This information Is outstanding based on all the other info out there. I have a 2010 Lexus GS 450H with a Panasonic 40 model pack hybrid battery, that I removed myself, testing cells they all were 7.6 7.7 with a volt meter. However I didn't know about this tool until watching this video. Every cell tested 100% good the internal resistance each cell was between 4.89 to 5.33 . I noticed the battery had been worked on before it was actually missing a busbar . So I ordered a replacement busbar that will be here today and I will put it on and put the hybrid battery back in the car..
Been doing hybrid battery rebuilding commercially and rebuilt hundreds of hybrid battery including lithium ion as well. Last time I used a test for lead acid batteries I ended up with so many warranty claim I almost felt like closing the door. This tester might be more advanced since it read SOH the one I had did not so I might try it, but for now as an electronic engineer I designed my own tester and is working fine at the moment.
This worked fairly well. Basically ignore everything it says ("good cell" "bad cell") and look at the CCA and internal resistance measurements. Use it on all modules and look for what is "normal" then look for any modules that lie outside of what is "normal." These modules are "somehow bad". Unfortunately it isn't specific enough to tell how bad, exactly, they might be 80% of normal capacity, they might be 15% ... but a nice start, and so easy to use! Also note that CCA values will change based on temperature so be aware...The other "failure case" it doesn't really detect by comparing CCA is leaking cells like if they drop overnight from 7.5 to 7.2, but you can just compare voltages and find those fairly easily anyway...
I just replaced 3:54 all the blocks of my Lexus CT200h (same as prius.) After all done, the P3021 came up; it indicates that block 11 becomes weak. Any ideas? Do you think one of the blocks came bad? I refurbished all the blocks my self at once with new cylindrical ones. 😢
Hei, so I have a yaris hybrid, I got the fault code to replace the hybrid battery, I followed your advice and bought a battery tester like you have in the video, I have measured all the cells and soh is 90-93% and internal resistance is around 6.5 mohm across the cells and 8v on every cell, what’s your opinion?
I use a dedicated impedance plus voltmeter way faster. Impedance is the key but many people don't talk about it as they don't know. Actually when impedance is low battery is good with certainty. Impedance is more complicated than just a simple resistance!!!!!!
@@mattaitchey4917 I wondered about that as well. For anybody that has monitored resistance using the simple dr prius app, 19 to 20 milliohms is pretty common. Yet in this video, he rejects the one with 17 milliohms as being bad.
I saw a video, way back, where they used a regular load tester on a newly assembled battery and went right along checking each module, disregarding polarity. The tester was one of the ones that's box shape w/ all the holes in the front and a meter above that. There was a switch at the bottom and it had short cables with large alligator clamps. HFT $20, I think the type was. 100 amp carbon pile. I'm sure there is no reading of internal resistance but it shows the draw=down over a few seconds. I wanted to know your opinion on all that. Specifically, does internal resistance correlate to voltage draw down?
Would love to find that vid. I think I have one and it doesn't show voltage when connected backwards, but can still drain the battery. Maybe they had a separate meter attached to the leads at the time, that would still read it but negative? I know people that use that tool for load testing hybrid batteries...
@@RogerPack Did you actually push the test button (or toggle)? I have a 100 amp tester from Harbor but I haven't tried it yet. It does 6v and 12v and it looks like some voltages in between. I just don't know if the load is too severe that the battery would explode. I like this Harbor Freight thing. Why haven't I picked one up yet? Too many fires to put out. Going down there tonight. I'll try to find the video now.
@@RogerPack Yeah, I can't find that damn video. It was probably a year ago. Anyway, I blasted out and got that meter this evening. Works great. I got readings of 4.78 and 4.79, here and there. Where do I send the check?
A question. Once reassembled did this help resolve the issue and if so in your experience what was the best internal resistance as a guide? Thanks for the video. A great idea by the way.
@@cvedeler When you say questionable. What percentage did the other cells test at? I just tested my battery this way and one was bad and several were in the 80 percentage of good. Thanks
Thank you. My worse internal resistance on one module is 6.36 ohms, State of Health 79% and Battery volt is 7.56. Tester says Recharge/Reset. Second worse on another module is 6.31 ohms, 81%, 7.51v. Are these acceptable numbers? What do the numbers need to be to consider them bad?
