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Greetings, another Prii newbie here

Discussion in 'Prius v Main Forum' started by Parsival, Feb 28, 2022.

  1. Parsival

    Parsival New Member

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    Five
    Hello all,

    I’ve been lurking for sometime and finally picked up a 15’ Prius v Five. I came from a 2nd gen Tacoma 4x4, so it’s been quite an adjustment in driving style and driving habits. The mileage is really incredible at least compared to what I’m used to w the Taco. Anyhow, here she is in all her beauty. I do have a question for you all. It seems that when I park and I have a full near charge, the charge seem depleted by the am so the engine kicks on. I like to running EV mode in the residential track when i can but I can’t do it first thing in the am. Is that a sign the battery is going or is normal to have parasitic loss through out the night? I’m in California so I do have the extended battery warranty for 3 more years or another 50k miles.

    - Pars
     

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    #1 Parsival, Feb 28, 2022
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  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    congrats and welcome to PriusChat!

    Hmm, a hybrid battery shouldn’t drain overnight. When new, it’ll retain its charge by morning. Either there’s a parasitic loss somewhere or the HV battery is on its way out.

    Does the engine run more often than you’d expect when you drive during the day? What about mpg? What kind of numbers are you getting? A new HV battery basically transform the car back to when it was new (as attested by a member here who replaced his 2007 Prius battery with a new one) so it might not be a bad idea to keep that in mind as the warranty end date approaches.
     
    #2 Tideland Prius, Feb 28, 2022
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  3. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    The engine will normally start in the morning regardless of its hv battery state. There will be a few seconds delay and the engine will start. It has to warm up to about 115f at least.

    However the hv battery should not self discharge overnight. When the hybrid system shuts off, power relays in the hv battery assembly physically disconnect both leads. So its not a good sign if it loses most of its charge overnight. Because of the way the relays disconnect from the load, parasitic draws are not really a factor on this battery.

    The warranty requires a battery failure code first so the best thing to do is drive it every day. A few charge cycles may help. To prolong the life of the hv battery, don't try to use EV mode frequently; its only good for maybe a mile at 20 mph. Also, don't sit for long periods such as 15 minutes with the system in Ready without driving. This will discharge the hv battery and the system will only minimally recharge it. Finally if you see the hv battery discharge quickly while you wait at a stop light, that is not a good sign.
     
    #3 rjparker, Feb 28, 2022
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2022
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  4. dig4dirt

    dig4dirt MoonGlow

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    Congrats on your new Prius...yes must be a change from the pickup!

    Glad to know you still have 3 years left on the HV batt warranty. Will save any stress for quite a while.

    Maybe give the 12v battery a check with a load test.
    Check the manuf date on it. Probably the original (but may still be problem free)
    Perhaps give it some charge if you have a 12v charger.
    Could have been sitting for a while before your purchase.

    Prius do need the warm up routine. It varies with the gen and the model, but @rjparker mentioned 115f
    It will take a while to get used to.

    Good Luck....off to save mpg!
     
    #4 dig4dirt, Mar 1, 2022
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  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    congrats!

    all sounds normal to me. track how many bars it has before shutting down, and how many in the morning.
    dropping a couple is fine for 100k.

    you can check the battery health with dr. prius app.
     
    #5 bisco, Mar 1, 2022
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  6. Parsival

    Parsival New Member

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    Five
    I'll do more testing and observations on the battery. Makes sense the engine kicks on when it's dead cold. I think I’ve been doing everything wrong. I will sit and idle and use the EV mode whenever possible. I’ll try just driving it without hitting the EV button to see if that makes any difference. I took this pic last night sure enough I was idling as you can see draining the battery before I turned it off for the night. I guess have learning curve here. BTW, does this mpg look right on a short drive?
     

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    #6 Parsival, Mar 1, 2022
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    no, that looks way too high. the only way to accurately measure prius mpg's is manual calculations at the pump, averaged over time.

    i don't see the battery icon in your pic, but i'm not familiar with the v readouts.

    edit: sorry, if you mean the indicator just above 25mpg, yes, absolutely.
     
    #7 bisco, Mar 2, 2022
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  8. Parsival

    Parsival New Member

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    Thanks for all the replies. I don’t think I realized how long I was sitting in the car in the “on” position before shutting down for the night which is why the battery was low the following am. Checking again from last night, I had the exact amount of battery in the am, so it doesn’t appear to be losing any juice overnight- thank goodness.
     
    #8 Parsival, Mar 3, 2022
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