I drove to a store and used her car because the streets are quite hilly and I have a manual tranny Camry. I went into the store, came out and got into the car and started to drive. The traction battery bar was down to purple, the second from the end. I drove around a bit on side streets, coasted a lot down hills (I know the area well) and applied the brake when needed and got it back to FULL pretty quickly (10 minutes). All I can think of is I pushed the power button, but not quite enough and it was still on when I exited the car. Does this make sense. Has been a couple of weeks and no issues and no check/warning lights.
two purple is normal. you may have left it on, but it doesn't matter. prius takes care of itself, you don't have to go through any gymnastics to try and control battery charge.
If you'd left it "ON" and with the A/C running (on a hot, humid day), the SoC might get down to 2 Purples in pretty short order! A couple of trips around the block would have sorted out things, but you (or wifey) might want to keep tabs on things (…just in case!) (…and it might behoove you to read up on Grid-Charging (…see Prolong Battery Systems. Extending the life of your hybrid. – Hybrid Automotive ) - hope this helps - Wil
Bisco is totally right. I hardly ever drive this thing and when I do, I keep (more than I should) an eye on the battery bar, always try to keep it in green. And, I could "almost" swear when it was parked it was in blue? Well, if as you all say, it is O.K., I am fine with that. Me, I much prefer driving the manual Camry (except on those downtown Seattle streets that have a grade that is, well, not really straight-up, but seems like it is).
Correct as previously stated, 2 bars is part of the normal cycle. If you are stuck in heavy traffic, the engine will start cycling on and off at 2 bars to recharge the battery even if the car is not moving. The only time it will intentionally go under that is if you run out of gas, which I accidently did again last nite. I had to make an unexpected trip across town at 3am, and when I went to get back on the freeway my gas was empty but the gas station there was taped off by police officers. Crime scene. I got back on the highway and it started chugging as I approached another exit. Fortunately by then I had over a half charge in reserve. There wasn't a station right at the exit, but I made it another 2 miles with full dash lights lit up before it shut down on one bar as I coasted up to a gas pump. After I filled up it started right up, got back on the freeway and it took about 5 miles to move off one bar. By the end of the 10 mile highway, I was up to a full solid green charge, and a 51 mpg rating on the fresh tank. A truly amazing vehicle I tell you.
