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Why does my battery only charge to 46% in ready mode?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by ghostwheel, Jun 15, 2021.

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  1. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Why would the car use (waste) fuel to charge up the HV battery any more than minimally needed if you aren't driving any where?

    Everything is designed for mpg- if the car don't go nowhere then you have 0 mpg.


    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #21 mr_guy_mann, Jun 15, 2021
    Skibob and Leadfoot J. McCoalroller like this.
  2. ghostwheel

    ghostwheel Junior Member

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    Yes, you are right. A part of any energy put into the battery is wasted. I just wish there was a way to adjust that. It would come in handy in other situations - like when I know I'm approaching a mountain and would like a full battery at the bottom. I guess in terms of MPG it probably would still be a waste.
     
    #22 ghostwheel, Jun 15, 2021
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2021
  3. ghostwheel

    ghostwheel Junior Member

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    OK, I ran a Dr Prius test (before doing anything to the battery. I might need for colder weather for doing anything)
    It says 60%, fair condition. Not too bad (well, at least not poor - 40-50%, and not needs replacement soon <40%). I wonder what it'll look like after deep cycling.

    I'd like to understand two things. Maybe one thing. Others have reported slower cycles than what I saw with A/C on. Is it really the battery? And second, it seems the cycling depends on the draw, with the non-intuitive result that smaller draw causes less charging, so less capacity available, and possibly faster ICE cycle. How can I achieve the slowest cycles possible? I'll try to play with it some more.
     
    #23 ghostwheel, Jun 15, 2021
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2021
  4. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    First, "Battery University" is not a real University.......but most of the information there is really good.
    Second, that article is about Nickel Cadmium cells. Which Prius uses that kind of battery ?
    Hint: None.
    Care to try again ??
     
    #24 sam spade 2, Jun 23, 2021
  5. drone13

    drone13 Active Member

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    It would have been great if Toyota engineers had programmed in a camping mode where if the car was stationary and the camping mode button was pushed it would start charging at the normal low level of around 2 bars and continue to continue to charge until a 60 or 70% charge at a low rpm on the ICE. It wouldn't matter if your HV pack was new or getting tired, it would provide a much longer no charge period than the logic used now. Of course the ICE would run longer too, but at low RPMs that wouldn't bother me much. I would love a feature like this for when I have to pull over and work with a client for 45 minutes on my cell phone with the A/C blasting.
     
    #25 drone13, Jun 23, 2021
  6. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    They've done it. There's a "Room Mode" on some of their newest hybrids. I'm not aware of any plan to retrofit the feature into older ones.
     
    #26 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Jun 23, 2021
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