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Z30 Prius 2010 Traction Battery cooling issues

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by kiwi, Apr 24, 2017.

  1. kiwi

    kiwi Member

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2012
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    Location:
    New Zealand
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius c
    Model:
    N/A
    Sharing experience with suggestion in brief: clean traction battery cooling fan regularly.

    Came across couple of Prius 2010 failed batteries which made over 200000 miles.
    In both - fans were clogged.
    Load tested on my multi-channel Battery Analyser - the middle of the pack has degraded dramatically in both cases.
    23 bad modules which I would consider "dead" has been identified in two packs.
    None of those modules in idle mode were showing voltage below 7.2V. But remaining capacity in those were extremely low.
    24 still usable modules from those two packs (42%) together with another 4 modules with similar behavior under load formed part of the "rebuild pack" with URC > 2AH.
    Made Animated GIF with screenshots from those 4 tests plus load test of the rebuild pack.
    Forum does not allow to post GIFs over 10MB.
    You may watch it on the front page of my site (on smartphones in horizontal mode): Testing Complex - HYBRIDS

    Update 5/12: Got a call from Australia this week where they use our High Voltage Battery Analysers to test mostly Camry Hybrid. What came to their attention is that cooling in the latest Camry Hybrid Battery is not as good as in the previous model and batteries in the previous - lasted longer (taxi). Of course it is much hotter over there. Nevertheless point is - battery cooling is important. Check fans and clean them regularly, especially if you have pets or use your Prius for an Uber or live in hot state. In San Fransisco for example one garage offers that as a service.