If you're getting a code on the dash, then i think your ECM is reading that those 2 'bad' modules are not keeping up with the rest of the good ones. So replace with some ebay one i would say.
@@HankHill1 Actually Hank, I came to find out that I was overthinking it. I'm new to this kind of stuff and learning. All the readings were off of a battery tester I purchased. I'm almost done cycling all my batteries. So far, luckily no bad batteries. Next, balancing the batteries.
When you replaced the bad module, did you have high voltage difference compared to the other modules? I replaced a module and showing 1.2 voltage difference and throws the "check hybrid system" p0a80 code on my odb2 reader. I need help.
It puts a load on the battery and tests internal resistance. My simple multimeter can only test resistance, but can't even do that with voltage present. .
@@cvedeler Ahh, I see. Since anyone considering this procedure probably already owns a charging unit, I am wondering if the resistance feature on such battery chargers would work just as well, or are they inferior in some way? I have the SKYRC B6AC for example.
@@jayvizif it tests internal resistance it's good. This device appears to also do a CCA estimation of some sort ... Which you can kinda do with the Skyrim stuff but possibly not as quickly (by doing a full capacity test)?
won't the resistance feature on a battery charger measure this just as precisely? I'm guessing if anyone has yanked their battery, they are preparing to charge it with such a charger. My sky RC charger for example can measure resistance. Or is that inferior in some way?
It kinda comes with its own internal volt meter. It may not be super accurate (mine seemed 0.05v low) but it's at least relatively accurate to itself so possibly good enough for many purposes...
i used the tester you used. results voltage abovr 7.55 all cells resistance 5.00 milli ohms, all 100 healthy. but says all cell have zero charge left. what is the solution.how to charge ?
7.55 volts is too low. They should be closer to 8 volts. My lowest voltage cell was 7.71. If the cell resistance is 5.0 but the voltage is low, that points to a different issue, possibly with the charging system. Good luck!
Chris, your test method was indeed creative. But are there devices more suitable for this kind of testing? The battery tester you used was originally designed to test the 12v starter battery, not for a 7.2v (nominal) module. Other than worrying about the reading would be inaccurate, I do not know how that "500A cold cranking amp" was tested, and I wouldn't attempt (until I watched your video) to use it, for fearing that it would draw too much amps from the battery module thus potentially damaging it.
I'm sure there are many deices more suitable, but they are likely more expensive and harder to find. This is cheap, easily available and works well enough to find the bad cells. I was a little worried about the fact the device is for 12 volt batteries and not 8 volts. But it turned out working anyway. Lower voltage is probably less a concern to higher voltage. Accuracy isn't the goal, but rather finding the cells that may show adequate voltage but fail under load. Such a small device can't possibly draw 500 amps so I wasn't too worried about that.
Yeah I wondered that as well. Seems it doesn't test by putting a load on it, it just sends some pulses through to see how much the voltage drops, you can kinda see a description by googling "How do car battery testers work?"
Unfortunately doesn't work that way. I used this Viking battery meter on my Prius 3rd generation cells and it showed 100% state of health, 7.95V on everyone and very low internal resistance. Even though my battery had a problem on block 13. I had to run a Dr. Prius app test to see it and disassemble the battery again to replace it.
@@RogerPack Yeah there's something missing in his story here.. or maybe the 3rd Gens have different type of reading/load procedures as someone pointed out in another comment.
@@HankHill1 I actually had good luck with these, just ignore the "good cell/bad cell" messages and compare the CCA and IR measurements only, outliers are either slightly weaker or really toast (can't differentiate, see my other comment) :) Peace!
I swaped the bad module and re conected everything. Still getting red triangle and car won't start. Am I supposed to let it sit for a day so the battery levels even out?
If your modules are testing good (above 60%) it should work. If you are still getting the red triangle there is likely something else going on. No need to even out the batteries as the car will do that for you over a few days.
I used the onwei tester and it come out as all the modules are bad. It also give you an option to choose the kind of battery, like agm, lithium and 4 others. Resistance was around 5.4 and 6 all across. I don't think this really work good for hybrid battery module.
I tried both the cheaper konnwei tester from amazon and the HF one and oddly the konnwei gave me more inconsistent results, like it would be 500 CCA, test again 500 CCA, test again 450 CCA. It was kinda weird. It kinda worked but I don't trust it fully for this task. The HF one was, however, at least consistent, see my other comments for further thoughts and ideas, cheers!
