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Car Forum / Toyota / Prius / November 2007$550 Prius Spare Battery
I'll refurbish it and make some mods but here is my $550, 2001-2003 Prius traction battery: http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/pri_batt_010.jpg My current battery is performing quite well and has another 12,000 miles of warranty coverage. Once this one is ready, I'll swap them; refurbish; and use my current battery in another project that will keep it in excellent conditioning. Remember, this is the first model Prius sold in the USA, the 2001-2003 models. Feel free to use this to hammer skeptics who drag out the old "battery replacement cost." <GRINS> Bob Wilson If the charging circuit and other "electricals" are optimal, as surely they are, then I'd expect the NiMHs to last indefinitely. My 01's going strong after 6 years ! ... >I'll refurbish it and make some mods but here is my $550, 2001-2003 >Prius traction battery: [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >Bob Wilson > I'll refurbish it and make some mods but here is my $550, 2001-2003 > Prius traction battery: [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Bob Wilson I've been wondering about the life span of a hybrid battery, and the cost, and have not heard any figures until I saw some posts here today. I'm hearing the the failure rate is really low and the life span is really long, like much greater than the typical 5 years of a regular lead-acid car battery. However, I'm also hearing that that Toyota won't warrenty them longer than 8 years or 100,000 miles in the state where I live. How many of these $550 batteries are in your Prius? I saw another post that says the replacement cost of the batteries is $3000 plus labor. I saw another post that say the total replacement cost is $4500. It sounds like one battery replacement will wipe out any fuel cost savings, especially when the extra cost of the vehicle is factored in. Wayne > I've been wondering about the life span of a hybrid battery, and the cost, > and have not heard any figures until I saw some posts here today. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > It sounds like one battery replacement will wipe out any fuel cost savings, > especially when the extra cost of the vehicle is factored in. After four years and one million on the road Toyota has replaced about a dozen. Versus the cost a replacing a conventional transmission, it's not so bad. Besides, nobody buys a new car to save money. > I've been wondering about the life span of a hybrid battery, and the cost, > and have not heard any figures until I saw some posts here today. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > It sounds like one battery replacement will wipe out any fuel cost savings, > especially when the extra cost of the vehicle is factored in. Well in my case, I already have a $550 spare battery and will swap it with my perfectly good battery in about 8,000 miles. In effect, I have two such batteries and will use one or the other. When my original battery comes out, I plan to do the same modifications to it. In short, it looks like I'll never have to pay the $4,500 replacement cost since I'll be doing my own work. Bob Wilson > GUEST wrote > I'll refurbish it and make some mods but here is my $550, 2001-200 [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > My current battery is performing quite well and has another 12,00 mile > of warranty coverage. Once this one is ready, I'll swap them refurbish > and use my current battery in another project that will keep it i > excellent conditioning > > Remember, this is the first model Prius sold in the USA, th 2001-200 > models. Feel free to use this to hammer skeptics who drag out th ol > "battery replacement cost." <GRINS > > Bob Wilso Is the battery still available? Where are yo located? How do you refurbish one of those batteries Thanks Jonatha > Bob Wilson is the battery still available? I'm not selling either of my batteries. However, they come up on Ebay from time to time. > Where are you located? Huntsville Alabama. > How do you refurbish one of those batteries? The battery pack consists of 38, cell packs with six, 6.5 Ah cells in series. NiMH cells at full charge are at 1.2. Each cell pack is at 7.2 VDC at full charge for 273.6 VDC. The process I'll use is as follows: 1) use a 300-400 W load to discharge the battery to an average voltage of 0.9-1 VDC, ~228 VDC and cutoff at that level 2) measure open cell pack voltage for each pack 3) using a constant current, ~1A., to recharget the battery pack to 275 VDC 3a) monitor the cell pack temperatures and look for hot packs 4) remove the charger and let cells sit for an hour and normalize their temperature 5) put a 300-400 W load on the battery assembly and measure the individual cell pack voltages during the discharge to ~228 VDC Based upon these measurements, I should have a mapping of the strongest and weakest cell packs. I have four spare battery packs and will weigh the weakest and spare packs and put the heaviest ones back in the pack. I'll also shift the strongest cell packs into the location of the weakest cells. Then I'll repeat the whole pack test. When done, the strongest