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My Hymotion battery is dead. RIP. Almost 3 years of service.

Discussion in 'Prius PHEV Plug-In Modifications' started by TheForce, Jul 5, 2011.

  1. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    After almost 3 years of service my Hymotion battery has died.

    Last week after starting the car it gave me 3 flashes on the LED. After trying to restart the car the Hymotion battery would not turn on and give me any kind of light on the LED.

    David Roper had the same issue and he said he was told it had something to do with the DC to DC converter locking up. The easy solution is to swap the battery.

    The good news is that the battery is still under warranty. :rockon: But just barley. My warranty expires in the middle of August 2011. So I guess I'm lucky that it failed now instead of later. I don't know how much this would be to fix if out of warranty but I'll try to ask when I get it replaced.

    Here comes the bad news. I will have it serviced Friday the 22nd at Smart Motors Toyota in Madison Wisconsin. This means I will not compete in the MPG challenge. :mad: I guess it will be good news for everyone in the PHEV category as now I will not be able to kick your butts. :mad: Most likely I would have had my nice person handed to me this year anyway.

    If the replacement goes OK I will still be able to be in the showcase which I hope to make up for the MPG challenge and kick your butts there. :rockon:


    I will be keeping separate stats on the replacement battery so I will provide some of this packs final stats.

    Best Tank
    3536 Miles
    314 MPG
    115.43 MPGe

    Total PHEV miles - 23569
    Gas used - 160.34
    Gas cost - $437.11
    Total kWh Used - 3372.5
    Total kWh cost @$0.08 - $269.8
    Avg. Wh per mile - 143.09
    Avg MPG - 147.0
    Avg MPGe - 90.4
    Avg CPM - $0.03

    Estimated charge/discharge cycles - ~700

    Last full charge in Wh - 4634.3
    Still about 23-25 miles all electric

    2010 full charge - 4683.4
    About 24.4 miles all electric

    2009 full charge - 4734.2
    About 26.6 miles all electric

    2008 Full charge - 5295.7
    About 25-30 miles all electric


    Some extra stats pulled from the battery.
    Full cycle counter - 378
    .5 cycle counter - 166
    .2 cycle counter - 251

    If you add all those up I was not too far off from my estimated cycles.

    I kind of wish I could keep the batteries because I would like to see how long they would last. Lithium is still so new we need data on how long they will last. I just hope the replacement pack is as good as or better than what I my current pack was capable of.
     
    6 people like this.
  2. andyprius

    andyprius Senior Member

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    Very impressive stats. How fortunate you were to beat the warranty deadline. Keep us informed. :focus:
     
  3. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    700 cycles are low for LiFe Lithium. Did they say a cell or pack was defective or is it normal wear and tear?
     
  4. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    The 3 flashes according to David Roper is a DC to DC converter issue not a battery issue.
     
  5. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    I thought they are replacing the battery pack. Perhaps the DC to DC converter is pack together with the battery pack and they are replacing both? :confused::confused:
     
  6. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    The Hymotion battery system has everything in one box. They are replacing the whole thing.
     
  7. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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  8. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Interesting... that is both good/bad, I guess. I'd think that it'd be much cheaper for them to replace only the bad parts than the whole thing.

    I wonder if you'll get a new battery or a used one. If it's a new one, score! If it's a used one...hmm, I'd wonder about how much usage it got and how it was treated before it got to you...
     
  9. Chuck.

    Chuck. Former Honda Enzyte Driver

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    Jay,

    I am truly feel your pain, as my 2000 Honda Insight traction pack is shot - dead. :(

    A useful tangent for your Insight - consider TheBetterBattery > Hybrid-Battery-Repair

    It's about 25% more powerful than the OEM Honda traction pack AND it runs 5F cooler - a BIG DEAL down in Texas!

    I'm kind of obsessed on what's good/bad for traction packs...with your Prius, a mix of NiMH and lithium packs complicates it.
     
  10. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Sorry to hear that but keep us posted on the replacement cost and the replacement battery.
     
  11. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    you dont have a broken battery pack
    its just like using steriods in sports
    you dont want to have you but kicked so you get a new battery pack to hope to kick some buts in the mpg challenge.... dirty play:p
     
  12. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    I'm sorry to hear about the "ILL" hymotion pack
     
  13. snookums

    snookums Junior Member

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    Good thing you got in under the deadline.

    I had the same problem with my Hymotion kit back in September; the 3-blink code is the DC-DC converter. Had mine replaced with a refurb unit with batteries of the same capacity as the old pack. The shop doesn't service the kit in the field, they swap them and send broken units back to HQ for repair.

    Sounds like the DC-DC problem is not widespread, but I hope Hymotion is paying attention to make their product better.
     
  14. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    Here are some cycle stats I was able to get from the old battery.

    Full cycle counter - 378
    .5 cycle counter - 166
    .2 cycle counter - 251

    If you add all those up I was not too far off from my estimated cycles.

    Whats interesting is the .2 cycles was pretty high. 127 cycles away from the full charge cycles. I dont remember plugging in that much with almost a full charge on the pack but maybe I did do that a lot and just dont remember.

    I'll be posting some data on the new/refurbished pack here shortly. I'm waiting for it to finish charging and when it does I will post what I find.
     
  15. cproaudio

    cproaudio Speedlock Overrider

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    were you on HOP?
     
  16. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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  17. sub3marathonman

    sub3marathonman Active Member

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    I was wondering if there were an indications that the DC-DC converter was failing. Was it ultimately due to overheating over a long period of time?
     
  18. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    It was working fine one day and then the next it gave the 3 flashes. There were no indications of it starting to fail. I dont know why it failed.
     
  19. sub3marathonman

    sub3marathonman Active Member

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    I was wondering if there was any data compiled about the Hymotion recharge capacity from depleted over a period of several years.
     
  20. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Great to see the battery is still doing good.