This is really helpful for future reference....apparently I had all I needed already😂
This information Is outstanding based on all the other info out there. I have a 2010 Lexus GS 450H with a Panasonic 40 model pack hybrid battery, that I removed myself, testing cells they all were 7.6 7.7 with a volt meter. However I didn't know about this tool until watching this video. Every cell tested 100% good the internal resistance each cell was between 4.89 to 5.33 . I noticed the battery had been worked on before it was actually missing a busbar . So I ordered a replacement busbar that will be here today and I will put it on and put the hybrid battery back in the car..
Holy hell, they replaced/rebuilt the battery and left out an entire bus bar!? That's wild, man. Everything good now?
What a great help! Found one more needing replaced. Imagine putting it all back together and finding that out the hard way! Thank you!!
thanks for the info! really helps me out just diving into my battery problems
Excellent resource. I have searched many times for load testing and this was the best thing I have found. It worked wonderful. Thank You!
That was really helpful
Thank you 🙏
Been doing hybrid battery rebuilding commercially and rebuilt hundreds of hybrid battery including lithium ion as well. Last time I used a test for lead acid batteries I ended up with so many warranty claim I almost felt like closing the door. This tester might be more advanced since it read SOH the one I had did not so I might try it, but for now as an electronic engineer I designed my own tester and is working fine at the moment.
How hard to build is the one that you designed? Would you be willing to sell one?
Should trademark it
Straight forward. To the point , and thorough. Very well done! Thank you so much for this info
Excellent! I actually gave up after trying to test cells and replaced a battery. I won't do that again!
This worked fairly well. Basically ignore everything it says ("good cell" "bad cell") and look at the CCA and internal resistance measurements. Use it on all modules and look for what is "normal" then look for any modules that lie outside of what is "normal." These modules are "somehow bad". Unfortunately it isn't specific enough to tell how bad, exactly, they might be 80% of normal capacity, they might be 15% ... but a nice start, and so easy to use! Also note that CCA values will change based on temperature so be aware...The other "failure case" it doesn't really detect by comparing CCA is leaking cells like if they drop overnight from 7.5 to 7.2, but you can just compare voltages and find those fairly easily anyway...
What exactly would be “normal” as a reference?
I just replaced 3:54 all the blocks of my Lexus CT200h (same as prius.) After all done, the P3021 came up; it indicates that block 11 becomes weak. Any ideas? Do you think one of the blocks came bad? I refurbished all the blocks my self at once with new cylindrical ones. 😢
bad new module or busbars not connected well?
Hei, so I have a yaris hybrid, I got the fault code to replace the hybrid battery, I followed your advice and bought a battery tester like you have in the video, I have measured all the cells and soh is 90-93% and internal resistance is around 6.5 mohm across the cells and 8v on every cell, what’s your opinion?
I use a dedicated impedance plus voltmeter way faster. Impedance is the key but many people don't talk about it as they don't know. Actually when impedance is low battery is good with certainty. Impedance is more complicated than just a simple resistance!!!!!!
What is your protocol for checking impedance?
silly question but is the 2012 Prius battery same layout?
I believe it is similar.
2012 will have "low ir" modules, so this ir based test method wont be any use to you
@@mattaitchey4917 I wondered about that as well. For anybody that has monitored resistance using the simple dr prius app, 19 to 20 milliohms is pretty common. Yet in this video, he rejects the one with 17 milliohms as being bad.
@@MervsServiceSecrets would have been a better module than the others!
@@mattaitchey4917 I don't think I've ever seen a module with a resistance of 5!
Can I apply this to a 2012 prius?
Likely similar, but I have never worked on a gen 3 Prius.
I saw a video, way back, where they used a regular load tester on a newly assembled battery and went right along checking each module, disregarding polarity.
The tester was one of the ones that's box shape w/ all the holes in the front and a meter above that. There was a switch at the bottom and it had short cables with large alligator clamps. HFT $20, I think the type was. 100 amp carbon pile.
I'm sure there is no reading of internal resistance but it shows the draw=down over a few seconds. I wanted to know your opinion on all that.
Specifically, does internal resistance correlate to voltage draw down?