cells will be where the weakest cells were removed. The weakest cell packs will be removed for electrolyte refreshing. Then I'll recharge the pack and install the two, high power sockets and safety relays. When I'm done, my 2003 Prius will have a battery pack with a plug-in tickle charger. This means every morning I'll start the car with a fully charged battery, actually I'm shooting for 78-79% state of charge as well as a warmed engine and transaxle. The current pack will then go through a survey to identify the strongest and weakest cells. Again, the weakest cell pack assemblies will be removed and the strongest cell packs shifted to put the strongest ones where the weakest ones were located. Then I have this spare inverter I'm planning to use with the battery pack for home power. Bob Wilson On Oct 28, 10:11 pm, bwilson4...@hotmail.com (Bob & Holly Wilson) wrote: > When I'm done, my 2003 Prius will have a battery pack with a plug-in > tickle charger. And just where are the ticklish spots on your Prius? I don't think I want to know your testing methods to get your Prius to giggle. cootchie-coo. ;-) Thanks for bringing back Prius discussion to the alt.autos.toyota.prius list! 8) On Oct 28, 10:11 pm, bwilson4...@hotmail.com (Bob & Holly Wilson) wrote: > The current pack will then go through a survey to identify the strongest > and weakest cells. Again, the weakest cell pack assemblies will be > removed and the strongest cell packs shifted to put the strongest ones > where the weakest ones were located. Then I have this spare inverter I'm > planning to use with the battery pack for home power. Just be aware of the hybrid battery repacking/recharging problems that the owners of the MKI original Japanese 1998-2000 NHW10 Prius owners are having outside of Japan... Yes, an out-of-pack recharging technique has been developed, as has the "Frankensteining" of more than one bad battery packs (rearranging the cells/modules). However, one cannot just take all of the strongest modules and string them together - that'll still give a battery fault. All of the modules have to be "matched" such that they all have about the same output. The recharger info is in the files section, and there's been much discussion about the NHW10 battery repair techniques and trials at http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Mk1_Prius/ (This older cylindrical battery design is far less robust than the prismatic design in the NHW11 or NHW20 Prius sold internationally. With the right paperwork and repair history, within Japan, Toyota is doing free swapouts of these older battery packs when they get their permanent turtle lights and battery fault indicators. Outside of Japan, owners are out of luck...) Hopefully you won't run into any similar problems when rebuilding your NHW11 batteries! (At least it is easier for you to come across old/ used battery packs, as compared to the out-of-Japan NHW10 owners!) > Just be aware of the hybrid battery repacking/recharging problems that > the owners of the MKI original Japanese 1998-2000 NHW10 Prius owners [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > NHW11 batteries! (At least it is easier for you to come across old/ > used battery packs, as compared to the out-of-Japan NHW10 owners!) Thanks for the heads up but I am taking a cautious approach. One 'lesson learned' from some of the EV community is the prismatic batteries need mechanical limits on expansion. I don't know if this due to excessive charging current generating gas, heat or other characteristics. In the meanwhile, I am thinking about getting a load-cell to measure the effect. Bob Wilson >> Bob Wilson is the battery still available? > [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > removed. The weakest cell packs will be removed for electrolyte > refreshing. What does that mean? You can't actually dismantle a cell and change the chemical pastes inside, can you? Then I'll recharge the pack and install the two, high power > sockets and safety relays. > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > where the weakest ones were located. Then I have this spare inverter I'm > planning to use with the battery pack for home power. How many "batteries" are in the car? Do you buy replacement cells, or packs? Where do you buy them? How much to they cost? Wayne > Bob Wilson . . . > > When done, the strongest cells will be where the weakest cells were > > removed. The weakest cell packs will be removed for electrolyte > > refreshing. > > What does that mean? You can't actually dismantle a cell and change the > chemical pastes inside, can you? The NiHM cells are packaged six to a pack assembly. Swapping the packs around lets me swap the location of the strongest and weakest cells. > > Then I'll recharge the pack and install the two, high power > > sockets and safety relays. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > How many "batteries" are in the car? Check the Wiki article since it depends upon the model. My NHW11 has 38 cell packs. > Do you buy replacement cells, or packs? I use Ebay to buy packs from salvage or wrecks. > Where do you buy them? > How much to they cost? It varies. |
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