Finally found a salvage yard 2005 battery to rebuild

Finally found a salvage yard battery to rebuild. Difficult to find salvage yard batteries at a reasonable price in this neck of the woods. Been watching for a couple of years. The only other yard that had one wanted $1000. Lots of HV batteries in Winnipeg MB 5 hours from me, but mostly from taxis.

Concerned about the age of the battery, will have to do, wasn't a huge expense, relatively inexpensive for the experience to be gained.

Battery from a 2005 Prius, mileage unknown, $350/270usd. The Prius has been sitting in the yard for at least a year, so insurance salvage probably also had it for 6 months, maybe longer before they release the car on bid, so maybe sitting for 18 months. Reading so many posts on rebuilding batteries without having a battery to rebuild tends to get confusing. Battery was still intact in the vehicle so had a video on my phone to follow along how to remove the battery. Wasn’t sure how to test the pack voltage, removed the orange plug, removed the wires to the car from the battery and tested under the white plastic caps, showed 0, reinserted the orange plug and showed 201 volts. Finally able to wrestle it out of the Prius with help from the yard attendant.

Hauled it 4 hours back home, set it on the bench and measured voltages, first column on the attached pic. Some posts suggest discharging it then testing the voltages. Wasn’t sure how to proceed, decided to record voltages as it sat then to charge all modules to 8 volts. Wired the modules in blocks of 2 as suggested by dolj

Colorado Springs guy looking for Prolong reconditioning help | PriusChat

1. Charge up (@325 mA) until the block voltage stabilizes (at ~16.8–17.4) then charge for a further 4–6 hours;
2. Discharge at 325 mA until the voltage reaches 9.6 V;
3. Charge back up to 16.8–17.4 V;
4. Discharge at 325 mA until the voltage reaches 7.2 V;
5. Charge back up to 16.88 V;
6. Discharge at 325 mA until the voltage reaches 6.0 V
7. Charge up (@325 mA) until the block voltage stabilizes (at ~16.8–17.4) then charge for a further 4–6 hours.

Just curious regards the discharge voltages, first discharge is 9.6 volts so 4.8 volts per module. Some posts recommend discharging single module to 6 volts. Anyways I charged blocks of 2 to 16.8 volts. This is where I sit for the time being.

Module 6, 16, and 19 suspect, after charging, 6 definitely junk, 16 probably, 19 came back, will load test, then discharge.

I also grabbed as many other parts as I could, fan, inverter pump, 3 way valve, rubber covers from the back of the halogens, ABS resistor from another Prius in the yard.

 

I did a load test on the modules then wired modules in blocks, discharged the first 4 blocks to 5.8 volts then charged at .5 amp, 7500mAH cutoff. I charged for approx 13 hours and wasn't sure when they stabilized, was doing other chores. I notice others charge in stages 3-4000mAH, 5000mAH the 6000mAH. Did I let it run too long to 6400mAH?

Now realizing its the discharge mAH shows true capacity of the modules.

Also struggled with navigating the nested menus of the charger, finally figured out how to use the bluetooth app, much more convenient.