I just purchased an optima battery to replace my original 2011 12V battery because with 150K on the vehicle and I am the third owner I decided that it is a good time to reduce the stress. Yes it is still working and even with my scan gauge it can put out 12V with the headlights on before starting the vehicle it is time. But it got me thinking that with so many single used cells from the original battery packs for sale on eBay would it be possible to just wire two 7.6 volt batteries in series and have a lithium ion starting battery? I bet with a little work I could make a custom plastic holder to nest two batteries and install.
Likely not safe at all. NiMH and lead acid batteries require different charger behavior. If you want an idea of what can happen with the incorrect charger, look up the "hover board" & laptop fires that were in the news a while back. They used different batteries than what we are discussing here, but the risk may be similar.
Not advisable. The nominal voltage of two in series HV modules is 14.4 volts, but in reality its more like 15.6 volts. The inverter may not even keep it charged. The capacity of the modules is 6.5 aH. The capacity of the normal 12v AGM aux battery?....isn't it 46aH for the sks system cars and 34aH for the non-sks? You would need several pairs of modules in parallel to get equivalent capacity. The HV modules also need to be under compression when charged to prevent bulging. Throw in the possibility of the terminals shorting against other components and on and on and on... Way to many possible problems to seriously consider it. Now, it you want to have some type of cheap emergency power just to energize the electronics long enough to get the car started, that may be a different story. But, (2) 6 volt lantern batteries may do the same trick.............I may have to try that just for fun........
Or a 12v motorcycle battery. Or a garden tractor battery from Walmart. Or a battery out of a mobility scooter. Or battery out of a computer UPS box. My Prius has a UPS box battery, it works fine.
Same here. (General purpose AGM used for UPSs, scooters, and many other applications, including Prii. $70 new)
You can just buy a lithium starter battery that has the charge controller built in. No need to hack anything.
No, no, NOOOOO. This experiment MUST happen. Maybe instead of 2 lantern batteries, I'll go with 9 D cells. Just thought the lantern batteries would last longer. Hmmm, idk. I'll come up with some kind of MacGyver **** to try. How many potatoes would it take to power up the electronics in a prius?
Golberg, Alexander & Rabinowitch, Haim & Rubinsky, Boris. (2010). Zn/Cu-vegetative batteries, bioelectrical characterizations, and primary cost analyses. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy. 2. 10.1063/1.3427222.
@TMR-JWAP did you ever try this with the lantern batteries? I was going to try it myself, but i seem to have run out of work-car Priuses to try it out on. If I ever find a G3 in good condition that coded from a head gasket........
No. Once I remembered that the brake actuator cycles, I figured there was no way the lantern battery trick would be able to supply that much current and maintain any workable voltage.
