On the rav4 prime, the battery air cooling vent is on the rear wall of the rear passenger footwell (on the non-driver side). But on our gen5 prius prime, there is nothing there. But yet, when I charge the car, I clearly hear a fan running, so there must be a vent somewhere. If yes, where is it? And, if there is indeed a batter cooling vent somewhere, is there a vent filter that should be checked, cleaned, and/or replaced?
Thanks, but I already searched. But I found no hits on the gen5 prime intake vent location and about my other questions (battery is not on the same place as on a hybrid, I think).
The Gen5 PP is unlike earlier Gens when it comes to traction battery cooling. It does not use air to cool the battery. It uses the cars climate control system and heat pump to cool/heat the traction battery as needed. There is no air vent or fan or filter. The noise you hear when you charge the Traction Battery is a fan on a small inverter located in the hatch area of the car that provides some 12v power when the traction battery is being charged. I could not find an air duct or exhaust port for this device fan. The 2023 & 24 traction battery is not inside the car, it is under the car and accessed and serviced by getting under the car and accessing it like an older transmission or transfer case. It gets disconnected electrically and climate control lines disconnected, and then is lowered from the bottom side of the car to the shop floor.
The battery is outside the cabin on the Prime. The gas tank actually sits above it. "The noise you hear when you charge the Traction Battery is a fan on a small inverter located in the hatch area of the car that provides some 12v power when the traction battery is being charged." It also supplies 12V power while the car is running; it's the alternator replacement. It is also under the rear seat of the Rav4 Prime, which that vent is for. There might also be the onboard charger being serviced by that fan.
There is no alternator in a PP (as you know). When the car is in READY mode, the 12v Inverter/charger (part of the Traction battery inverter) provides 12v power to run the 12v system in the car and charge the 12v battery It is located under the hood, next to the fuse box assembly.
I did say that 'it'(the DC to DC converter) replaced the alternator. Can't run an off the shelf car radio or spark plugs off the 400V to 800V coming from a hybrid battery.
The DC-DC Converter that supplies 12v DC to run the car when in the ready mode is adjacent to the DC-AC converter under the hood. I don't think the DC-DC converter in the back of the car is used except during traction battery charging effort by AC power source.
That sounds like being unnecessary. If so, why is a fan running in the back while the car is in ready? The converter isn't getting hot when not being used?
There isn't a fan running in the back in ready in the PHEV. In the HEV there is, but that's cooling the battery. The PHEV has the standard main DC-DC converter in the drive system, and it needs a second auxiliary one for use when charging, because the drive system's high voltage section is isolated from the HV battery while charging.
