Your conclusion is incorrect. The two systems are completely different. Just because two things do the same thing do not mean they are the same, e.g., how many Chevy parts will fit your Highlander?

The linked issue is a design flaw that when installed as directed caused permanent damage to the BCM. Your issue is a hardware flaw due to a defective component. They can't possibly be the same defect. That incident should in no way influence your opinion. It can't even see irrelevant from where it is... it's way beyond that.

If you use ANY charging system without fan control, you risk battery damage. Once or twice won't matter much, but repeated use will shorten the life of the battery. Your choices are:

1) to completely remove and never use the HA system, or

2) get a replacement controller, install and use it. You can easily verify fan operation at each of the 3 inlets.

I do not know what your expectations are. If you're a jerk, and you expect a$$-kissing and groveling and free **** for the inconvenience, you don't deserve any special treatment. If you are treating others the way you would expect to be treated, you have every right to get what you paid for. Actually, you deserve that either way, but one approach works much better than the other. You will NOT find an instance online where HA did not ultimately take care of the customer.

I know Jeff personally. We have met on multiple occasions. We share technical information for the betterment of the industry. I have reached out to Jeff to notify him of your dissatisfaction and directed him to this thread.

 

Thanks I guess idk! I’m not sure where you would insinuate from any of my posts on this forum that I’m the type of customer whom expects special treatment.

I expect a product I purchase to work functionally and safely as intended especially when a company states claims as such and that their warranty process is satisfactory especially with regards to something in this price range, for example, equivalent to the low cost range of a pc or iPhone.

But in my comparison of price for the Prolong system versus laptop or mobile phone, the latter products are NOT having some level of control (via hardware which communicates to software and vice versa) of a significantly more expensive system i.e. hybrid vehicle components. And I guess that is mistake in entrusting a company’s claims.

I merely want a product that functions in the way it was invented and designed. If that’s too much to ask, I’m not sure how so many companies are still successful especially HA. Not to mention the hours upon hours I’ve had to devote in attempts to get my almost brand new HA Prolong Deluxe System to work once-the very first time I used it. Shame on me for not being able to install me harness during the initial warranty period when I could’ve sent it back for full refund. And now I’m going to have to pay more for ‘warranty’ repair or have new cooling fan controllers for the harness sent to me when I have not performed soldering or splicing of small electrical components and will have to pay someone to do that. And all of this for a product that has been defective from the unpacking unbeknownst to me!

Yes I guess $850 and requesting some basic technical help and some and back and forth emails (without resolution for my first and initial problem and subsequently this most current one) in attempts to have a functional product is a lot to ask

You sound almost as bad as MaxxVolts

 

From my most recent experience, I actually risked ‘battery damage’ by having the harness with defective hybrid cooling fan controllers installed! It caused my driver’s side battery bank to be over 100 degrees F and several degrees hotter than the other 2 (even the passenger battery bank over air intake which is always slightly higher due to location) per Dr. Prius app which validated my detection of electrical burning smell emanating from my hybrid battery compartment and most potent in that battery bank location

And I verified the cooling fans were all working upon initial installation per HA instructions and they were. I also verified that they were working when I performed subsequent troubleshooting, reconditioning, and during this most recent issue. They were all operating when I mistakenly decided to reconnect the green boxes and verify that they were still working with those connected after my electrical burning smell detection and that is when the warning lights lit up and my fans went to maximum speed and my engine was extremely loud and rough idling and blowing forceful air from the engine bay while my hood was up during my recent troubleshooting and they are all functioning now without problems or warning lights since I’ve uninstalled the harness and specifically the green boxes which is a hardware circuit that possibly communicates with hardware and software of my hybrid system via the cable wiring harnesses-idk I may be way off

Btw if anyone is interested and needs more information and my own troubleshooting with help of internet, multimeter, and Priuschat folks, my more thorough experience is on Priuschat link as I haven’t been able to find much online regarding Prolong and Toyota/Lexus Hybrid SUV’s. However my current problem with harness remains unresolved. I’m going to research and see if I can use my harness isolated to only the hybrid battery terminals, which I’m still uneasy about but I’m definitely not reconnecting the green boxes ever again and entrust them with my much more expensive hybrid system.

