Hybrid battery reconditioning has made things easier in more ways than one. There is a reason that people consider it to be a revolutionary idea. Before proceeding to shed some light on the various aspects associated with reconditioning, let us first provide you with information on how you can recognize if your battery is in need of some work.
Symptoms of Decrease in Hybrid Battery Reconditioning:
One of the most prominent symptoms which should alert you that there is something wrong with your battery is that there is a noticeable decrease in the acceleration power of the vehicle while the fuel consumption increases. In addition to this, you will notice that your battery charges and discharges all too soon. The ICE engine will also turn on more than usual. The hybrid battery that is deteriorating will not trigger the malfunction indicator lamp in the early stages. This will happen only when the battery is on its last legs.
Further Points of Hybrid Battery Reconditioning:
Hybrid batteries need proper level of care if you want to make it certain that they last for a long time. Excessive heat generation can lead to a decrease in their lifespans. If you go on long drives with a hybrid battery that is not functioning optimally, damage can also incur to other hybrid parts including the likes of inverters and converters which can prove to be rather costly.
A hybrid battery is an integral part of the hybrid system. If it is not functioning in an optimal manner, other hybrid components would inadvertently be affected and, thus, this is something that needs to be given attention immediately, lest the problem gets bigger.
The Perfect Solution:
It is hybrid battery reconditioning that can save you from a lot of trouble. It has a lot to offer, more of which we will discuss shortly. It is prudent to first provide you with a brief overview of what battery reconditioning is all about.
- Procedure of Reconditioning:
The process essentially consists of two elements, which include charging the battery pack and deep discharging it. The process involves combining the charging process with a deep discharging one multiple times, thereby leading to the reconditioning of the battery. It leads to the breakdown of the crystal formations or the voltage depressions within the battery, which restores the usable battery capacity that was lost. The cell voltage levels are equalized with each other as a result. In the end, what you get is a battery that is capable of providing more usable capacity to the vehicle that can be taken advantage of to its full potential.
For the process of reconditioning, you will need to get your hands on a reconditioning pack that would provide you with quality results.
The Steps Involved:
Let us now proceed to provide you with the steps that you need to go through for the purpose of reconditioning your battery. Before you commence with the process, it is advisable to disconnect the AUX battery so as to make it certain that it is not discharged accidentally via the interior lights while you are going through the reconditioning process.
Steps:
- The first thing that you need to do is charge the battery. You will have to charge the battery till the voltage ceases to rise. Full balancing is also recommended, but it is not something that you are required to do at this junction.
- Once the charging is done, you need to discharge the battery. The voltage should reach at least 0.8V per cell.
- Repeat the process of charging till the voltage stops rising and then discharge the battery to 0.5V per cell. Once again, charging needs to be done till the voltage reaches its maximum level and then the battery needs to be discharged to a level of 0.1V per cell.
- Repeat the process for the last time by charging and balancing the battery. The charger should now be allowed to run for a minimum of 4 hours after the voltage ceases to rise. This ensures that the pack is indeed fully balanced.
- You can now disconnect the charger following which the battery should be allowed to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes. It is a good idea to allow it to rest for one hour before you make an attempt to start the vehicle.
- We have provided you with a complete battery reconditioning treatment that you can go through. However, if you do not have that much time, you can also opt for two discharging cycles instead of going for the full three. Two-cycle reconditioning treatment tends to take over a single weekend, thereby ensuring that your work does not have to suffer owing to it.
- While the reconditioning treatment has shown to be successful in restoring optimal battery performance in most of the cases, sometimes, it is not enough. This depends on the condition of the battery as well as the extent of degradation that it had faced when the reconditioning treatment was commenced. In case you do not get the desired results from the reconditioning treatment and instead get the failure errors, you should take the hint that one or more modules inside the battery have suffered a severe failure, which would take more than reconditioning to solve it. Physical replacement would need to be done in this case.
More About Hybrid Reconditioning Batteries:
- In some cases, even a replacement would not work. For instance, when we talk about the Honda hybrid battery, you will find that replacing a single stick to match the capacity to the remaining battery is extremely difficult. Thus, it is not advisable to endeavor to opt for a replacement in this case. You would, instead, be better off with a full battery replacement.
- In contrast, when it is the Toyota hybrid batteries that we talk about, it has been seen that replacing failed modules has yielded successful results. To determine which of the modules have failed in a Toyota battery, you need to conduct a load test of each module. You would come across reliable battery module load testers on the market, which would make things easier for you. They are not very expensive, so money is not something that you will need to worry about either.
- Once you have replaced the failed modules, you ought to perfect the battery reconditioning treatment a second time. This will ensure that the new module equalizes with the rest of the battery pack. After you have replaced the failed modules, you should make sure that you perform regular maintenance of the battery so as to make it certain that additional modules do not suffer the same fate.
The Effects of Reconditioning:
There is no denying that hybrid vehicles have a lot of benefits to offer you. However, they also have some drawbacks. This is especially so when you think about the loss of battery power, energy, and capacity that occurs over the course of time. This is a natural process which is found in all hybrid vehicles. The battery performance is bound to decrease over time. The only question to ponder upon is, when will the inevitable occur?
In such a situation, hybrid battery reconditioning is just the thing you need. Since this treatment is capable of restoring the battery performance to as much as 95%, you would not be disappointed with the results that it has to offer you. Essentially, there are two main benefits that you stand to get if you recondition your batteries.
The first main advantage is that you save quite a bit of money. You would not have to pay thousands of dollars to replace the damaged battery that is not providing you with optimal performance. By reconditioning your battery, you can save an enormous amount of money. Most of the times untrained technicians along with car dealerships advice people to replace batteries since they charge quite a bit for it. You ought to ensure that their talks do not lure you.
The reason that most people opt for hybrid vehicles is that they want to do what is good for the environment. However, the purpose is somewhat lost when hybrid batteries are thrown away as they, then, gain entrance into the waste stream. With the help of reconditioning, you can ensure that the batteries are not wasted and do not find their way into the environment. The best thing about reconditioning is that you can do it as many times as required, which leads to the batteries attaining a longer lifespan.
Final Verdict:
There is no doubt that reconditioning batteries is capable of providing you with impressive results. However, the one thing that you will need to ensure is that you make use of quality equipment. You should use the right charger and discharger if you want to make sure that the reconditioning treatment is successful. Therefore, get your hands on equipment that is profound in quality and can be relied on before you contemplate going ahead with the hybrid battery reconditioning.
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