Engine doesn't start to charge hybrid battery in heavy traffic/parked only.

Are you pulling off and making the car start a second before it would start anyway? I haven't tried this in my car recently I will It's an '09 same car basically.

 

Are you leaving it in gear........or have you recently started putting it in Park when stopped ?

I have noticed that my C works differently when in Park but still "running".

 

No my Gen 2 sitting in a parking lot say with the air conditioner running which I never do but I have done it before just to watch what happens. In my situation and near 100° weather in Central North Carolina I'll be sitting in the car in the parking lot with the air conditioning on the car and park me preoccupied with God knows what and then after I don't even know how long 8 9 minutes something like that maybe a little less the engine will just come on I don't even look up at the display or I don't have it or I'm not paying attention to what the battery monitor is saying but it gets very close to the first lines of magenta and by the time I noticed that on the display the engine is fired up already and the magenta is turning to blue It's almost as fast as I say it. And it'll do this as long as I'm sitting there in that spot with a load on air conditioning something.

 

If the engine doesn’t start, the battery will die, so i think it’s operating normally

 

idk what you mean. the battery can't start the car if it is depleted?

in the 3 pri i've owned, the battery always drops to 2 bars in stop and go traffic. then, the engine eventually fires for a minute or three

 

I really hope that you dont put the car in NEUTRAL when you are parked for long. The car wont charge hybrid battery when in neutral.

Alternately, use an OBD2 and see the exact SOC. It isnt necessary that as soon as the car hits the 2 bars, the engine will start

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

This sounds like totally normal behaviour to me unless you are saying that if you just remain stopped the battery drops to one pink bar then no pink bars and the engine never comes on to charge the battery back up to the third (blue) bar.

 

Oops. I meant to say NEUTRAL.
It might be a little different in PARK but it doesn't charge at all in N.

 

That's normal behavior. The car won't "waste" gas by keeping the HV battery charged up if you're not going anywhere.

Drive at a steady cruise and the battery "gauge" usually stays at 6-7 bars depending on your terrain. When you're moving the hybrid control ecu aims for about 65% State Of Charge.

In bumper to bumper traffic, or remain "ready" while parked, the ecu will let the SOC go down to around 45% (1-2 bars) before starting engine just long enough to charge maybe 1 bar.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

True. "P" is the same as stopped in "D," as far as charging is concerned. It can't charge while stopped in "N." That would require delivering mechanical power, hence torque, to motor-generator #1 (aka, MG1) through the transmission's planetary gearset---which is inherently incapable of transmitting power to its gear that's connected to MG1, at the same time zero torque (the definition of "N," pretty much) is delivered to its gear that's connected to the wheels.

 

True to a degree.
But none of mine have ever gotten THAT low before starting to charge.

 

It may depend on the health of the battery

 

Just to refresh my memory, how many Gen 2s have you owned or driven?

For a Gen 2, just sitting it will not start the engine to charge until it reaches the second (from the bottom) bar which is colored purple (or some call it pink). and will charge only charge up until the third bar (or first blue bar). So, yes, it is normal behavior for a Gen 2.

 

STUFF IT.
Some things are the same and some aren't.

So, 16 replies in and we get the right answer.
Apparently he just had not noticed it before ??

Pretty typical for a "conversation" but it can be done without insults.

 

Is that an oem hybrid battery?

I can’t remember my 2008 behavior exactly.
If it started while my foot was on the brake, after I released it, or when I stepped on the accelerator.
Dolj drives one and should know exactly .
If it’s not the battery, might be an ecu or corrosion

 

Under certain conditions, it is normal for the battery display to get down to one bar before the engine starts to recharge it. With just one bar remaining, it is actually not even close to being "depleted", still having at least 40% State of Charge (SOC). See the following illustration:


But it does not always go down to one bar before the engine starts to recharge it. There are several things, and combinations of things, that can cause the engine to start before it gets down that far. For example, engine coolant temperature too low, battery temperature too low or too high, HVAC temperature setting too low or too high, defroster setting, catalytic converter temperature too low, and maybe some more parameters that I am not aware of.