I can let mine sit for three months and it still has enough power to jump my SUV. It's not a good idea to let a lead-acid battery sit in a discharged state though. There's a little button on mine you can push to find out the charge state. Whenever it doesn't test as "full" I recharge it (two or three months between charges). I have this one from Costco: Costco - PowerStation® Jumpstart Compressor
Keep them inflated yourself. Buy a tire gauge, and either a home air pump, or measure the tire pressures cold and add the necessary difference at a convenient service station. Nice cheap tire gauge: http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B000G6NU96?tag=priuschatcom-20 go to another dealer or tire store that will do it as you like. Nitrogen is pointless for street vehicles.
Keep in mind that the battery system gets its cooling air from the cabin. Turning off the A/C on a hot day can actually decrease fuel economy because the battery system will throttle itself as needed to keep from overheating. Rule of thumb: if you're uncomfortable then the battery probably is also.
LOL...Yup! You won't find me driving around in S. Florida without AC for probably the next five months. Come the end of October, I might be able to do that. Right now, it's AC city, however there are certainly degrees (pun only partially intended) to which that applies. Even on a day like this last weekend (record setting heat, and for this part of the country, that should spell HOT to everyone else) I can be comfortable without having the AC cranked up to "Max" and taking a terrible FE hit.
long day but i want to try to share what happened.. this post may ramble as I am tired..i apologize in advance alignment fine...after a little coercing on my part to have them check it anyway even though the tech thought it drove fine... he drove it, then i drove with him for 10 miles straight flat ground...he wanted to see how i was driving the car..actually was impressed showed him all my P&G techniques..2 little cars all the way across...i am working on it... SO He had to go to his boss and convince him to let him check the alignment anyway ...(who I talked to later..I will come back to that) He stressed that this car does sometimes have a tendency to pull left..but they were willing to check to convince me because they realized I drive a lot of miles a week, I wouldn't have driven all the way up there ,if I wasn't experiencing..SOMETHING?? They didn't want me to come back again, in case they were wrong.. OK,SO after his boss agreed ,he put the car on the Rack..took me out to the car on the rack ...showed me the specs ...they were fine. SO. we discussed the air pressure and decided to start with 37 all the way around and I could adjust as I saw fit. He was aware of the higher numbers in the front, but felt with the weight i carry in the back i should try the even weight and see what happens... Well, driving home the car the car drove perfect....and MUCH BETTER Now a couple of comments..they all say what a tough ride this car can be here sometimes because of our windy conditions.. DWDEAN. The tech told when they try a test where when they get to the light they put the air really high...to cool the car..THIS IS JUST A MPG TEST Then punch it off when they take off .. i asked if this was too tough on the compressor...he said no... they also commented on how HOT we have gotten here in the last 2 weeks, and how much it will effect everything.. They are NOT too fond of priuschat ..I showed the tech the printout...some are even on here:wave: HI!! because everyone here thinks they are experts, and they dont even know some of the specs...they are like closed pages..and they have to call and get instructions on how to do certain things..because it is all kept secret...anyway..they were still very nice..and i know are lurking here.. regardless, they were truly wonderful and very patient with my insistence.. Then I had a discussion with the Head of service.. I went in to Thank him for appeasing me and checking the alignment:wave: And he told me that his wife has a prius and they did some test driving this weekend, driving form Tequesta to Sawgrass..playing with the mileage.about 75 miles He said, he ALSO saw a drop in his wife's MPG, also in the last two weeks....and he had a theory GET THIS, very interesting..He thinks MAYBE the gas companies have added 10% ethanol to the gas ..some pressure from the goverment..not told anyone..i hope i got that right.. he also checks in here:wave:...and that is what might be what is screwing with everyones MPG... ANYWAY..thank you all here for your support and clarity, I truly appreciate it!! I want to say HI to ALL from Earl Stewart in Palm Beach..i think you guys were awesome.thanks for putting up with me!!:cheer2::cheer2: eve:car:
So it was tire pressure. It's good that it was something simple. (Or maybe a defect or asymmetry in one tire?) Ethanol in gas is no secret: it improves burning and reduces air pollution. The worst it can do is decrease MPGs by 1 or 2. This is hardly noticeable and a small price to pay.
You can get your first free alignment from any Toyota dealer; it's warranty and Toyota pays its dealers for warranty work. And you may be lucky and your new car will be properly aligned when you drive off the lot.
Any tire pressure greater than 32 and equal to or less than 44 is your target. I run 44 on front and 42 on rear though. I've had my car 3.5 weeks and it did pull to the left (brand new from the dealership). Since the dealership was too far away I took it to my local Firestone, who put it on a really fancy laserbeam alignment rack. They fixed the alignment and I went on my way. Four days later, the car still seems to pull left slightly when braking. I take it back to Firestone (I bought the lifetime alignment warranty) and they move the drivers tire to the passenger side, then they road test only to find it REALLY pulls left now. With all that in mind, they solve the problem simply by crossing the tires front to back in an X pattern. They told me that the belts in one or more tires is not exactly aligned right. I believe them. Next time, I'll buy new tires. ZC1
I'm only half serious here, but if you were -really- determined to use nitrogen, you could buy a low-volume, 3500psi regulated to 800 or 400psi aluminum N2 tank, like those used for paintball guns, get a regulator that regulates closer to 40psi with an on/off valve, then build yourself an adapter to connect to your tire. Not sure you would want to do that unless you planned on actually using the tank for something else as well. They are a bit pricey. You could get the tank refilled at any paintball store or field though. Just make sure they use pure N2, and not high pressure air. That being said, air is over 70% N2, and the advantages of pure N2 over air are a bit exaggerated in my opinion.
Eve, interesting idea. I wonder how much doing that will hit the FE. I'll be the effect is less, but there still has to be an effect. Nothing is "free". The electricity that runs the AC compressor and the fan while you're stopped has be generated by the ICE while it's running. I'm not going to try and second guess the "accounting" here. This is easy enough to test instead. I have no trouble believing this. Anyone who has been challenged by information from a single source (whether that info is right, wrong, or otherwise) is going to get tired of heaing that source named. It sounds like this dealer has gotten beaten up with some bad information before... As someone pointed out, this isn't exactly a secret. Where I buy gas, there are stickers on the pump saying that the fuel dispensed from the pump may contain up to 10% ethanol. I've seen these stickers at both Hess and Costco.
