I was stuck in traffic the other day stop and go deal. Outside temp is 93, had the AC set to 68. I notice the bars where dropping fast. When they got to the last 2 I turned off the air an opened up the window. Very slowly they came back up. I noticed as soon as I hit the gas, even at a crawling speed the engine would come on then shut off as soon as I took my foot off the gas. At no time during the 20-30 minutes of stop and go did the engine seem to come on just to charge. Do I have a problem? or is that normal?
Sounds normal to me. I go down to 2 bars a few times a week. I've never got it any lower than that and i've tried but i'm sure it can be done.
Totally normal, your car is working as designed. Just leave the AC on and drive normally. The ICE will keep the battery charged to a nominal level when necessary, it will never let it drain to a dangerously low level.
All new owners experience the 2 bars. Sometimes it's from extreme hot. Sometimes extreme cold. None of the time is it ever a problem. Though first-time gitters do fill you with anxiety. It's perfectly normal behavior for a "full" hybrid.
What about no bars on the consumption screen? Stuck in traffic. Segment before normal-about 40or 45 mpg, then a blank , then 100 mpg segment! Battery never went below 4bars.
That's normal. With help of CAN-View, I can see when the SOC approach 40% (less than 45%), the engine will charge the battery whenever it has a chance. Meaning that once the car starts to move, ICE will run to move the car and charge the battery at the same time (your case). When SOC is dropped to 40%, the ICE will run to charge the battery no matter what the condition is (car moving or not).
Has anyone ever charged the battery fully? I have gotten it to seven bars. I was just wondering if it is possible and if so, what color are the bars? Also, what color are the bars when it gets to 1 bar?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mr. Clean @ Jun 23 2006, 01:31 PM) [snapback]275882[/snapback]</div> Going down a long hill. I could then hear it dumping? power.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(barbaram @ Jun 23 2006, 01:18 PM) [snapback]275875[/snapback]</div> Also totally normal. I experienced that once, asked about it here, and was told not to worry. You Prius is smarter than all of us put together. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FJRCRAZED @ Jun 23 2006, 01:09 PM) [snapback]275862[/snapback]</div> Glad to see somebody talking about purple bars. Whenever this subject has come up before, people always talk about pink bars. I was beginning to think I had a color perception problem. Is purple new for 2006? New for Gen II?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoVaSnow @ Jun 23 2006, 01:51 PM) [snapback]275894[/snapback]</div> I think on the womens car their pink :lol:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FJRCRAZED @ Jun 23 2006, 10:57 AM) [snapback]275899[/snapback]</div> when it's a pink bar with a plus, it means your pregnant... :blink: Seriously, I get purple and have never seen pink yet, but don't really sweat it.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FJRCRAZED @ Jun 23 2006, 10:09 AM) [snapback]275862[/snapback]</div> Try turning our AC temperature higher to something like 77. The AC in the Prius is automatic, and will tune the compressor to "max cold" to reach your target temperature if it needs unlike normal cars where you have to set it to "max cold" usually. You should find 77F just as comfortable. The rule for the Prius's AC is it will turn on with any temperature target setting below outside ambient, and usually add +8-10F to what you would normally like it with the AC off. I driven comfortably in 80-102F with temperature target set to 78F (I also have tint). When I turn off AC, I immediately drop the temperature target 8F because of that weird gap.
purple, pink, it's the same thing we're talking about. There are only three colours - green, blue and.. well whatever you want to call the last set.. purple or pink.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Jun 23 2006, 02:40 PM) [snapback]275922[/snapback]</div> I believe that this actually changed on the '06. On a couple (rare) occations, I've seen the pink bars on my ('05) Prius. However, I saw a picture that someone posted here that *definately* had purple bars.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ecprius @ Jun 23 2006, 02:22 PM) [snapback]275945[/snapback]</div> The colors of the battery SOC bars is the same no matter what your background color is set at. That said, our minds/eyes perceive colors differently depending upon the colors around it. IOW, the pink is the same if you block out all surrounding colors, but when the background is set to blue it will appear different than when the background is set to tan.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FJRCRAZED @ Jun 23 2006, 01:09 PM) [snapback]275862[/snapback]</div> Right there, that's the problem. When you're stuck in traffic while using the AC in hot weather and not giving the ICE much chance to charge the main battery, you're going to exhaust the battery pretty quickly. There just isn't enough charge in the battery to power the A/C at full blast, or in hot heat, for very long.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonnycat26 @ Jun 23 2006, 04:25 PM) [snapback]275970[/snapback]</div> Are you saying I should not be using the AC if I'm stuck traffic? That was my point from my 1st post. The engine did not seem to run to charge the battery at all. If thats true I might as will ride my cycle to work.
It happened to me once. I hit a very long traffic jam and the HV battery got to the last two bars. It was annoying how the ICE came on, just to gain 2 mph. I know how the Civic hybrid drivers feel now. Dennis
