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Interested in 2007 Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Bruno82, Jul 9, 2020.

  1. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    yeah it killed it. It was running very poorly.

    If I had not done a discharge and subsequent many charges then a second discharge just recently it would of been toast 2 years ago.But I caught it at stage 1 which is exactly what the prolong was made for. I bought the car new in 07 so I know the car, the power it should have, if its struggling or not..
     
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  2. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    Huh! I understand you opinion, but you got me thinking now, I don’t have the discharger but I can build a light bulb one or buy the one ready, but do it really worth it? How much better can the pack get?
     
  3. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    It doesn't really work that way. Taxis do stop/go all the time and Prius Taxis have some of the highest miles on the original battery - in the realm of 300,000 - 400,000 miles. Prius love to be driven. The secret is the way Toyota uses only the 40% - 80% SoC band. They found they get exponentially more cycles when compared to complete discharge to full charge.
    That is just a very conservative expectation, you know under-promise and over-deliver. Real-world average is more like 12 - 15 years.
    Yes, doing the discharge make a big difference to the outcome. If you do not do the discharge you only are getting about 1/3 of the benefit. You need to do the full charge/discharge regime at least every second or third time.
     
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  4. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    This is where am standing right now, my pack it’s 13.5 years old, do it worth it, expending $316 dollars for the smart discharger, just going to make my replacement battery more expensive if I do need one at the end of the 15 years, so question again, do it worth it for a almost 15 years old battery pack?
    This totally matches what I said, you can go to half million miles as long you do it when the battery pack it’s young, taxis go to that high while the pack it’s younger that 8 years must likely.

    This answer help me know about what to expect if I drop $316 dollars buying the smart discharger, but I just reading and reading different opinions all over the forum looked at what edthefox5 has to say:
    Even though my prolonged battery shows blue all the time now and rarely see's purple its just temporary...how long not sure been almost 3 years of charges and to your point it does not have anywhere near the power it did when it was new. Since prolonging I can no longer tow it just does not have the power to pull a little trailer.

    So, is the charger only by itself is giving me a nice balance battery why to bother with the discharger if the discharger doesn’t bring the power of the battery back, how much power you can get back if edthefox5 sayings he can’t pull a little trailer because he doesn’t have the power out his battery, so for me it’s more about keeping the battery balance to avoid a large difference or more than 1.2 volts difference between blocks, the avoid setting the ecu alarm, now if I have a 10 years old battery that fails and for $700 kit I can push 5 more years to make it to 15 on the original pack I go with that 100% but my it’s just 1.5 years away so this what makes not worth it in my opinion.

    I respect your opinion and everyone else here on the forum I really learn and still learning a lot here it really help me to make more informed decisions, so what I saying it’s just another opinion and I thank everyone here that take the time to give me a opinion of my questions.
     
  5. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    You have to know that Ed is the king of hyperbole. If I remember right, he did one (that is a single cycle round, not the normal three) charge/discharge/charge cycle when he got the kit three years ago and has done only charges since, but I don't know at what frequency. His car was pretty bad that first time when he started, but he regaled us with great enthusiasm about how the car was driving more like it did when newer. He recently has done (or is going to do) another three-cycle charge/discharge/charge session. If he has done it he hasn't said how that went.

    A Prius is not designed for pulling trailers, even though people do. That in and of itself is going to take a toll on the HV battery.

    I have never had the HV Battery dipping into the purple bars on a regular basis in regular driving and have always done the three-cycle charge/discharge/charge regime about once every 2 years since 2016 and the car runs fine and does not lack power. It gets good mileage (50 MPG US) so I have no qualms. I see no evidence the battery is weakening and will keep going until it does die. When it does I will make the decision about what to do then.

    I have done top only charges a few times, and it seems to me the effect is fleeting, compared to doing top and bottom balancing.

