Long story short. Bought refurbished battery and 2 months later had to park the 2006 Prius. That was last July and it was not started since. Since “Baby” is the wife’s car and we just got some spare cash, we threw a new 12v in to see how much damage the western Pa winter did. first start was total sputter and then thought about the gas. Dumped 5 fresh gallon and fingers crossed it started with a clear dash, and a zero bar trak. I let it idle but no red triangle……then one bar, then 2 have put 40 miles on it some at highway speed and the trak battery is charging fine. what should I watch out for in the future from a battery that sat in the cold for 11 months.
Is this a 2001 Gen 1 Prius or a Gen 2 Prius? You posted in the Gen 2 forum. Buying a refurb battery was just buying somebody else's potential problems. No com-pany can afford the expertise and time to properly refurb a Prius traction battery.
I own a gen 1 2 gen 2 and a gen 3. I posted in the right section. I am aware of the issues with reverb. I am personally a lithium guy but at the time of need they were out of stock (yes I am more than aware of the lithium issues to head off the lithium haters) I am asking about the more technical side of potential what if’s from a battery that by all information I ever heard should have thrown a red triangle as soon as I hit start
Howdy Wrecit, The main problem with old NiMH that have been sitting for a while is the cells naturally self discharge and the older the battery is the more likely the cells will discharge at different rates, which could cause a red triangle at start up. So in your situation your battery is either newer, or still relatively healthy. If I have a NiMH pack sitting unused for a long time I'd run a high voltage trickle charger on it for 24 hours to ensure it was fully charged and all cells perfectly balanced. Maxx Volts and Hybrid Automotive sells these devices for a pretty high price. Or you can DIY build your own for much less: Build Hybrid Battery Maintenance Gear For Under $100 | PriusChat And as you probably already know, don't use this charger on Lithium because they aren't balanced at max charge. It will actually destroy lithium to balance at full charge. It's solely for NiMH chemistry.