P.S. there are some threads on Priuschat with customers who were or are not too happy with HA and Jeff. So yes I’ve found more than 1 and this was before I purchased my system. I justified those disgruntled customers as the small percentage they encompass. But dang this is one of those times in hindsight when I should have listened to the small calculated percentage of 1-star reviews smh

But thank you @S Keith for your replies and help and for reaching out to Jeff. That’s all I asked at the end of my last email to HA was to please help me regain confidence in their Prolong System as I’m scared to reconnect it to my vehicle and if one cooling fan controller is bad, how can I test the others and the harness to verify it’s safe??!! I suggested a new harness. But that’s not covered under warranty. $189 plus tax and shipping so almost 1/4 of the cost of the system and the system cannot be used without it is not covered?! When mine has been used 6 times for my full reconditioning and probably about that in my install and test and subsequent attempts at first reconditioning so it’s pretty much brand new but defective and now unusable with one broken green controller box that could have caused fire had I not turned a 2 hour drive into a 6 hour drive and drove with my AC on maximum the entire evening drive home freezing and exhausted and stressed about why my car smelled of electrical burning from my hybrid battery? A new harness and some troubleshooting advice on their website for customers such as myself who don’t have backgrounds in these areas? Is that special treatment in your definition?

P.S.S. Tread carefully as you’re almost sounding like that nutter MaxxVolts don’t criticize the complainant assuming they’re the problem until all the facts are available. I’ve been very patient since my June/July experience imo and as a point of reference I think Judge Judy would side with me lol (I’m not going that route but just saying that even with the terms of warranty from HA, given my experience and documentation, I’m inclined to think she would rule that I should be given a whole refund based upon the problems and lack of support I’ve received from HA—merely an example!)

 

Here are some battery facts:

1. NiMH cell temperature damage typically does not occur below 150°F.
2. I rarely see temperatures in my Prius battery, here in Phoenix, of LESS than 110°F.
3. The Prius cooling system allows temperatures to reach 140°F before it engages the cooling fan on its maximum setting.
4. All Toyota hybrids have a measure of temperature protection, i.e., when cells get hot, the car reduces their utilization thus reducing stresses on the cells and lowering risk of damage.
5. The Highlander module temperature is more accurate than the Prius due to differences in construction. The Highlander modules more accurately represent their actual temperature where the Prius modules read low, i.e., if you park a Prius and come back in 30 minutes, the temp will be 10°+ hotter than when you parked it.
6. To state it explicitly, the temperatures you observed in no way pose a risk to battery damage. It's actually a pretty healthy operating temp.
7. Lastly, you received a P3105 due to the fan controller failure, NOT because your battery was hot. The fan control system is "intelligent" and it signaled the fault when motor speed was not sensed.

There are many thousand of those and similar HA fan controller modules in circulation. Some will fail. That doesn't mean they aren't reliable. As a wholly applicable analogy, Highlander Hybrid batteries, ABS actuators, AWD rear wheel motors fail, yet you choose to drive one. Why would you not follow the same logic?

The only way you can use a harness without the fan controllers is to supply 12V power to the Highlander, charge with the ignition on and allow the car to control the fans. This will require at least 10A of 12V charging and possibly more. Given that full charges take 24 hours, it may be very impractical for you to leave your vehicle on for 24 hours.

If you're not willing to do a proper install OR do the above, you should completely abandon it.

 

You are NOT comprehending crucial words I’ve written. I said “risked” battery damage. I know the fan controller on my defective Prolong harness caused the P code and not higher temps because I wasn’t driving when I experienced the P code! I was driving when I smelled electrical burning and subsequently installed veepeak obd-ii reader and used Dr. Prius app to obtain some data as I have the base model and therefore have no information aside from a scanner via mechanic or dealer since I don’t own the type that can interpret Toyota Hybrid codes.

Anyways, this pointless and you’re actually resorting to the same tactics you criticized MaxxFuselage or MaxxVolts for repeatedly-blaming the end user! I don’t know every component of how my vehicle works and really not many do know all the intricacies of Toyota Hybrids as Toyota does but I do know that if I didn’t have a sense of smell as keen as I do, I could’ve had a vehicle fire.

There is no fuse in the Prolong Harness cooling fan circuitry controller and I’m not sure why the slow-blow harness fuse didn’t actually blow. I suspected the harness from the second time I smelled electrical burning on my long drive home but chose to drive with AC because I thought my fan or fans was actually shorted due to the faulty harness but wasn’t about to risk a fire in my hybrid battery compartment relying on a probably low quality 3.15amp slow-blow fuse to actually work since my Prolong Charger and harness have had problems from the beginning

I took my time over a 2 day period with prior reading and researching to make certain I was confident I could install the harness and multiple checking every detail of the instructions. I even called HA and spoke with George during my installation to verify that I was interpreting the instructions correctly at the cooling fan harness step! I was slow and methodical and didn’t want to screw up my vehicle or Prolong System obviously.

