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Maintaining the health of a very old HV battery

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by bizpm, May 9, 2022.

  1. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Well, there are side reactions which cannot be reversed, so in that sense rechargeable batteries can "wear out". (The elements of course stay what they were originally, it is the molecules formed by combining these which can change.) But there is another more important issue - batteries can dry out. There is a very long thread in this forum somewhere about how adding water back to a bad cell rejuvenates it. The problem being that the plastic case was not designed for this and AFAIK nobody has a really foolproof method of permanently sealing up the hole once the water has been added.
     
  2. Wrecit

    Wrecit Active Member

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    Ok since I read all the op posts I might have a grasp on the answer. Bottom line the 04 battery is in rough shape. There are tools out there that should help you squeak more life out of it but it's still an issue.

    Now the bad news. Your options right now if tomorrow the red triangle of death shows up are a bit limited. There is a thread on Prius chat that oem battery's are all on back order. There may be a local Toyota dealer that has one hidden on a shelf but they probably can not get one in if it's not on hand. The after market nim new battery s are not currently in stock, you can contact them to see when they expect their next shipment but I have heard rumor that it might be a while.

    The only options I know right now that are in stock are refurb (if your on east coast I got a guy I would recommend) or project lithium though I am told they are on limited stock (I put an order in this weekend for a lithium with them) green bean may also have some options but someone said they just raised their prices again.

    Now you said selling was not in your plans but since others mentioned it....take a look on Facebook market place for listed prices in your area. We bought my son a 2008 back in January for 3700. Right now in Pittsburgh Pa after putting an after market cat on it ($200) I could probably get $5000 to $6000 and it has 250,000 miles on it. You would be rolling the dice that by the time your daughter got home the used car market would come to their collective senses though.

    A side note on lithium. Unlike your current battery chemistry which actually will loose charge at a rate of 1-3% a day if I am not mistaken, lithium does not tend to self discharge so in theroy you could run the car, park it for 2 months and then put the key in with no real noticable change in charge from when you parked it.

    Good luck in which ever direction you choose
     
  3. Another

    Another Senior Member

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  4. Wrecit

    Wrecit Active Member

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    Lithium does at a rate of 5% in the first 24 hours them 1-2% each month so you would not notice any self discharge for at least 5 or 6 months but would run all systems perfect as soon as you turn it on your current second gen battery will be fairly flat at about the 2 month mark. There are exceptions to the rule but ....