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

Do I have an Inverter problem?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by thomasd7020, Jul 11, 2022.

  1. thomasd7020

    thomasd7020 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2022
    2
    1
    0
    Location:
    Alabama
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    I have a Carista OBD2 reader and use the Dr Prius app. I own a 2007 Prius with 368,000 miles on it. My hybrid battery went out in April of 2021. I purchased a replacement Hybrid Battery from a company based out of Atlanta Ga. Then just last week, this replacement Hybrid battery failed. My Dr. Prius app said, I had a P3000 code, with a bad #9 cell.


    Occasionally, when applying the brakes, the battery monitoring screen would turn red for several seconds indicating the total Pack Voltage was too high.


    It seemed to do this all most every time when these 3 things happened:


    1.) I was in Drive

    2.) Going Downhill

    3.) Applying the Brake.


    I have attached several screen shots of the Dr. Prius app when the screen showed red.


    My question is this:


    Does this car have the symptoms of a bad Inverter because the pack voltage is exceeding 250 volts?

    March 9th.PNG May 11th.PNG May 14th.PNG Dead cell.PNG
     
    #1 thomasd7020, Jul 11, 2022
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,693
    48,944
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    welcome!
    if you have a bad inverter, you will get codes.

    if you want to throw a few bucks at it, you can get used inverters cheap, because they hardly ever fail.

    in all likelihood, your rebuilt battery went bad, because that's what rebuilt batteries do.
     
    #2 bisco, Jul 11, 2022
  3. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2008
    7,565
    4,437
    7
    Location:
    Texas Hill Country
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Three
    Very unlikely the inverter is at fault. The hv battery must have been rebuilt with used cells. Hopefully the supplier will warranty their cells but it is still a fair amount of work to change them. Next time go with new cells.
     
    #3 rjparker, Jul 11, 2022
  4. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2012
    10,895
    4,418
    0
    Location:
    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Your inverter is fine!

    Looks like in your 4th screenshot Block #9 has one of its two modules going bad... But you don't have any warning lights yet? So you can go a while longer. Main data point to pay attention is "Voltage diff" as long as that stays at .4v and lower you'll be alright.

    Nothing to worry about with Dr. Prius app showing red data points. That's normal even in brand new packs. It's designed to indicate peaks charge and will happen more often on an older pack that's lost capacity and needs reconditioning.

    What's your budget like? Once you repeatedly have to clear error codes while you drive and pack starts running hot you'll need to replace a module, which costs $35 and a bunch of hours of labor... Alternatively, if you got a couple thousand bucks to spend you could get a new pack, but Toyota has a supply chain shortage of replacement OEM packs right now. However an upgrade to Lithium pack are in stock for one more week and then supply chain shortage hits again and out of stock till November. If you use my affiliate link I can offer you unlimited tech support: https://projectlithium.com/?ref=9qLPw
     
    #4 PriusCamper, Jul 11, 2022
  5. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2020
    3,241
    1,351
    0
    Location:
    NJ-USA
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    As others have stated- you have a HV battery problem, not an inverter problem. Having the voltage go that high when braking (charging the battery steadily going downhill) is normal. As soon as you cease decelerating, the voltage will go down.

    Dr Prius showing "red" is kind of wrong in that situation. IF you just turned the car on and it showed 268V THEN the battery ecu would be a little unhappy. And you would get codes about that.

    Side note- Dr Prius isn't very good about pulling codes from the HV battery ecu. It can do the ECM for the engine and the Hybrid Control ecu, but doesn't reliably pull battery codes. Might want to look at other options. There's a sticky thread at the top of the Gen2 Technical discussion forum about apps.

    So fix your battery. Hope that the place you got it from gave more than a 12 month warranty.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #5 mr_guy_mann, Jul 11, 2022
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)