I have a car that has one bad module per Dr Prius and Techstream. I have been watching Dr Prius like a hawk when driving and I see when the Vdif gets above 2 I get the triangle. So I have been stopping resetting the code and and charging my battery using full throttle/braking to get the SOC and the Vdif down before that happens. Am I at risk of damaging anything if I do this too much? I can't seem to find out.
You can keep clearing codes and driving with NiMH chemistry for as long as you want without issue as long as you makes sure to keep the pack from overeheating, as in above 125' F.
IMHO; those modules are tied together in series; yielding your 200+VDC. When you knowingly run the car like that; your forcing the rest of the "good" modules to work harder, making up for the dead one. Any modules that are borderline from failing will probably do so very soon, since your forcing all of them to work harder, with that "dead-weight" in the series. It's your car and your money - do whatever you like with it......
Work harder? The warning light and error code is triggered by a minor voltage difference between blocks, which is within normal operating parameters for these packs, just getting close to the threshold of inefficiency. A pack doesn't work harder just because one cell out of 168 cells is starting to fail and it won't work at all once that cell entirely fails. Back when I'd drive around with NiMH packs I was testing / rebuilding I could have days where I'd get warning light 3 times in one day and then could go 3 weeks without an issue. Electrons malfunctioning are not the same as mechancal parts failing.
Why would an OEM throw out a warning - if everything is honky-dory????? You can just do what back-woods mechanics do; put a piece of electrical tape over the warning lamp. Problem solved....
No you can't because the warning light for voltage being out of balance shuts down the entire hybrid system and turns the hybrid cooling fan up to full speed so all you got is gas engine power which is not enough power to go up a steep hill. And that's only going to happen during a high amp load from hard braking or hard acceleration. Soon as you clear the error code and you aren't having a high amp load into or out of the pack the vehicle and the bad cell will behave normal with no risk of causing further damage. As in the car is designed to protect itself and you have to over-ride that system many times before the pack overheats and becomes damaged.
Trouble codes and warning lights do NOT come on when everything is within normal operating parameters. They come on when things are NOT within normal operating parameters as defined by Toyota engineers.
You are at risk of one of the hybrid battery modules going POP and not being able to drive the car. Or another word, being stranded somewhere at the worst possible location and at the worst possible time. How long have you been driving the car since the first occurrence of this problem? Since you know that there is a problem, why don't you get the hybrid battery repaired or replaced?
Wow, thanks for all the responses and opinions. I frankly don't care about the health of the battery pack, I am fairly certain that the one low module (it's only one according to Dr Prius and Techstream)is in time going to have an effect on the others, and I will be pulling the pack and either putting a new reconditioned one in or just changing out the bad module.. What I am concerned about is the damage that I may do to the Inverter or Drive motor by doing a "force charge" or whatever the term would be to the car. Can I damage the inverter or the motor or something else if I do this several times a day? I don't want the charging stuff ruined in the meantime.