Would love to find that vid. I think I have one and it doesn't show voltage when connected backwards, but can still drain the battery. Maybe they had a separate meter attached to the leads at the time, that would still read it but negative? I know people that use that tool for load testing hybrid batteries...
@@RogerPack Did you actually push the test button (or toggle)? I have a 100 amp tester from Harbor but I haven't tried it yet. It does 6v and 12v and it looks like some voltages in between. I just don't know if the load is too severe that the battery would explode. I like this Harbor Freight thing. Why haven't I picked one up yet? Too many fires to put out. Going down there tonight. I'll try to find the video now.
@@alext8828 Yeah 6s, did two rounds of all the modules, calculate voltage drop by end of 6s. It worked well, I may publish a vid on it sometime :)
@@RogerPack Wait. You're saying 6s. I don't know what that means.
@@RogerPack Yeah, I can't find that damn video. It was probably a year ago. Anyway, I blasted out and got that meter this evening. Works great. I got readings of 4.78 and 4.79, here and there. Where do I send the check?
A question. Once reassembled did this help resolve the issue and if so in your experience what was the best internal resistance as a guide? Thanks for the video. A great idea by the way.
It worked well. I had one terrible cell, but ended up replacing 5 others that were questionable.
@@cvedelervery helpful thanks a lot
@@cvedeler When you say questionable. What percentage did the other cells test at? I just tested my battery this way and one was bad and several were in the 80 percentage of good. Thanks
@@bestsurfersofalltime All the cells I ended up replacing were 50% and below. 80% should be fine.
Thank you. My worse internal resistance on one module is 6.36 ohms, State of Health 79% and Battery volt is 7.56. Tester says Recharge/Reset. Second worse on another module is 6.31 ohms, 81%, 7.51v. Are these acceptable numbers? What do the numbers need to be to consider them bad?
If you're getting a code on the dash, then i think your ECM is reading that those 2 'bad' modules are not keeping up with the rest of the good ones. So replace with some ebay one i would say.
@@HankHill1 Actually Hank, I came to find out that I was overthinking it. I'm new to this kind of stuff and learning. All the readings were off of a battery tester I purchased. I'm almost done cycling all my batteries. So far, luckily no bad batteries. Next, balancing the batteries.
When you replaced the bad module, did you have high voltage difference compared to the other modules? I replaced a module and showing 1.2 voltage difference and throws the "check hybrid system" p0a80 code on my odb2 reader. I need help.
The voltage of the cells wasn't my problem. All my cells were +/- less than 1 volt. It was the internal resistance that caused my problem.
Is this right after install? Did it go away on its own?
@@cvedeler It throws codes if internal resistance gets out of whack? Or were voltages also weird?
So what should me ohms range be? Like 4.5 to 5.5 or what? Please let me know.
I believe using a multimeter for that could cause damage. If you're referring to voltage, a new cell should typically read around 7.7 volts.
thank you for this great video. What does this device do differently than simply using a multimeter to test resistance?
It puts a load on the battery and tests internal resistance. My simple multimeter can only test resistance, but can't even do that with voltage present. .
@@cvedeler Ahh, I see. Since anyone considering this procedure probably already owns a charging unit, I am wondering if the resistance feature on such battery chargers would work just as well, or are they inferior in some way? I have the SKYRC B6AC for example.
@@jayvizif it tests internal resistance it's good. This device appears to also do a CCA estimation of some sort ... Which you can kinda do with the Skyrim stuff but possibly not as quickly (by doing a full capacity test)?
That measurement is only to compare modules’s resistance.
That and the voltage and capacity to hold a charge (roughly correlated to internal resistance).
won't the resistance feature on a battery charger measure this just as precisely? I'm guessing if anyone has yanked their battery, they are preparing to charge it with such a charger. My sky RC charger for example can measure resistance. Or is that inferior in some way?
Should be same. This does an estimate of CCA's, which you can do in the Skyrim stuff maybe not as quickly (by doing a load test)
Will this test work on a Lexus ct200h?
so do we even need a volt meter if we just test every battery?
It kinda comes with its own internal volt meter. It may not be super accurate (mine seemed 0.05v low) but it's at least relatively accurate to itself so possibly good enough for many purposes...
i used the tester you used. results voltage abovr 7.55 all cells resistance 5.00 milli ohms, all 100 healthy. but says all cell have zero charge left. what is the solution.how to charge ?
