When I turn on the climate control to 'Auto', it automatically turns the A/C on (even though the temp is set to 73 degrees) and the air flow is set towards my feet. On pg 741 it indicates that I can set this to off, could not find how to do this, any thoughts? If it means that when I turn on Auto and then press a/c off I have done that. I want to to automatically turn on climate without the a/c and the air flow towards my face. Thanks
Let me rephrase it. I don't want to press all these buttons when on Pg 741 it indicates i can customize it, does anyone know where I can do this? Thanks Or maybe there isn't a way of doing this customization.
On page 739 of the owners manual, it shows that you can change if selecting Auto will trigger AC or not. On 7 inch screen APPS > SETUP > VEHICLE and on 11.6 inch screen MENU > SETTINGS > VEHICLE. On past generations of Prius this could only be changed by dealer or if you could get Techstream software working on your own.
Thank you. All set, though I did not see on pg 739 these exact instructions or close to it. I do appreciate the info.
Chazz8, I found the pages and i incorrectly indicated the wrong page. On page 739 is the info on what to set and page 733 indicates how to do it. Just an fyi
Ignore the A/C light. The compressor only runs when the system wants to cool the car or front "defrost" is turned on. If you put the set temp. high enough the car will not try to cool the interior, only heat it. In other words, we have the true meaning of "air conditioning". The air is conditioned to your desire, it could be heated not just cooled.
Not if AC is turned off. Much like if you set your home heat pump thermostat to Heat. It will not cool.
Engine, if you had a cold start in the morning with 100% battery. The engine will kick on, that’s why they give you heater seats. So the engine does not need to come on. If this car had an electric heater it will drain the battery and lose on its range.
so.....when you turn on climate when in EV mode the engine provides the heat? The Prime does have an electric heater it uses a heat pump to extract heat from the atmosphere, Toyota says it's more efficient than extracting resistance heat from the battery. How does the heat pump work in a Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid? | PriusChat
No wonder we had a huge dash, I was wondering why they design a car with a dash not optimized the view spaces in the front.
Heat pumps do not work at cold temperatures, so the Prime has to have a secondary source of heat (either engine coolant or resistance heater).
The heat pump provides heat in temperatures down to at least 14F. Whether the A/C button is selected is immaterial to that. The secondary source of heat in the Prime is running the ICE to produce hot coolant. This is almost always unnecessary in temperatures of 14F or higher.
Yesterday was sorta of a mild day temperature wise, and I decided that I could go without a heater. It was 58 outside and my cars temperature was set at 65. I normally use the auto setting, and it had the air conditioner on as the heater. So I turned the hvac off, auto also turns it's self off when I did that, then I lowered the fan speed. I did not use the off button. Later, while I was driving home, my hand passed by an air vent and I noticed warm air coming out. My ICE hasn't turned on for weeks. So it appears that there is resistance heating. I was hoping for the "vent" switch like in the pickup truck, that just opens a flap allowing fresh air in, no heating or cooling. In a prius, you don't get that ? Or, do I have to (also) set the temperature to below outside ambient ? If I did that, then if I turn auto on again I'd better remember to turn the temperature up ! If I crack the windows, I get a really annoying low frequency pulsing at 3 or 4 Hz. There must be an easier way to get a little fresh air !
The best test is to look at one of the energy flow displays to see if the HVAC is taking power. I checked the circuit schematic and could not find resistance heaters like the earlier Prius in the Prime. Bob Wilson
