2008 Prius Hybrid Traction Battery Balancing/Reconditioning 

Glad to help

The hardest part of the installation was literally getting the interior out of the way. If get them reconditioned let me know how well yours came out percent increase as well as miles per gallon improvement. Thanks.

Did you do it?

The kit comes with very detailed instructions that make it very easy and safe to install. Having power tools can help with the install time but it's very average joe friendly.

@the foreigner With the Dr. Prius/ Dr. Hybrid app you can see the internal resistance of the 14 blocks before and after the balancing.

@the foreigner In the Dr. Prius app you can look at module #5 and check the resistance. If it's around 30 milli ohms or higher the module may not be recoverable.

The fuel economy did increase on the 2004 Prius, but not on the 2008. Mostly because of battery condition before the rebalance. The 2004 was in the low to mid 30s MPG while the 2008 was steady at a 43+ MPG. The 2004's battery life expectancy % was in the 40s (not good at all), while the 2008 was in the 60s before the rebalancing. The 2004 was back to normal MPG after the rebalance. I read a lot of reviews on a bunch of rebalancing products (even considered making my own) but it all came down to ease of use for me (especially the discharger). I was going to do multiple Prius so the extra cost of the Prolong system didn't bother me. I guess it's all down to personal preference on the choice of systems to use but this one worked very well for me.

Minimum once a year on the conditioning (twice is preferable). Fully charging the battery helps but the charge/discharge cycle is healthier overall.

I agee with you. I bought one, but having issues with the discharger and just hope I can resolve it with them. Here is a guy with one that is less. I just haven't tried his products yet. I am not plugging him. Just passing on his information. venicehybridtech.com/about-us/

The reconditioned battery packs are a whole lot more expensive

Still cheaper than buying another Prius. And now you can charge people to “recondition” their batteries 😃

The charge and discharging is so slow that there was no cool down period between cycles. I would wait a couple of hours after the final charge to let the battery cool down a little before you drive it.

Thank you for the reply. The HV battery orange plug needs to be in before turning on the Prolong charger. I am not sure if that step was clearly identify.

Yes. The orange plug has to be installed before charging begins.

Dr. Prius / Dr. Hybrid. It's at the Google play store.

It took around 21 hours for the first discharge. 7 hours for the second. Around 5 hours for the final. I have a detailed chart of the charge and discharge cycles on the first Prius that I did linked in the description above.

@@user-ut1rp4wo8x The battery is being discharged to totally different voltage levels during the re balancing process. The discharge times will have to be different.

Isnt the 134V a little low ? Its around 4.7v per cell if i calculate right 😅 nominal voltage is 7.5? Correct me if im wrong. Not an expert in this area, in still learning. How not to get killed. 😅

The main power plug was unplugged only when I connected and disconnected the power leads to the battery pack. During all the charge and discharge cycles the power plug was inserted.

Thank u so much sir !!

Esinye isenzo sokulinganisa, elahlekile ekuhumusheni.

The one thing I noticed was the increase in MPG. The first Prius (life expectancy was in the 40's) that I reconditioned had it's gas mileage (was mid 30's MPG) bumped back up to stock (44+) MPG after the reconditioning. The Prius in this video was already getting stock MPG before the reconditioning so there was no change except in it's life expectancy. The one thing that I noticed with Prius battery health is that your gas mileage will suffer as the battery pack gets unbalanced.

IF YOU HAVE LOW MPG I BELIEVE IT COULD BE 1. DIRTY YOUR FUEL INJECTORS (CLEAN THEM AT A SHOP DON'T BUY CHINA) 2. CLOGGED EGR COOLER/VALVE (CLEAN EGR COOLER/VALVE) 3. OLD SPARK PLUGS/OLD BOOTS (REPLACE SPARK PLUGS/BOOTS AT THE AUTOZONE OR SIMILAR NOT EBAY OR AMAZON THERE LOTS COUNTERFEIT SPARK PLUGS BEWARE) 4. DIRTY AIR FILTER (REPLACE IT IF DIRTY) 5. UPGRADED RIMS (BIGGER RIMS DROPS MPG) 6. YOU GOT FATTIER (LOSE SOME WEIGHT) REAL WORLD AVERAGE MPG FOR PRIUS IS 44 MPG IN NORMAL DRIVING CONDITIONS THAT 48-50MPG IS 100% BULLSHIT LAB CONTROLLED MPG YOU HAVE TO DRIVE LIKE AN OLD LADY TO GET THAT MPG

@@21boxhead HOW LOUD ARE YOU SHOUTING?

@@local701 did Dr.Prius show any "weak" pack in your battery before/after reconditioning?

MPG went from 34 or 35 to 44 minimum and in some driving conditions I saw over 50 mpg in the city. The last Prius I balanced was getting a consistent 45 mpg average but this guy has a led foot seeing over 90+mph on the highway regularly. He also informed me that 100 mph is no problem at all for the Prius.

