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Prius - HV Battery Recharge Mode Question

Discussion in 'Knowledge Base Articles Discussion' started by wesbushman, Jun 26, 2005.

  1. wesbushman

    wesbushman New Member

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    I followed the pre-delivery dealer instruction for re-charging the HV battery. According to the Toyota Bulletin that is:
    1. Park the vehicle in open air area ....
    2. Apply the parking brake.
    3. Make sure the key is fully inserted into the key slot.
    4. Power switch to Ready state.
    5. Turn off all lights and accessories.
    6. Check that the shift selector is in the "P" position
    7. Keep the "READY" light on for 30 minutes, charging the HV battery.

    When I do this, the engine will run a couple of times and seem to be charging the battery, but the energy bars do not build up into the green bar area. When I picked up my car I think there were 8 green bars showing, so I figured the dealer must have had a way to force the recharge. I thougt this would do that for me too, but it didn't. Does someone know if this proceedure is supposed to fully charge the battery? I am able to get the battery to charge, but it seems I must be moving the car to get it to happen. I wonder if the engine driven MG is not working in my car.
     
    #1 wesbushman, Jun 26, 2005
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Never saw that "proceedure" listed before. There is no reason to do that at all. If the battery has any charge at all it will start/run the ICE which will only charge it to a nominal amount.

    If you want to force charge you can put your foot on the brake while in READY and then depress the accelerator and it will charge to a high 'blue' level, but I don't think it'll go into green...the ECU actively tries to prevent that.

    Why are you doing this? What are you hoping to accomplish?

    I strongly discourage you from pursuing this any further as there's just no good reason to do so.
     
    #2 efusco, Jun 26, 2005
  3. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    JUST DRIVE IT

    You do not need to prep the car in any way. In fact, most of us drive off the dealer's lot with the battery-pack still at pink (1 or 2 bars).

    JUST DRIVE IT

    Seeing the green level (7 or 8 bars) is actually somewhat rare. The battery-pack will "have the blues" (3 to 6 bars) most of the time.

    JUST DRIVE IT

    The Multi-Display can be empowering. But for newbies it typically causes a decrease in MPG, since they try to drive efficiently based on non-hybrid concepts.

    JUST DRIVE IT

    Engine RPM does not relate to speed or power. There is quite simply no way to predict the behavior of the system using traditional logic. The Planetary-CVT allows for internal management that most people never even realized was possible.

    JUST DRIVE IT

    You are better off just enjoying the "new car experience" rather than trying to learn the hybrid aspect of Prius right away. There's plenty of time for that later.

    JUST DRIVE IT

    There's nothing special that you ever have to do when you own a Prius, hence the repeating motto.

    JUST DRIVE IT
     
    #3 john1701a, Jun 26, 2005
  4. wb9tyj

    wb9tyj 2017 Prius Prime Advanced

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    Welcome to the site...i recommend you just drive the car...it will charge as it goes...you'll rarely see a full green charge unless you are going highway speed and going downhill for an extended period of time...additionally, if you are running the A/C, dont expect a full charge,either...even when it shows green, which is rare, that indicates approximately 80% of capacity, while less than 2 pink bars indicate 20% of charge, so therefore, the SOC(state of charge) is only showing you 20-80% of capability of the HV "battery"...most of my driving since ive had mine, yields mostly blue bars so just go for it and drive...even if you get to the pink bars, thats just fine,too. The car will know what to do...but i know this, sitting for 30 minutes will yield nothing and lower your MPG...
     
    #4 wb9tyj, Jun 26, 2005
  5. wesbushman

    wesbushman New Member

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    The procedure comes from Toyota's Technical Information System (TIS) system. Under Service Bulletins you can find Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) PG007-003 entitled "Maintenance for HV and Auxiliary Batteries." This information is provided to dealers and anyone else who chooses to subscribe to the site ( http://techinfo.toyota.com/index.html ). In this case, it is a predelivery procedure to be done by dealers after unloading the vehicle and thereafter every two months (presuming the vehicle is not operated normally in the interim).

    As I mentioned in my first post, when I picked-up my vehicle about 3 months ago, the battery SOC was eight bars, which I have never seen since. So I assumed that the predelivery procedure had been what the dealer used to cause that to happen. Out of curiousity I decided to see if following it would generate that SOC. When it didn't, I wondered if perhaps my car might have a motor/generator that isn't operating as it should.

    During normal driving I usually see 3 to 6 blue bars with occasional excursions to 7 green or 2 pink. I don't usually see the pink states unless I am in almost stationary traffic with the A/C running. Even then, I think the engine started and put some charge back into the battery, but I'm not sure that happened - it might have been kinetic energy during coasting or light braking that regeneratively recharged the battery.

    I believe that I read that there are two M/Gs on the Prius, one that is run by the ICE and another that is used exclusively for recharging during regeneration. If that is the case, then it would be natural to consider the possibility that the ICE driven generator might not be functioning, given the results of the experiment. I hoped someone out there might have tried the procedure and could report on their experience.
     
    #5 wesbushman, Jun 26, 2005
  6. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    No, both MG1 and MG2 are functioning normally. MG1 starts the ICE and thus if your ICE starts MG1 works. MG2 is the main electric drive motor and main regenerator. If you're seeing regeneration and you're seeing the car move under electric power and electric assist it is working fine.

    The situation you describe is simple battery maintainence. That is, if it sits un-driven for a time both the 12v aux. and the NiMH battery can drain to some degree. By starting the car for a while both are recharged to a satisfactory level to allow them to sit. The intent is NOT to charge to all green, nor is it any indication of something wrong if it doesn't charge to all green.

    In fact, I would be very worried that something was seriously wrong with your Prius if it sat and idled, with ICE running, for more than about a minute before it shut down--regardless of the indicated SOC on the multi-display.
     
    #6 efusco, Jun 26, 2005
  7. wesbushman

    wesbushman New Member

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    OK, thanks Doc,
    I won't worry. You're right about the ICE not running for more than about a minute, because that is about all mine ever runs even when the SOC shows as only 2 pink bars. (Guess maybe I'm just a hypochondriac).
     
    #7 wesbushman, Jun 26, 2005
  8. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    In winter, especially -30 C and colder, in city traffic the ICE runs constantly and I almost always have Green for a SOC.

    Last Thursday was brutal: +35 C, road work and traffic a mess, A/C ice cold. The Prius will happily sit in traffic and let the SOC get to 2 pink bars before starting again.

    All normal.
     
    #8 jayman, Jun 26, 2005
  9. jeepien

    jeepien Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wesbushman\";p=\"101837)</div>
    I'm familiar with that procedure, and it is NOT to charge the HV battery. It is to charge the Aux battery. If you follow it, it will do the job and keep the 12 V battery charged on a vehicle that has been in storage for some time without being driven. Otherwise there is no point in doing it.

    It will probably leave the HV battery with two to three bars of charge, which will rapidly increase to the normal 6 bars or so when you finally drive the car.
     
    #9 jeepien, Jun 26, 2005
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