No ICE charging at 2 bars

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Former Member 68813, Oct 19, 2016.

  1. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    this is new behavior to me, while i don't see 2 bars often (i try not to discharge HV too often to prevent cycling), the ICE kicks in and takes it up to 3 bars. this is normal, right?

    yesterday i was stuck in bad traffic with AC on and i hit 2 bars and no ICE action, i waited at least a couple of minutes worried it would go down to 1 bar but it didn't, just stayed at 2. then i pressed gas pedal, ICE started and shut down as soon as we stopped again, all the time at 2 bars. that happened several times before the traffic started moving again and the battery charge slowly went up with regenerative braking to the usual level and it stayed since.

    Wth? is the HV charge meter malfunctioning, or is my HV battery flaky already (6 years and 80,000+ miles of hot climate). BTW, the battery was not hot, there was no fan action whatsoever.

    EDIT: Interesting how the auto censor changes from "What the F" to "Wth"
     
    #1 Former Member 68813, Oct 19, 2016
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    hard to be sure, did you try not hitting the pedal to see what would happen?
     
    #2 bisco, Oct 19, 2016
  3. Maarten28

    Maarten28 Active Member

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    So... your Prius behaved normal. What's the problem?
    If you're stationary at 2 bars, it does not need to recharge. Even when driving it takes a while after dropping from 3 to 2 bars before the ICE comes on. Your Prius never got to 1 bar because of your actions. It very, very likely would not have gone to 1 bar if you would have let it do its thing.
     
    #3 Maarten28, Oct 20, 2016
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  4. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    no, because the traffic was inching up from time to time.

    no, in my experience it was not normal. in my experience, ICE starts as soon as you hit 2 bars (regardless if stationary or not) and doesn't stop until you reach 3 bars (usually it takes a long time). this was unusual to me because ICE didn't start at 2 bars and stopped before reaching 3 bars.

    i guess it's possible your car works a bit differently.

    BTW, i got lower trip MPG on that day (48, worst ever in city for me), only 50MPG next day after, and only today it's inching back to the high 50's that i usually get these days. it could be a coincidence i guess.
     
    #4 Former Member 68813, Oct 20, 2016
  5. Montgomery

    Montgomery Senior Member

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    Actually, my car has done the same thing occasionally. First time I got real nervous, as my trip was a short one and I thought my battery would be too low to drive the car. But when I returned to my car, it was at half bars. I think what the computer is doing is trying to optimize your mileage.
     
    #5 Montgomery, Oct 20, 2016
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    That's my experience too.
     
    #6 Mendel Leisk, Oct 20, 2016
  7. kc410

    kc410 Active Member

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    The dash battery discharge gauge is slow to respond (somewhere around every 10 sec).
    Using Torque & monitoring the traction battery SoC (State of Charge), during discharge, somewhere around 44-45% SoC the battery gauge will drop to 2 bars. It will stay at 2 bars during a continuing discharge & the engine will not start until the SoC drops _below_ 40%.
    This means that with the traction battery reporting a SoC of 40.0% the dash display will show 2 bars & the engine will not start (due to low battery). The SoC _must_ drop below 40.0% to force the engine to start (due to low battery) & recharge the traction battery.
    I have watched this action a number of times camping or resting at a rest area with the AC running.
     
    #7 kc410, Oct 20, 2016
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  8. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    Today i noticed another anomaly. I was costing downhill with little EV used when suddenly HV meter went down to 2 bars. this time ICE started within seconds of 2 bars even though no AC or heater at this time. the ICE stopped at 3 bars. this is a second time i'm seeing HV dropping to 2 bars for no good reason. The situation above not included, because i was stopped with AC on, i'll dust my old Win XP laptop and techstream cable to check things tonight.
     
    #8 Former Member 68813, Oct 26, 2016
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    are you suspecting a bad cell?
     
    #9 bisco, Oct 26, 2016
  10. jeff652

    jeff652 Senior Member

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    Time to start caring for your hybrid battery . . . before it's too late
    How do I know if my hybrid battery is failing? - Hybrid Automotive
     
    #10 jeff652, Oct 27, 2016
  11. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    thanks Jeff. i will do it after warranty expires in 2 years. i would hate to invalidate the warranty.
     
    #11 Former Member 68813, Oct 27, 2016
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  12. jeff652

    jeff652 Senior Member

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    Yeah, fair concern. We hear this often. Toyota will not invalidate the warranty unless the modification is determined to be the cause of the problem. Toyota took this stance several years ago when companies were doing the PHEV conversions to the Gen2 Prius.

    We are releasing a plug-and-play harness in a couple weeks that will not require any cutting/modification of the OEM wires. Would be very easy for someone to remove who wants the peace of mind of no harness when taking the vehicle to the dealer for warranty work.
     
    #12 jeff652, Oct 27, 2016
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2016
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  13. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    WOW, that will be the deciding factor for many folks.
     
    #13 fotomoto, Oct 27, 2016
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  14. orlywon

    orlywon Member

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    I'm going to be installing the new harness in my 2010, hopefully this weekend (Thanks Jeff!). If anyone is interested, I can upload some pics of the new harness along with the finished install.
     
    #14 orlywon, Oct 29, 2016
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  15. RyanM

    RyanM Member

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    In my 2010 I have seen it go to 2 bars many times. Never seen it go to one bar. At 2 bars it won't stay there too long because the ICE usually comes on after a few mph
     
    #15 RyanM, Nov 12, 2016
  16. jeff652

    jeff652 Senior Member

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    All Toyota orders are now shipping with plug-and-play Prolong Battery System Car Harnesses :)
     
    #16 jeff652, Nov 13, 2016
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