Okay so I'm not the original owner bought the car last year in TX(2008 2nd Gen). So it looks like i have a bad module so i already bought a few of the replacement Cell's but not until i got the battery pack out could i tell that it's already been replaced its not OEM its a dorman battery. Already talked to them apparently they don't cover any warranty not bought by another owner if it trades hands. Ok skip to the part where i get the cover off and after checking each cell do i find out These are FIRST GEN battery cell's I feel like i got shafted royally here. Not only did i purchase the replacement Cell's but now i feel like i should just replace the whole battery pack. But at the moment with out any "work" i'm trying to do this, at the least amount of cost. If i do just replace the bad cell how long do you think it would be before I have to replace another bad cell? Or should I just go ahead and replace the whole battery pack being that there First Gen battery cell's? I do plan to balance the whole thing and do cycle charge of the batteries to try and extend the life of these cell's.
Welcome to PriusChat!! Modules swaps can last from minutes to years, sometimes even without balancing. Luck of the draw. Might do better sourcing a replacement pack from Locations | Pick-n-Pull- Then match the best modules and balance. Have you already read this Dorman thread by @TMR-JWAP at : Dorman HV Battery with a new lease on life..... | PriusChat What are the current plans for balancing the pack?
Doing deep cycle charges until i can get nearly the most capacity evenly thought-out the pack. Using a few hobby chargers. There only 10amp but it still does the job of restoring the life for capacity. And after i get them all as equal on capacity i will try to balance them by connected in parallel to get them very closely within .2 or .3 Also using a headlamp to do load testing on each module to see how quickly the voltage delta v re-stabilizes. Thanks for the information you provided me.
That is not balancing, that is equalizing. It has shown to be of little useful benefit, so don't bother with it and save yourself some time. As long as all your modules are with 0.1-0.2 V at the end of your balancing process (see below), you'll be fine. 7.8 V per module is a good voltage to aim for. The balancing comes with the charging process when all cells (there are 6 of them) in a module get fully charged. This top balancing. Then you do your discharges to a lower level each time (4.8 V per module; 3.6 V per module; then 3.0 V per module). This is bottom balancing. Don't use high current (i. e. go above 350 mA) to either discharge below 7.2 V per module or charge above 7.9 V per module.