7.55 volts is too low. They should be closer to 8 volts. My lowest voltage cell was 7.71. If the cell resistance is 5.0 but the voltage is low, that points to a different issue, possibly with the charging system. Good luck!
Was it throwing codes?
thanks for the prompt reply..
Chris, your test method was indeed creative. But are there devices more suitable for this kind of testing? The battery tester you used was originally designed to test the 12v starter battery, not for a 7.2v (nominal) module. Other than worrying about the reading would be inaccurate, I do not know how that "500A cold cranking amp" was tested, and I wouldn't attempt (until I watched your video) to use it, for fearing that it would draw too much amps from the battery module thus potentially damaging it.
I'm sure there are many deices more suitable, but they are likely more expensive and harder to find. This is cheap, easily available and works well enough to find the bad cells. I was a little worried about the fact the device is for 12 volt batteries and not 8 volts. But it turned out working anyway. Lower voltage is probably less a concern to higher voltage. Accuracy isn't the goal, but rather finding the cells that may show adequate voltage but fail under load. Such a small device can't possibly draw 500 amps so I wasn't too worried about that.
What if after this test all batteries show good? What should I search for after? T I A
Yeah I wondered that as well. Seems it doesn't test by putting a load on it, it just sends some pulses through to see how much the voltage drops, you can kinda see a description by googling "How do car battery testers work?"
@@pacobueno2818 See my other comment but I just compared CCA's, ignore the good thing...
What from the reader told you it was cell 5? I’ve got the p0a80 not sure which cell(s) though
Usually it'll have another coffee like p3024 though it might be separated. "Car scanner" (or similar) app with an obd2 Bluetooth can read them...
Unfortunately doesn't work that way. I used this Viking battery meter on my Prius 3rd generation cells and it showed 100% state of health, 7.95V on everyone and very low internal resistance. Even though my battery had a problem on block 13. I had to run a Dr. Prius app test to see it and disassemble the battery again to replace it.
Did you test them disconnected I presume? If so that's a bummer, guess it means this tool can't detect the more subtle failure?
@@RogerPack Yeah there's something missing in his story here.. or maybe the 3rd Gens have different type of reading/load procedures as someone pointed out in another comment.
@@HankHill1 I actually had good luck with these, just ignore the "good cell/bad cell" messages and compare the CCA and IR measurements only, outliers are either slightly weaker or really toast (can't differentiate, see my other comment) :) Peace!
I swaped the bad module and re conected everything. Still getting red triangle and car won't start. Am I supposed to let it sit for a day so the battery levels even out?
If your modules are testing good (above 60%) it should work. If you are still getting the red triangle there is likely something else going on. No need to even out the batteries as the car will do that for you over a few days.
New codes? I think I once forgot to re install the orange safety level LOL.
Saw one like yours on Prius chat and they had a loose bus bar on reconnection fwiw...
I used the onwei tester and it come out as all the modules are bad.
It also give you an option to choose the kind of battery, like agm, lithium and 4 others.
Resistance was around 5.4 and 6 all across.
I don't think this really work good for hybrid battery module.
I tried both the cheaper konnwei tester from amazon and the HF one and oddly the konnwei gave me more inconsistent results, like it would be 500 CCA, test again 500 CCA, test again 450 CCA. It was kinda weird. It kinda worked but I don't trust it fully for this task. The HF one was, however, at least consistent, see my other comments for further thoughts and ideas, cheers!
Thanks, it worked for me as well
Where you buy this tester?
harbor freight
Greta! Info. I highly appreciated it
car stopped on the road 2 week ago. can the battery be reconditioned ? getting a dual charger/discharger.
If you're lucky, is it a pack style charger? car stopping on road could be an issue with your 12V battery as well...
Genius idea, thanks
Wow ! Thank you
Can I send it to Japan?
❤❤ Great tricks.. Thanks Mate
Thank you thank you❤ so much man🙏🏽
how do you know number 10 is bad, you said the OB2 said number 5 bad, but it is number10
They are paired together.
@@cvedeler How about the 60heath? 70? 90?
thanks
Nice!
They're called modules, not cells.
Will this test work on a Lexus ct200h?
I suspect so as long as the battery is similar, but I have only worked on my Prius.
Ok thank u