Fast Charging the NiMH battery - COOL TIP

I've got 25 points that says there's no difference in 1/4 mile times on any charge short of one blue bar. Anyone want a piece of that?

BTW, speaking as someone who has crossed the continent, and several mountain ranges in doing so, there is no problem going over a mountain with a big fat pink (very low) battery.

Sure, there is not a lot of power out of the ICE, and it revs like a SOB, but the Prius does it without trouble.
:mrgreen:

 

Q:<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ray Moore\";p=\"71171)</div>

A:<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(V8Cobrakid\";p=\"71063)</div>

Q:<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mikepaul\";p=\"71205)</div>

A: No.. just floor it. you would never get back up to the same speed again. you would waist a lot of electricity and gasloline trying.



Q: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco\";p=\"71233)</div>

A: Tried it on 17 before. same as i said above. it's a waist. sure.. you get a boost... but it's short.. and completely not worth it.




I bett 100 points it does make a difference on the quater mile. it makes a difference of a few seconds on the 0-60... it probably takes about the 0-60 time to do a quarter mile. i would try it, but no one i know had good clocking skills.. or even decent. NOBODY i know has the patience to wait for the prius to do a quarter mile.. hehe.

 

I must be missing something. The Prius is a reliable and *very* economical commuter car. At least that's why I bought mine. I could give a rat's a** how fast it is 0-60.

This "fast charging" tip sounds a lot like how "power braking" used to be done. I really don't see how that could be good for the car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stocky\";p=\"71060)</div>

You apparently found a fix for a problem that does not exist. There is absolutely no well-founded concern over running down the battery, at least not among owners who have had their car more than five hours. When the battery discharges too much, the computer notices, and recharges it. End of "problem". Under no conditions is it ever a good idea to stomp on the gas and brake at the same time.

It might be better to wait until you have owned your car twice as long, or perhaps as much as a full day, before giving out expert advice. Or maybe not.

 

Wow Jayman,
All this time I thought it was a really cool toy. Like a video game that I play on the way to work. First vehicle with four wheels that I ever enjoyed this much. Now I learn it's really a reliable economical commuter car? This is very troubling. If that is true, then I must be an old man in a boring car. It's a bad dream. It's a nightmare. Gotta get away. Gotta......

Wait a minute. You tricked me. I'm still a kid and the Prius is still my technotoy. Nice try though.

Today's high score: 458 miles @ 59.9 MPG (not bad for march)

 

LOL. To stop people thinking you're wasting fuel, you actually waste even more fuel.

 

Hi Ray:

You seemed to be under a *lot* of stress at work, so I thought I'd brighten your day with my droll humor. I'm very happy to see it worked.

Otherwise we'll both become cranky 'ole coots with *no* sense of humor whatsoever. Ugh.

Like, I have to drive out to the hobby farm this weekend. The HVAC reports something wrong with the HRV ... :cussing:

 

Stocky,

You seem to have been overwhelmed with excitement. I don't blame you and congratulations. I do hope you keep your curiosity in high rev.

I wouldn't worry about the battery. Most of what you read about batteries is usually based on using (or abusing) a battery from total discharge to full charging - not something that happens with regularity (or at all on my Prius). I've gone up some doozies of hills, especially around Ithaca on Rt. 13, and when I've glanced at the MFD, it generally showed the ICE charging the battery as well as providing the drive. In fact I've never seen the SOC drop below half on my car but I've only driven mine a little over 2,000 miles (> 3200 km) over the last 4 months.

Just have fun! And keep us informed on what you find out. I for one am not sure of your driving environment, so hearing about that would great to me.

 

after first expressing my excitment.. well.. i learned to shut up and wait...

i am still excited about little things ont he prius.. but.. well.. it's ALL second nature to me. the most intersting things on priuschat to me is the chatting.. political debates.. and specs on items which i can't just figure out on my own.

 

Seems like a very useful feature to me. So when everyone goes out and buys a Saturn race car, the poor Toyota dealers have an easy way to keep the batteries charged up on the cars that sit on the lot for a year or two.

Also useful for anyone planning to store the car for a year or more, so you can maximize your safe storage time.

Then there's people on mountains that arrive home with very low charges.
They might benefit from charging the battery up so they can use EV mode to move the car around the driveway to wash it, change the oil, etc.

 

Back to the original post, guess I'll have to try this tomorrow but. . .
does the motor ICON come on when you hit the brake and accelerator at the same time?
If it does, seems like that would put some serious stress on the motor or drive train (in particular the chain).

 

Tomdeimos:
Dealerships and storing.. good idea. Living in the mountains? you'll still have power.. even with only the ICE. I've ran on only ICE alone. It's plenty of power.


Dr. Jay:
It looks like you're driving.. while charging. It's simply that. Since the breaks are keeping the car still.. the outer sun gear does not spin.. so.. it just creates electricity.

 

Here's a nice way to drain your batts to pink. Park it in IG-ON for an hour+. :mrgreen:

I don't know of any other way to get the batts that low in normal usage.