My wife and I were about 15 minutes into a movie at the drive-in (after setting for about 45 min before movie started) when our 2017 Prius 3 said it was shutting the power off to conserve the battery? What could we have done to avoid this? Is not going to drive-in movies something we have to accept as proud owners of a Prius?
Make sure your car was not in accessory mode or just with the ignition on. The car needs to be powered on running off the HV battery. In other words, press the brake and then the power button to start the car. Leave it like this while at the drive in. When the car is only with the ignition on or in accessory mode, the car is running on power off the 12V battery. The car was just trying to keep you from getting a dead 12V battery.
Leave the car with the ignition on, on Park. That will avoid using the small 12V battery and allow the car to use the much bigger High Voltage one. On a normal car, BTW you would have probably ended with a dead battery if you left it like this time with the Prius in accessory mode only...
They likely had the car in Accessory mode possibly with air conditioning running. The 12 volt battery does not charge in that mode. They should have left the car in Ready mode in Park. It was shutting down to save enough charge in the 12 volt battery to reach Ready mode and get recharged. It saved itself from full discharge.
Possibly the entertainment system - I think I read that you now pick up the movie audio via FM Radio these days, though I don't know how it works - do they still have these, but use BlueTeeth or WiFi instead?
True in U.S. also, AC will only work in READY mode, although you can run the fan in ON mode. I suspect that the OP was in ON mode, which even without the fan running will deplete the 12V much faster than ACCESSORY mode. ACCESSORY - you can run the radio. ON - you can also run the fan and windows READY - you can also run AC (and drive the car if you want). When not pressing the brake pedal the power switch sequence is OFF -> ACC -> ON -> OFF Pressing the brake pedal while pressing the power switch in any mode takes it directly to READY If you are just sitting still in READY mode for any length of time, as the traction battery depletes ICE will come on every once in a while to recharge it. Having AC running while you are sitting still will increase the frequence of ICE coming on.
welcome to priuschat! leave her in 'ready', and enjoy the movie. btw, you're lucky they added that message. in the olden days, you would have been stuck with a dead battery. you may want to read up on auto car washes as well. all the best!
From Wikipedia: "Originally, a (drive-in) movie's sound was provided by speakers on the screen and later by an individual speaker hung from the window of each car, which would be attached by a wire. This system was superseded by the more economical and less damage-prone method of broadcasting the soundtrack at a low output power on AM or FM radio to be picked up by a car radio. This method also allows the soundtrack to be picked up in stereo by the audience on an often high-fidelity stereo installed in the car instead of through a simple speaker." I suppose you could also use a portable battery powered radio, but likely that won't sound as good listening to the movie through your car stereo
All those years.... Me and my girlfriend sat in a drive-in movie, and had the sound come through the car speakers. (That was like modern technology in 1974!) You had to tune your FM radio to a certain number. Which meant leaving the ignition switch in "Accessory." Which meant running down the battery. Which meant after the movie, you were sure to see at least 2 or 3 cars with their hoods up... dead. (I thought all the drive-ins were long gone! Is the OP dreaming or something??)
Last time I went to a drive in it was the speaker on a post; wasn't aware of the more recent "progress". Maybe that's partially what killed drive-ins? Who knows. They should provide trickle chargers? Don't think that would fly though: too complex.
Yes, after the speaker-on-a-post days, they just had a wire dangling from that post. If I remember right, you had to clip it onto your vehicle antenna. Then the sound comes through the car speakers. All I had back then was a 1970 VW Bug, but the sound worked pretty well. It must've been an AM radio channel that you tuned in, as my Bug didn't have any FM. Man, that was a LONG TIME ago. I enjoyed it. A much simpler time of life.
yes, foot on brake, press power button once. this is 'ready' mode. best to apply your emergency brake. your hybrid battery will keep the 12v charged, and the engine will run once in awhile to keep the hybrid battery to a minimum state of charge. you can then run your radio, havoc, whatever you want.
Just read all the other helpful comments. I definitely feel educated now, thank so much to all of you. We saw the first 15 minutes of Spiderman before we decided we should leave to avoid a dead battery, now we need to go back and watch the rest of the movie!
In other words Chuck, when you pull into the drive-in and park... just leave it running. When you stop, don't touch the Power Button. Just depress your foot Parking Brake, and then press the "P" (Park) button and that's it. No need to press the Power button or do anything else. The light on the dashboard will still say "Ready" but ignore it. I've taken a 2-hour nap in my car like that, with the AC on. The gas engine kicks in every so often and vibrates the car. It kind of startled me the first time, but other than that it's fine. I never thought I could ever take a nice nap in an air conditioned car, and only use a spoonful of gas! (Edit: Sorry, I see above that everybody has already answered this.)