64% capacity.

Yes. The plug must be inserted for the recharge/discharge process.

If you don't balance the battery pack as it ages individual cells within this pack will start to die off (need another battery) leading to very poor fuel economy then the famous red triangle of death on your dashboard. Your original pack should last anywhere between 200 and 250k miles before cells start dyeing off.

Thanks but we always need a charger to do that balance?

Yes you will need a charger to do this. There is more than one way to balance the battery pack but all require a charger. There are cheaper ways to do the balance but they tend to be way more labor and time intensive. (Removing and charging and discharging the cells individually)

The discharge is part of the reconditioning. You don't have to discharge but it helps in the defrosting of the memory that the battery has built up over time.

Hybrid automotive prolong charger.

Bad cell brother you got a funda the bad cell

@@silasf94 I load tested all 28 and they were all good. Turned out I had 2 of my Main Battery Relays burn short out, after swapping it was all good.

Update: Had another Module go out on, I knew I should have balanced it over winter 😅 . Thank god it was in Block 1, module #2 . Easy swap, 3 good cycles of balancing and working great! Love using this video for reference each time I do it thanks for making the video man!

@@Waverox doing in winter is so the battery doesn't get to hot?

@@santosdr2 No its so the equipment does break. Ther charger/discharger LCD screens get ruined if they get to hot especially when you combine many hr use+outside temp. Prob be fine if its in a garage with great cooling though.

I guess to keep cost down.

Thanks for the info. I have purchased two new cameras in the last twelve months both had horrible audio with little or no correction for them. I now have new another new camera which will correct all audio and visual problems in my new uploads.

The harness for the Prius is $159.00 at this time. You will definitely need it for the reconditioning unless you can make your own.

I watched this again because it was at 88 discharge. It had 2 more to go. When I came back out later it was beeping and at 179. I see now that it is Normal and called rebound.

The rebound is normal. Once the discharge is completed the battery voltage will continue to increase until it levels out in a few hours.

I agree that the kits are expensive, but all NiMH battery packs need balancing/maintenance if you want them to last. Imagine just adding engine oil when needed instead of changing it for the life of your car. How long will that engine to last? In a prefect world Toyota would have included a built in battery balancer with every Prius or at least offered battery pack maintenance at their dealerships. Instead we are offered new battery packs at a price of a good down payment on a new Toyota at $4,000 dollars when it fails around 220k. I look at it like this. If the kit is going to add at least 70k miles to the life of the Prius it's a win win. That averages out to $100.00 for every 10k miles which is very similar to an oil change.

Agree kind of expensive but I think you dont have to buy the discharger use light bulbs instead

You are 100% correct with the light bulbs. I considered going that way at first, but I didn't have enough time to babysit all of the discharge cycles safely. As you probably already know you can over discharge the pack with the light bulbs and cause more damage if you are not careful. My plan was to rebalance multiple Priuses over time and figured the discharger would be a time saver and failproof.

That's still cheaper than the cheapest used battery at LKQ Pick-A-Part

@@skykid2 Most refurbished Prius packs are just rebalanced and resold as renewed with warranties based on there percentage of expected useful life. The packs with bad cells have those cells replaced with similar mileage or resistance then are rebalanced and resold with a weaker warranty. If you had to buy a replacement battery pack I would defiantly get a Nexcell lithium pack for less than 2k brand new. They claim four times the power of the OEM battery pack.

Thanks for your input.

Vito D Your comment shows you have no knowledge of how these batteries work

You should do this even if you have a brand new 2022 Prius so your battery and mileage are good xD wdym??? Not everyone is doing this because their battery is old or bad.

Sorry

@@local701How long do you let your battery rest after charging the battery before you connect your discharger to it?

It looks like you are connecting and discharging the battery right away after charging it fully without allowing the battery to rest at all. Doesn't this cause your discharger any issues with over heating or any blown fuse, etc.

@@kurtrhoney6811 Yes I discharged it right a way. The Prolong charger and discharger don't generate a lot of heat during their cycles, and the factory cooling fan runs during both processes so that the battery pack doesn't overheat either. There is a Thunderbolt version that can do the entire job in about 8 hours (vs 36+) but it's for commercial applications(cost like$9K). Heat management in this quick process is more critical than with the standard Prolong system, but the outcome is the same.

@@local701 It's interesting because I blew out a fuse after connecting my discharger and then waited again for 2 hours later after charging and the same thing happened again, but the car fan wasn't running to cool the batteries. I guess heat and how much charge on the battery does make a big difference to the discharger unit. I better wait 24 hours after a full charge to discharge the battery again and let the voltage come down or just balance more on it's own after a charge. Doesn't make any sense after watching you, but climate and the battery in my car might just be on the high side for some reason. Thank you for your responses.