What every newb should know

Just bought our 09 Prius two days ago, and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I would hug the darn thing if I could. thank you everybody for all the advise - a bit overwhelming, but hopefully it will all click!

 

Welcome !!!! :welcome:
Your love for it will only grow.

 

Yes, it is a great car

 

Welcome! Miniladybug......

The adventure has just begun!

 

Just put a hold on a 2010 II today! Just waiting for the Cash for Clunkers incentive to kick in later this month. $4,500 is nothing to sneeze at!! We haven't bought a new car since 1993 so we are both VERY excited!

Anxious to learn all about driving the Prius to it's best advantage....

Diane:welcome:

 

I have a 2005 prius and ive only have it for about 4 months and i still dont know much about the car. the only question i have so far is what is the "ready" stand for?

 

You would think it would be possible to have a large capacity diode in line with the battery to the computer system and inverter to prevent reverse polarity damage.

 

That the car is ready to drive.

 

I have now had my new Prius for a week.... I feel like I have to learn how to drive all over again.... what an experience! I am enjoying it very much. I have a question about the battery. I was in a bit of stop and go traffic for about 40 minutes.... maybe not even that long and noticed the battery charge getting very low... down to two bars. I turned everything off, but was worried that it wasn't recharging..... as soon as I started moving again it charged back nicely. What happens if I am in the city for the day and hit traffic? Do I run the risk of the battery dieing??

Thanks!

 

Don't worry about it. The car will run the ICE (internal combustion engine) whenever it needs to so the battery has the correct SOC (state of charge). The car will allow the SOC to be between 80% (all green bars) and 40% (one purple bar). The car will try to keep it at about 60% if possible, but it is ok for it to vary between 80% and 40%.

 

the engin will charge the batt. ive had my prius for about 4 months now and boy i love driving that thing. i had the same question back when and the engine will kick in automatically. i dont think ur batt will ever die. i have my ac on all the time because the weather where i live is excruciating and everytime im on stop and go traffic, the engine just kicks in to charge it rite back up. thats all i know so far. hope that kinda helps u a bit. lol and thanks for the reply on my previews post. i thought it was for something else. well what about the letter "b" beside the "d"

 

oh btw guys, i have 2005 and was hoping the helpful forum would help me figure this thing out. it would be great if anyone helped me pls and thank u

 

The letter "b" stands for "braking", I know there are so many people on this forum that can explain it better than I, but here is my input.
Like when you're going down a big, long hill and you don't want to use the foot brake constantly, as this will affect the brake pad, you would use the "b" at this time.

 

This has been covered a few times earlier in this thread. Here are a couple of posts I made on "B" mode:

http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/48705-what-every-newb-should-know-15.html#post727884

http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/48705-what-every-newb-should-know-20.html#post840886

 

what about the WH on 50wh regenerated?

 

Watt - Hours -> a measure of energy. Each car = 50 Watt-Hours of energy recovered by regeneration.

The power company usually bills electricity per kilowatt-hours. 1 kilowatt-hour = 1000 watt-hours.

 

Some of the above is not applicable to Gen 3 (2010.) e.g. "driving on the battery alone can damage"

Post due for an update/caveat note perhaps?

 

Is there a problem, that the Prius, needs to be jump started, or are you just stating a potential problem, if and when it does need to be jumped. Thanks. Tom

 

This is a potential problem (actually a polarity problem, ). Normally there is no reason to need to jump start. But, if the 12v battery is depleted either due to old age (won't hold a charge) or due to mistakenly leaving the accessories on, then it might be necessary to provide a second 12v source to "jump start" the battery.

Don't reverse the polarity! If you aren't sure, don't try it.

If you have the luxury of time and a battery charger, the safest method would be to remove the 12v battery from the car and charge it on a bench. That way you cannot possibly fry the inverter.

 

i hope this has not been mentioned before but if you turn on your headlights for safety day light running you will never have to turn them off again. its automatic