In Mk1_Prius@yahoogroups.com, “elijah.grigg” <elijah_msn@…> wrote:
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> Hi everyone,
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> I’m only 18 and no expert on cars. I’m one of those unlucky victims who bought a NHW10 1998 prius from an owner who “forgot” to mention the failing condition of the big 288V HV battery.
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> I find that after about 2 days of not driving the prius, the HV battery runs nearly flat i.e. insufficient power to start the car. The 12V battery is fully charged though. I have an onboard NiMh charger, so if I’m lucky, I will run that a few times, combine that with a lot of trial and error, and finally manage to get it started. Then turtle mode comes on, and the engine revs up hard. Then I turn the car off, and let the 12V battery charge the HV battery (at least I think this is what it is doing, because I hear a cooling fan in the back when this is going in order to keep the HV battery cool while being charged I think). Once that’s done, I can start the car easily and after a couple minutes of driving, the HV battery is pretty good and the engine can idle or move slowly without the petrol engine running. But the problem is, when I park the car and leave it for a couple of days, the same problem comes right back again!
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> I’m assuming it’s practically impossible to find an entire new HV battery for a NHW10 prius, so my only option is that I need to charge/replace some out-of-spec cells in the HV battery. But where can I find second-hand/new cells like this? And I would probably die in the process of replacing them, so it might be best for me to take it into a toyota service shop and hopefully they’ll do it for me?
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> What about testing each of the cells (I heard somewhere there’s like a total of 42 cells) and charging the low ones? Maybe not, because they’d probably just self-discharge again when I leave the car parked for a few days anyway?
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> I live in Amamoor, which 15 minutes out of Gympie. Gympie is about 2 hours north of Brisbane. And Brisbane is in Queensland, Australia. Also when I bought the car, the screen show battery/fuel flow was damaged and cracked badly, so it’s not working at all and I can’t see anything that’s happening there.
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> Also if someone wants to buy my prius, I’m happy to sell it (I bought it a couple months ago for $4500). It’s been a bit annoying because of this problem, and I am no mechanic or anything, so someone who can fix this bybrid battery problem, I think you will have a very good car on your hands.
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> Thanks and really looking forward to anyone who can help or give any advice,
> Elijah
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Hey Elijah,
I brought my 1998 Prius because the HV battery was no good (The guy didnt mention the other problems). I figure you learn more when things dont work, than when they do.
I sent the battery to NZ from Canberra (where i live), and had it freighted back to Brisbane where i had it installed for me (it was reconditioned, and has a 2 year g/tee).
I also got the “Power Jockey” fitted as well, this adaptor uses the 12volt car battery under heavy usage, (like up hills etc), and adds about 170 watts of extra power, so my NHW10, is quicker off the mark, and can accelerate up steep hill.
If you email me i can get you the details of the battery people, I think it was less that $2,500 (Aussie Dollars), freighted door-to-door.
Interesting story, the Battery Clinic claim they can turn the HV battery round in a short time, this battery has sticks of six D cells nickel metal hydride spot welded togeather, plus a temperature strip and a certifed shrink wrap on them. Batteries of this type appear available on many web sites. There are two banks of 120 that equal 240 in total. The Power jockey seems to attract its critics, the word silly keeps appearing on various internet sites dedicated to electric cars, the power saddle is just a stepup transformer. We have been waiting for our HV battery to be returned some three months and there appears to be no end in sight, very difficult to get a warranty in writing or any technical feedback. So think about it no use of car, car in bits, very hard to sell a car in this state, and add on to this no written statement to pass on to next buyer. Looks like one the lawyers would appear to have a field day with.
Will, you are in Australia and we are in NZ, which makes support difficult and there is the high cost of freight. Most cases of battery reconditioning require the replacement of a few cell modules. When we get one that requires more than half the pack we usually refuse the job and suggest that you get a whole rebuilt pack which is often twice the cost of just reconditioning. In your case we first fix the battery more than a year ago. When we got it back from you for repair under warranty more than half the pack needs to be replaced. We are still working on this problem as these cells are hard to come by. You will get your battery back with the latest Power Jockey modification. We will need to discuss the freight as our terms of service state clearly that it is a return to base warranty. We can’t do it any other way. At this stage we hope to get the battery pack working by the end of the week. Will keep you informed.
Hi, again interesting, looking at the invoices and bank statements it would appear under twelve months that the replacement failed. The ICE has had all the vitals replaced new sensor, new plugs, new oil & filter, new air con filter, even the CVT fluid got replaced. We have a inverter power jockey and saddle. One has to wonder if this power jockey thing is the villian. An interesting post (on the internet) from a person who obtained a new HV battery from Japan and what part of the service is for the HV battery made very informative reading. We now are at the four month mark.