_TSB_T_TT_0365_15_battery_identification.pdf

    If this was installed by Toyota, there would be associated service history. Ask for the VIN and look it up at http://toyota.com/owners
    You could also take the VIN to a dealer (or over the phone), and they should tell you if the HV battery was replaced and when.

    If the service is listed at Toyota, then remove the cover from the battery case to confirm that the module serial #s match one another.

    2x on what @fotomoto said, never seen a painted case from a dealer.
     
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  6. lordofthereef

    lordofthereef Junior Member

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    I appreciate the info. I didn't know if maybe newer production units were painted differently or something.
    What's the purpose of third parties painting it? Seems like an unnecesssry step.
     
  7. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    It does mean you should not trust the battery.
     
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  8. lordofthereef

    lordofthereef Junior Member

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    Thank you. I did do a search and didn't come up with anything like this. All I saw were questions about batteries still in vehicles and the recommendation was to go by VIN.
     
  9. lordofthereef

    lordofthereef Junior Member

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    Thanks. This was very helpful.
    This is a wonderful forum. Just kept me from making a $400 mistake.
     
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  10. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    By the way, they lied.
    Toyota only installs NEW battery packs.
     
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  11. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    I've completed enough orbits around the sun to finally get it thru my hard head that the answer to nearly all questions about human behavior is....... money.
     
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  12. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    There was a brief moment in time where Toyota offered and installed refurbished packs, but it didn't last long.
     
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  13. dig4dirt

    dig4dirt MoonGlow

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    Is that one of those kidney bean batt jobs?
     
  14. lordofthereef

    lordofthereef Junior Member

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    Haha. Understood. I'm just trying to understand how painting it red translates to a better product?
    Only thing I can think is a local place reconditions them and paints them red to "mark" their work?
     
  15. lordofthereef

    lordofthereef Junior Member

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    Idk. I though green bean does green. It's the only color I had seen before. But I'm the farthest in these forums from k owing anything lol.
     
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  16. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    I understood it was only a small number of dealers in California.
     
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  17. Priuslover09

    Priuslover09 Member

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    You could take it to Toyota and ask them but the serial number would usually tell you
     
  18. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    @Prodigyplace is 100% correct. The manufacture date of the CASE is 8/24/2006. That doesn't mean the modules are the same. You would need the serial numbers from the tops of a few modules.

    On a module:
    1. the first 2 digits are the day of the month
    2. the next digit is the month (1-9, x, y, z)
    3. the next digit is the year, with L being 2010. (M=2011, etc)
    On a CASE, with that style sticker:
    1. the first digit is always a letter code designating what vehicle the battery is intended for. (prius, camry, etc)
    2. the next 2 digits are the day of the month
    3. the next digit is the month (same as #2 above)
    4. the next digit is the year, with L being 2008.
     
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  19. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    Any idea who paints the pack red? I know you have accepted several bad rebuilt packs after people gave up on them.
     
  20. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    Red is a bit funny for me. Over the weekend, I was shopping for some parts for my sand blaster, because I have several gen 2 cases I'd like to blast and paint. Nice condition cases are getting hard to find, as most cores seem to always have those large corrosion stains. I had looked around at colors other places were using, and even did a google search to see what color was most associated with Toyota (like Blue is a Ford thing). Guess what came up as "Toyotas color? Red. Since I also didn't see any other rebuilders using red, I thought I'd use it. Not anymore. Sigh..........back to the search...
     
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