I asked HA in my email if there was something I could test in the harness cooling fan controller because I didn’t see any visible burns and knowing what to look for or what was the cause would definitely put my mind at ease about having 3 of them attached to my hybrid system

I was promoting Prolong on ToyotaNation because I do know the benefits it can provide. However, I’m completely dissatisfied as I was never even offered an RMA number to repair my defective harness

Perhaps you’re more comfortable than I, as you have experience and more knowledge about hybrid systems, with electrical burning coming from an area you can’t immediately see or access 130 miles away from home after a long day and it’s almost dark out and you don’t have the funds at the time to get it resolved elsewhere

So let’s also pretend that my cooling fan failed because of this electrical short. Would HA pay for the new part and installation? Not likely since that disclaimer is posted all over their website and products guides

But their product guide for installation is incredible and has helped me immensely with gaining access and information about my vehicle that’s difficult to find elsewhere online for my gen and model! And now I’d be able to replace my own cooling fan because of their thorough and comprehensive installation instructions.

I just want to know what in the cooling fan circuit controller green box failed and possibly why?? So maybe I can prevent it from happening again or know what to do if it does happen again and I’m in the backwoods of the backcountry somewhere without my full toolset or mobile phone service or any signal?

why does all of what I’m saying seem so unreasonable to you?? You automatically are defensive and supporting HA no matter that myself and others have not had successful warranty or technical support and you just cannot fathom this occurrence??

idk it seems like you’re best at when you actually help people on this forum instead of throw accusations and overlook ‘keywords’ but I need to research and attempt to use my Prolong system without the cooling fan controllers installed because I know the temps won’t be as hot as they were when I was driving around with a defective harness and instead I can just plug a fan into the wall, position and direct it towards my battery banks since my interior is still exterior and leave my doors and hatch open outside in 50-70 degree F temps night and day. But will the charger and discharger work without that signal from my cooling fans…therein lies the question!

 

If you are feeling blame, it is likely out of frustration and defensiveness. Nothing I said implied or could be inferred that I blamed you for the technical issue. I literally said, "some will fail," in reference to the fan controllers. The evidence I have seen indicates it's the likely culprit, and I have seen one other controller fail.

I have used my avenue of communication to reach out to Jeff to assist you in your efforts. EVERYTHING I have said has been with your best interest in mind to get you resolution and to ensure that you do not take a course of action that carries a significant risk of battery damage.

All I blame you for is 1) incorrectly establishing a link or any form or correlation between what happened with the MV charger and your issue, and 2) an inconsistent/unrealistic standard of reliability.

I am encouraging you to continue working with HA to resolve your issue.

I am discouraging you from what you seem hell bent to do. What you don't understand is that NiMH charging becomes very inefficient as they approach full. The portion not taken on as charge is released as heat. In air conditioned rooms, I have seen uninstalled batteries with more natural convective flow than would be available while installed hit 130°F as they approach full. In November, charging a Prius with ambient temps in the upper 30's resulted in pack temperatures in excess of 125°F. You are literally hurtling down a road leading to disaster thinking you can avert it. The charger outputs approximately 120W total power at peak voltage. Most of that is bled off as heat as the battery approaches full. How long do you think you could hold on to a 100W incandescent bulb? Maybe a few seconds before your hand sustains injury? It's a lot of energy input into a small volume into a large mass that does not readily shed heat without forced cooling. The ONLY way to get rid of the heat generated is by forced air.

I'll summarize and add a couple more, 5 options:

1. Get a working harness and use the system as intended.
2. Use the charger harness only, provide 10-20A charge current to the 12V battery, leave the car on and allow it to drive the fans as needed. This will require the car stay on for the duration of the charge - typically 24-30 hours from empty.
3. Remove the cover every time you want to charge and provide some means of blowing air down through each of the 3 subpacks during charge.
4. Buy 3 carpet dryers and aim them at each of the battery inlets. This should force enough airflow through each subpack to ensure they don't get too hot.
5. Remove the harness and make no attempt to use a grid charger.

But for the love of all that is holy, NEVER attempt to charge without forced air through the battery. Ever. It's like trying to see your fuel level in your gas tank by lighting a match.

Dozens of people in the Honda world already learned this lesson 5-10 years ago when DIY chargers were all the rage. Many batteries got cooked.

Note that fan operation is not required during DIScharge. Very little heat is produced in comparison to charging even when the discharge current is substantially higher.

Lastly, while I can't say with 100% confidence, I would be shocked if the system does NOT work with the 12V portion inactive. I don't know the full design of the Prolong system, but I'm familiar with the design it is derived from, and I can't see why the charger wouldn't work when the fan controller is disconnected. Additionally, I have used Prolong equipment in that fashion on an experimental basis (use outside the design intent for my own purposes), and I never encountered a situation where the charger failed to operate when the fan control system was disconnected. BUT, please don't attempt this unless you execute one of options 2, 3 or 4 above.

To repeat, I am not blaming you for this issue or accusing you of doing something wrong. I'm desperately trying to PREVENT you from doing something horrifically wrong (charging without active cooling forced through the battery).