So I met my wife after work. She decided to get her nails done so I was killing some time with my son. We drove across the street, then to a neighboring shopping center. I changed the display to see the more accurate instant MPG and noticed my battery was at 2 bars. This is he first time that's happened, that I'm aware of. During normal operation, it stays at 2 bars above the halfway mark, or above. Is this normal behavior? I've owned the car about 2 months. It was 93 degrees this afternoon and I had the a/c set at 75. I may have sat for a few minutes with the car on and a/c running between the short trips. Xoom ? 2
Yep, normal. Low speed, a/c on, it was using the battery. Once the battery is low enough it'll cycle the engine on and off to maintain. The computer will manage all battery levels so don't worry about watching the battery display quite honestly.
Yep. Totally normal. Having the AC on will really speed up the drain on the HV battery vs. not having it on. See Significant drop in mpg with AC | PriusChat for figures about idle draw with AC on/off.
That's what I did. I did notice the engine running more than normal. I was just alarmed because I'd never seen the battery that low. Thanks so much for the replies guys!
Your battery has been alot lower than that you just never noticed. Lowest it will go and then force the engine to come on is one purple bar. I see that alot. That low level is very easy to achieve just sitting at a drive through with the ac on max, radio on, lights on etc. Or lugging around town lots of short stop & go. You will feel that one purple bar charge level immed when you pull away from the restaurant as a lack of power. When this happens take it easy on the car don't speed and drive about 30-40 mph's if you can and induce regen if you can. It will take about half a mile to get back up to 2 bars and your good to go. Extremely common and not a problem. One purple bar and engine comes on when your stopped ususally.
I think we're seeing more of these reports with the record high heat. Even without using AC on Max setting the system must run much harder which will drain the battery charge down fairly quickly when not in steady state driving (ie. highway). so long as with regular driving the SOC gradually returns to normal levels (blue) you're fine.
