[whippie]

Hi, i have been wondering about the energy screen showing how many bars of energy the battery currently holds. It shows a blueish color at about 5-6 bars, then changes to green at 7 bars, but I have never yet (2500kms run in) seen it change to the top 8 bars, what color does it show as, still green at 100% (8 bars.?)

Thanks.

 

[Tideland Prius]

Yes.

8 bars does not mean 100% charge. The battery is never fully charged or discharged. 8 bars would represent ~ 80% charge and 1 bar would be ~ 40%. The computer prefers ~60%. You'll almost never see 8 unless you're going down a long steep hill.

 

[dgstan]

...and you know the bars turn pink when it get down to 2 bars.

 

[Smackoww]

actually, you dont need a steep hill to get 8 bars. driving on highway speed roads (55mph) with traffic lights can cause you to regenerate to 8 bars. though, this may just be me, b/c im so unlucky with traffic lights, i always get stuck at them

 

[BIF]

The car becomes increasingly less willing to charge and more willing to discharge as your SOC goes higher. I've noticed this. Likewise, as your SOC falls, the car becomes less willing to discharge, and more willing to charge.

Mine seems to be constantly seeking a 50% charge level (4 bars) or slightly higher (5 or 6 bars).

I've only had it go to 8 bars a couple of times, and by then, it's really ready to discharge. She'll switch to battery power constantly. Even when I try to "gun" it, she'll briefly fire up the ICE, then shut it down, as if to say, "oh no you don't, you impudent little boy, you!"

 

[hyperion]

Actually the car is doing exactly as it was designed to do and it will do it whether the MFD is on or not!

 

[bobfoster]

Here's a question: We have a new (5 days old) 2005. Works great!

I took it to work to show it off. Everbody seemed quite impressed.

However, there was a lot of short driving including the parking lot. And, with the hot SC (~90F) day, there was a lot of the electric air conditioner running.

At the end of the last demo, I was down to 3 of 8 bars and I shut the car down and went back to work.

When I left for the day, I still had the 3 bars. However, it soon dropped to 2 bars and was pink color as it does.

It seemed like the engine should have been doing its best to recharge the battery. However, it was starting and stopping as normal.

Eventually, the battery display showed 3, then 4,5...and finally was back at 7 bars as I returned home.

The question is, what if the electrical load was such as to continue to lower the battery state (it was already at only 2 bars, remember). For example, one could be doing a lot of stop and go with the A/C running. (I shut down the A/C this afternoon when I saw what the battery condition was.) I am not sure that someone else would have been watching the display as much.

At what point, would the computer start the engine? If the battery somehow became too discharged, would the computer shut down the car and then I would have to get a tow? (I think so.) What is the likelihood of this happening?

Thanks in advance.

Bob

 

[efusco]

It would start up as soon as it needed to. It is programmed to allow shut down, even in the pink range, when you're not moving and it determines that the SOC is not critical.

Don't sweat it, it will take care of itself.

 

[efusco]

Oops, double posted :roll:

 

[RSnyder]

. . . Don't sweat it, it will take care of itself.

In other words, don't shut the A/C off just because the battery meter is low.

 

[DanMan32]

If car is not moving, car will allow SOC to go down to 2 bars, after which the ICE will be started to maintain 2 bars.
Once you start driving, the car will build up the SOC back to around 6 bars. ICE in recharge mode is a low idle speed, which is not very efficient, so the car tries to avoid having to do that. Instead, it is better to use part of the ICE cruising power to recharge the batter to its nominal state.