Hi everyone. Have had my Prius for 2 weeks now and all is going well - but one thing is slightly concerning me. When looking at the Energy screen and specifically the battery strength indicator bars, I've noticed that while sometimes my bars turn green and get amost all the way to the top, I have never seen the bars all fill in in green all the way to the top of the little box - the final bar never fills in to go "green" all the way to the top. And this has been the case even though I have driven the car a lot including several trips of 40-45 mile at fairly high speeds. Should I be concerned about this? Do your green battery strength bars go all the way to the top? Could this indicate that my battery is not able to hold a full charge? Thanks.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ATLPriusGuy @ Apr 14 2007, 11:03 PM) [snapback]423468[/snapback]</div> it is very rare that you will get full green bars on battery indicator.....ive seen full battery indicator on very cold days and highway driving only a handful of times in 3 years...additionally, a full soc(state of charge) indicator is only indicating approx 80% of battery anyway, as is a low charge in the pink is only indicating 20%...so the indicator shows only between 20% for low and 80% for high ...so nothing to be concerned with...
I got all green once on base in NC. Had a good long run at 55 and coming down a hill was able to for what seamed like forever coming to a nice easy stop and the bottom of the little hill with just making it to all green. It was about 76f out and I was like the only car on the road that Sunday afternoon. That was the one and only time I ever saw all green to the very top.
Welcome to PriusChat, ATLPriusGuy. I see a full green battery fairly frequently, but I live at the bottom of a long hill. It's not uncommon for me to get to the bottom and the battery be all green. If you put too much charge in the battery and it goes all green, your car may burn off the excess charge by spinning up the ICE without fuel. It may do this repeatedly until the charge drops to a good level, with the battery still all green. It freaked me out a bit the first time I got a green battery and the car started turning the ICE on and off.
The battery really likes to stay at 6 blue bars. If you live in a hilly place, you'll see green bars frequently (as I do), so no need to be concerned. The computers in the car know exactly how the battery wants to be.
yes but only down a long hill (if it's gentle) or a steep hill. Your car is working fine. =) Congrats on your purchase and welcome to PriusChat!
I wouldn't be concerned unless you're driving in the mountains. Driving between Denver and Glenwood Springs, CO, there are two high passes. Routinely, my Prius battery will discharge down to one bar going uphill, and recharge fully within 10 miles going downhill. However, in normal driving on flat or undulating terrain, the computer would prevent the battery from fully charging or fully discharging. Whether or not the gas engine runs and for how long, depends as much on the condition of the battery as the demands placed on the hybrid system. After a long downhill run, my car will go for miles on electric power alone, as long as I don't ask too much of it by pulling a steep grade or hard accelerating. But once the battery is discharged, the engine will run...even going downhill...in order to bring the charge back up to the normal range. Hope that helped. Gerry Roehm
I saw full green bars for a short time on the Interstate once. It all depends on your driving conditions. The car takes care of the battery. Nothing to worry about.
I drive up a big hill to get to my parents house, and back down again to get home. The green bars always go up to the top. And then the engine runs at 2000+ rpm even though I'm coasting down hill!! Dave
Dave, it's more accurate to say your ICE spins at 2000+ rpm. I don't think it has any fuel going to it. Instead of the power from regen braking going into the full battery, it's used to spin the ICE to provide engine braking. Think of it as automatic B mode.
