Turtle guage in classic Prius?

Maybe turtle = slow???

 

But it beat the hare.

 

I read that article also and thought it was interesting.

The turtle indicator was there to let the driver know that the vehicle should slow down because the battery had been drained to an undesirable point, generally not out of safe range, but not a good range either, and the ICE at that point was unable to maintain ground speed and provide recharge power to the battery. It kind of meant that the vehicle needed to "catch its breath". If you stopped the vehicle, or slowed down, it would run the ICE until the battery was back to a safe charge level.

 

If you have a good java runtime engine on your computer (don't try this site without it) try this site. I use it to demonstrate to people how HSD works. It is based upon the old Prius design. You can get it to give you a turtle light. Just stick the vehicle in drive mode, and punch it. You will get a turtle in no time. Keep in mind that if you drive the simulation car normally and up to normal highway speeds you will never get the turtle.

http://www.wind.sannet.ne.jp/m_matsu/prius...e=en?Country=US

Have fun with it.

 

had the turtle once in the wife's 2k1 and what it turned out to be was the Aux battery was low. Let the car run for 2 minutes and reboot it and it was gone. It was replaced under warranty and the light never came on again. I drove the car with the light on and didn't notice any reduction in the power output. Some in the really cold climates said it would occasionally come on at -40F but most people don't operater them at the temp. The manual said to let the car run till warmed and the battery pack would get warm and it'd go out. I left the minus 40 regions 35 years ago and most cars that were there were left running a significant portion of the winter.

 

The turtle light's function changed over the years.

1st gen) the turtle light turned on when the battery was too low to provide power. The car had to rely solely on the ICE so it was a warning not to expect any power. By all reports it was too common a sight on these cars when they were tested in the US. These test cars were how the misconception of "not up to the job hybrids" came to be.

2nd gen) Toyota had updated the system with a larger 4 banger and a larger battery pack using prismatics. The turtle light changed so that it would only come on when the battery was low and the temperature was very low too. A valid turtle was almost unheard of.

3rd gen) the turtle has gone.

63k miles on my '02 and I've never seen the turtle. I did once, however, manage to drain the batteries so that only the ICE was available. I was going over the Siskiyou summit on I5. Without the batteries I could only manage 55 at the top. Of course at 55 you're passing all the trucks and most of the cars Eat My Volts.

 

I've found the HSD to be less able to maintain battery state of charge under heavy load compared to the Classic. You can easily have 1pink bar on the 2k4 but seldom even down to 2 bars on the classic. And it's easily repeatable on one of the hills here. 3,000 foot climb in 6 miles. It's a nasty climb. Good test of battery capacity. I really wish the MiniScanner was available for the HSD.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Frank Hudon\";p=\"98922)</div>

It certainly gives that impression. But that's not really the case. The Classic simply played it more conservative with use of the battery-pack.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(john1701a\";p=\"98926)</div>

It certainly gives that impression. But that's not really the case. The Classic simply played it more conservative with use of the battery-pack.
[/b][/quote]
yup the Classic will charge the battery on a steep hill. I've seen as high as 9 amps to the battery, ICE at 4100 RPM and speed at 50 mph on one hill that's 11% grade for 3/4 mile. The 2k4 will drop 4 bars on that one. under the same conditions.

 

John, I stand humbled and corrected. The engine had less power but was, indeed, a four. Where did I get that? There's enough misinformation out there without me spreading any more.

 

so if the turtle shows often, what would the root cause be? charging system? if so which one? auxilliary battery? or the main battery? My '03 has almost 150K and I want to make sure it is good to go for my daughter to take out of state.

 

The presence of the turtle light means that the traction battery is either too cold or too hot. In the summer, the latter is more likely.

The reason the traction battery is too hot is because it had to produce an excessive amount of energy, for example when climbing a hill over an extended period of time.

If you frequently see the turtle light and there is no good reason such as a significant hill ascent, then I would interpret that as an early warning that the traction battery is near the end of its useful service life.