Traction batteries low when on freeway

sounds normal for a 13 year old battery

 

Might think about a top balance on the HV battery before something goes south. Have you had a chance to peek inside the pack yet?

 

I'm not sure I agree. The sign of a weak HV battery is rapidly going from a full charge (80%) to a full discharge (40%) and back again to a full charge, not being stuck at a low level of charge.

OP, will the display show 6 or 7 bars if you force-charge it?

We had an issue with our Gen 2 not charging the HV battery when (through an oversight) we had different size tires on our front wheels vs. the back wheels. When we got onto the highway and got above ~55 mph, the Traction Control light came on and the HV battery began to discharge. Once we replaced the rear tires to match the front tires, the problem went away. Having had that experience, I have to wonder if even having a different level of wear on the same size tires front vs. back might cause something like that, but I would expect to see the TC light come on if such were the case. OP, your car wouldn't happen to be showing the Traction Control light when it gets above a certain speed, would it?

 

You want the bar smack dab in the middle, not up in the green bars.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

When you are coming down a long grade with foot off the gas (and if required, a bit of brake pedal applied to hold your speed), it is possible and desirable to get in the green. You could also get in the green if you get a lot of stopping for red lights when doing anticipatory braking on the highway.

On a healthy battery, 6 bars (3rd from the top and top blue bar) is where the car likes to keep it.

 

Battery sounds exactly like mine at 13 years old. Post mileage on your car. Your hybrid battery is on life support. The hybrid battery is no longer supplying sufficient power to the car so you have to drive the engine much much harder so keep an eye on the engine oil level. When the hybrid battery no longer contributes power the engine has to supply all the power. soon you will have to floor it to go anywhere.

You can buy a Prolong hybrid battery Charger and bring it back to life. If not you will be one of thousands who need a new battery or rebuilt there battery. Use search forum tab up top and search hybrid battery to see what we are all going through.

Im on my third year of Prolong charging. if you get to the battery before it throws the RTOD red triangle of death it can respond very well to a discharge/charge and get you another year or 2. If it throws that too late time for rebuild.

 

Think we've found the problem. If you have warning lights on the dash, then you have DTCs (codes) stored in the ECUs.

Once you have scanned and recorded the OBD2 codes (DTCs), post them in this thread for further guidance.

 

You can do the above via either of the options below (and there are others) :

Many here prefer to use toyota dealer grade software to scan for OBD2 codes or repair. Buy a mini-vci cable and use a copy of techstream (dealer software) on a device that is windows and usb compatible, or you can also emulate such.

If the above is too much, consider a OBD2 blue tooth adapter with an app like Hybrid Assistant/Reporter or the app Dr Prius/Hybrid, or Torque

 

That would be 14 Blocks (28 modules). Each module has 6 cells, but you cannot get to them.

 

I will try a top balance if you can get you hands on a grip charger, I did it on my 06 because i feel the same about my car before now after the grip charger top balance several times I can archive real easy 6 bars and even green bars, I will take a look inside the hybrid pack just to make sure the bus bars are not in need of a good clean, something else if you do the grip charge you can drain the hybrid pack lower than 40% just by putting the car on N and will help to archive a better results, just be careful no to damage a cell by going way to low, I used dr Prius app to help the process, my battery before top balance was 27% and now after bus bars clean and top balance it’s now 59% battery capacity left according to dr Prius app.

 

I have my from hybrid automotive, not cheap but it will extend the life of you already aged hybrid battery as long you still have good cells, (if you have dead cells it will not help), so what it does it balance the battery (top balance) and it eliminates the memory effect on the hybrid battery pack create because the car only charge-discharge 40% to 80% on Toyota, if you don’t buy the discharger you still can discharge under 40% just by putting the car on “N” just monitor the volts of the cells with dr Prius app.