    FYI, I just made my own lightbulb discharger, so it is cheap and fully under my control. Even though the HA one has automation that is very attractive, I can't see myself spending anymore on kit when what I have gets the job done. It's not like I am out there every 6 months doing it and I try and time the discharges to be done during the day, and the charges overnight.
    Discharging is what unlocks the capacity and it this unlocking of capacity that makes everything run better. I don't know really what you are talking about in terms of power because I don't think that is really what it is about. When everything is working well, the car performs better. It does feel much more decisive and has more "get up and go" after reconditioning, but most wouldn't notice it. It depends the driver's driving style too.

    I hope that helps somewhat.
     
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  6. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    Sure it helps, thank you.
     
  7. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    I dont exagerate I like to think I tell it like it is, most people are like this on this site but thanks for the slam.

    First time I did a discharge years ago the battery really did wake up had all its power back. I was able to tow again. That power lasted about 4 months one day I was towing and it just was struggling had to Floor it a lot ok no more towing then I started doing periodic full charge balancing takes about 35 hours it responded well to that.
    It’s power faded quite a bit over that first year.
    Last month 2-3 years later lost track after first discharge I did another discharge that was very successful and it’s running good again, Does not have anywhere near the power it once had but no more purple bars, towing not possible.
    I’m on life support at this point which is way more time than I expected way more.

    The car was not driven much. Wife’s car she retired. No driving and the heat got it but I caught it way before it was in the danger zone just tanking to purple at a light I would do a gentle power brake many times at a light to prop it up. If you do catch it before it’s really bad there’s some meat left on the bone and you can get a good response on a discharge and full balance.I never went lower than 80 volts on both discharges,
    Really wakes it back up.

    Here it is 3 years later and I doubt given the age now of all g2 battery’s now that you will have as good a luck as I have had using a Prolong. It’s just age, But if it has not thrown the RTOD and it’s tanking to purple bars all the time you have nothing to lose except $316.

    My thoughts when I bought the Prolong if I buy a new battery or sell the car I can sell the Prolong so it’s a good investment but it has paid for itself already.

    It’s not a simple plug and play you have to dismantle the back of the interior and Install the harness and also intercept the power lead to the battery fan and install a power switch board. When I bought mine new the included power supply board to the fan was bad I had to resolder the entire board.

    How’s that dolj hyperbolic enough for you?
     
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  8. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    I understand everyone has different points of view nothing wrong with that, I like to look more to criticism opinions than 5 stars reviews, and the reason for that is the criticism opinions tell more than the ones that only talk about the positive side of any given item.
    About my 06 battery it just go to purple on the first warm up and happens probably because the car hasn’t been driven enough, (coranavirus got me without much places to go) but after just 10 minutes drive am driving on blue then later green sometimes and never purple again unless the car stays parked for the night, so what stage I am?
    Do it worth it $316 for a 13.5 years old battery?
     
  9. Frank1234

    Frank1234 Member

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    Sorry to hear you frustration, any out warranty hybrid battery or refurbished battery it’s a risk same as the rest of the car, I don’t think is the best idea to buy a used battery made of a failed battery pack and then sell you prolong, in my opinion you need you prolong now more than before to keep you new-refurbished battery balance (you getting 2011 modules but are all modules from the same pack? hard to believe but you may be lucky) anyway one year warranty go fast, and you be on you own sooner than later, I guess what keeping you from buying a new pack is the ridiculous price around where you live, but remember this, if you buy a refurbished pack you are buying someone else wack a mole battery, make little sense but it’s you call.

    By the way I was selling my charger but after give a good thought after chatting here, am no selling it anymore (a less for now) because so much good things about doing the charger discharger reconditioning that I don’t want to let the charger go before I get to try it in conjunction with the discharger, so I ordered the smart discharge yesterday, jeff doesn’t have it in stock right now so I be waiting for it and for a right time to do it (weather) I was going to get a new pack but curiosity got me into the discharger, lets see how it work for me, hopefully I didn’t made a mistake.
     
    #29 Frank1234, Jul 16, 2020
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
  10. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Good point. Ill have him keep the harness hooked up. Few good full charges never hurts.
    I deleted my post so no one thinks I'm selling it now. Thanks!
     
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