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Traction Battery Charge

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Prius2U, Jan 29, 2013.

  1. Prius2U

    Prius2U New Member

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    Starting today my battery seems to only charge to six bars. I have only had the 08 Prius since the beginning of the month and it only had 56K miles on it. I noticed from day one the traction battery seemed to only charge to seven bars, one shy of being all bars but still green. I drive 160 miles round trip each day on the expressway. The battery use to charge and turn green within 10 or 15 minutes on the expressway but now it doesn't turn green at all, stays blue, until I get into city road driving. It doesn't take long to turn blue again on battery. It seems to want to direct to "charge" more than use battery on 30-35 mph roads in the morning. Do I have a battery issue? I am getting my recall work done on Feb 15th and will be past the 60K warranty. The dealer said the battery is 1o years or 100K and they would look at it then. Your thoughts?

    Thanks guys.
     
  2. PriusGuy32

    PriusGuy32 Prius Driver Extraordinaire

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    Sounds perfectly normal to me. Search the site - the battery is designed to spend most of its time in the "blue".
     
  3. Prius2U

    Prius2U New Member

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    Even after an hour of highway driving at 70 MPH? If so, then I feel more relieved. It was just more"in the green" before now. (there is a pun in there too).

    I am loving the car and this forum. Always been a BMW guy until I got this car. I did a search before I asked but there are so many opinons that its tuff to get a clear picture sometimes.
     
  4. PriusGuy32

    PriusGuy32 Prius Driver Extraordinaire

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    Haha yeah PC is a GREAT site, and Im pretty new here myself (Sept) but with all of the knowledge here, Ive been edu-ma-cated and brought up to speed on the Prius pretty quick :D

    And to answer your question, yup even on the highway. The Prius is designed to keep the traction battery in good health as a top priority. You just gotta learn to trust that the thing knows what its doing, took me a while too to figure out its behavior and patterns.
     
  5. nh7o

    nh7o Off grid since 1980

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    All green bars is actually an 80% charge level, and one purple bar is about 40% charge level. The car keeps to those limits to maximize battery life. Sometimes there is a relearning cycle that occurs, where the battery control will dump and charge more aggressively for a short while, so it will show more change on the display. But normal flat land driving hangs at 6 blue bars, as stated. You won't see all green bars unless you go downhill a ways.
     
  6. Prius2U

    Prius2U New Member

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    This is good to know. I guess PriusGuy32 is right...I gotta learn to trust it knows more than me. I been having a blast on this site. I modded my fog lights using "justdidit" posting. Replaced all the interior lights with LEDs so I could see in the dark. Installed XM radio. Updated the nav maps..... AND learned to glide....got 52 mpg on day on the way to work. I just ordered the OBDII/bluetooth so I can use my old Samsung Galaxy with Torque app. The wife thinks I need to slow down a little.
     
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  7. HaroldW

    HaroldW Active Member

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    If you won't to charge it, just park and hold your foot on the brake and press the throttle to the floor and charge her up! Does not take long for full green.:) H
     
  8. boppo

    boppo Active Member

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    You can tell your wife that all the money you are saving on gas lets you buy some extra stuff for the car.
     
  9. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    You want some room in the HV battery so you can get regeneration from braking. If the battery 'fills' the computer do not let you regen anymore.
     
  10. Enzo

    Enzo New Member

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    Sorry for thread jacking but my 04 seem to do the opposite. Its almost always green and charging even when im on the gas going 60-80mph. The hv battery only depletes on long inclines. It gets down to one bar once in a while. I feel like my hv battery is ALWAYS charging even when its all green and full bars on flat roads with my foot light on throttle. No climate control fan or AC on. Any input????
     
  11. PriusGuy32

    PriusGuy32 Prius Driver Extraordinaire

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    The ECU is a man with a plan...you just have to trust it.

    Guaranteed if there is ever even a small problem with your traction battery, you will know it. Any by that I mean every light on your dash with illuminate like a christmas tree.
     
  12. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    Enzo,
    Read this (specifically the stages, become familiar with them).
    I'll bet you're not allowing the car to go into S4 and this is most likely the reason your car always appears to be charging.
     

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  13. Prius2U

    Prius2U New Member

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    I had the Christmas Tree when my 12v ACC battery died. Obviously being new to the hybrid world....I freaked. Once I figured out what was going on, I got an Optima.
     
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  14. Enzo

    Enzo New Member

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    I know the energy screen is not completely accurate but its weird seeing it continuously going in and out of charge even with full greens. It makes me feel like the hv is weak so it demands to be charged on a regular basis.
     
  15. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Are you seeing a 1.5 second cycle of charged as much as the Computer thinks is 'full' then using just a hair and the Computer recharging? That is normal
     
  16. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    As the other's have stated, your battery is working the way it is supposed to. You state "no climate control or AC on". With that one fact it should be clear that you are not putting any real load on the system. Therefore, it becomes real easy for the traction battery to get to the green 7th bar when you are going down the highway at the speeds you do. Also the battery will normally drop down going up a long incline. That is because the motor generator is using power from the traction battery to assist the ICE (gas engine) to get you up that hill.

    If you had problems with the traction battery, you would know it. Your dash would be lit up like a christmas tree.

    Long story short. Don't worry about it. Enjoy the MPG and the ride. And when you refuel, take the time to look at the price you paid and compare it to the guy next to you filling up that big SUV. The difference is night and day.

    Ron
     
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  17. Enzo

    Enzo New Member

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    Thanks. I came from a first gen insight so I guess I'm just not used to having full 7 and sometimes even 8 bars while I'm keeping steady on the gas pedal. I assumed the battery would help the ICE when on gas and charge when let off. And what's with everyone saying blue is the healthy spot? Green is still 70-80% SOC so why is 50-60 any better?

    I'm getting my recalls done next week so I might talk to the tech about it and hear his/her opinion.
     
  18. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    Battery longevity I would suspect. It is well known that ANY battery will last longer if it not cycled completely. I know this much, the system is designed to allow some room for regeneration. If you fill the battery, then the Prius will go into B mode which will cause the motor generators to spin the engine to eliminate the excessive charge. It seems that in B mode, the Prius is not operating at top efficiency (MPG suffers).

    There are other's who are more knowledgeable than myself on this board. The above is based on my understanding of how the Prius operates. YMMV.

    Ron