Has this happened to anyone else?

xbdude · 10-11-2006, 05:11 PM

I parked my '06 Prius with 5 blue bars left on the battery according to the MFD. It remained in my garage for the entire next day. When I started it this morning, it had only one purple bar left on the battery indicator. Nothing electrical was left on, such as a dome light. I went away for about 5 days previously and left the car garaged, and upon my return everything seemed normal. The car just turned 10,000 miles on the odometer. After about a two mile drive, the battery was in its regular operating range again, and everything worked just fine. Is this normal??

eagle33199 · 10-11-2006, 05:17 PM

No, it's not normal. Keep an eye on it, see if it happens again.

That being said, did you by chance leave the car on? When the car is turned off, the hybrid batteries are disconnected from the rest of the car for safety, and as such even if you did leave a dome light or the headlights on, you wouldn't see a drain there. the 12V aux battery would be dead, but not the hybrid batteries.

If you continue to experience unexplainable drains on the battery like this, take it to the dealer and have it checked out.

qbee42 · 10-11-2006, 06:00 PM

Leaving it on is the most common cause for this sort of thing.

Tom

**TonyPSchaefer** · 10-11-2006, 06:03 PM

Agreed.
You provide info indicating that you know as a fact that everything was shut down properly. Given that information, something somewhere is drawing power off the HV battery when the car is powered off and that's just plain bad.

Keep us posted.

Charles Suitt · 10-11-2006, 06:18 PM

One of the easiest things overlooked that drain the 12v battery is the Cargo Area light (left side) which will remain on if the hatch is not completly closed.

longjohn931 · 10-11-2006, 06:20 PM

My 05 does this occasionally as well. I have checked for left on lights etc... but have not found anything. I believe it may have to do with temperature conditions changing the battery density???? This is not happening all that often and the battery seems to recover full charge without any problems.

**Tideland Prius** · 10-11-2006, 06:22 PM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Charles Suitt @ Oct 11 2006, 03:18 PM) [snapback]331399[/snapback]</div>

Quote:

One of the easiest things overlooked that drain the 12v battery is the Cargo Area light (left side) which will remain on if the hatch is not completly closed.
[/b]

That will NOT drain the HV battery. My dad left the hatch open overnight when the car was only a few weeks old. The car started up fine the next morning.

This drain isn't normal. I would watch it over the next few days and whether it displays the same symptoms.

xbdude · 10-11-2006, 07:14 PM

Thanks, everyone. It's parked in the garage now, and I will use the Tacoma tomorrow if I need to go out. If you leave it "ON", doesn't it somehow automatically shut itself "OFF"?

**Tideland Prius** · 10-11-2006, 07:16 PM

nope. The engine will just come on and run whenever the battery needs charging so it'll keep cycling until you run out of fuel or turn off the car.

Rancid13 · 10-11-2006, 07:31 PM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(xbdude @ Oct 11 2006, 04:14 PM) [snapback]331434[/snapback]</div>

Quote:

Thanks, everyone. It's parked in the garage now, and I will use the Tacoma tomorrow if I need to go out. If you leave it "ON", doesn't it somehow automatically shut itself "OFF"?
[/b]

Nope, it'll stay on until you hit the Power button to power it off. And like Tideland said, the engine will cycle on and off to keep several bars on the battery, using gas in the process...if you're already low on the tank of gas and the car does this cycling all night, you risk running out of gas.

10-11-2006, 05:11 PM	#1
xbdude opticat Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: North Central Florida Posts: 153 My Car: 2010 Prius Model: III Package: Solar Roof Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Friends: 0	I parked my '06 Prius with 5 blue bars left on the battery according to the MFD. It remained in my garage for the entire next day. When I started it this morning, it had only one purple bar left on the battery indicator. Nothing electrical was left on, such as a dome light. I went away for about 5 days previously and left the car garaged, and upon my return everything seemed normal. The car just turned 10,000 miles on the odometer. After about a two mile drive, the battery was in its regular operating range again, and everything worked just fine. Is this normal?? __________________ 2010 Blizzard Pearl III with Solar Pkg. Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand.

10-11-2006, 05:17 PM	#2
eagle33199 Platinum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 4,446 My Car: 2006 Prius Model: Package: #7 Thanks: 39 Thanked 98 Times in 58 Posts Friends: 4	No, it's not normal. Keep an eye on it, see if it happens again. That being said, did you by chance leave the car on? When the car is turned off, the hybrid batteries are disconnected from the rest of the car for safety, and as such even if you did leave a dome light or the headlights on, you wouldn't see a drain there. the 12V aux battery would be dead, but not the hybrid batteries. If you continue to experience unexplainable drains on the battery like this, take it to the dealer and have it checked out. __________________

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10-11-2006, 06:00 PM	#3
qbee42 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Northern Michigan Posts: 12,313 My Car: 2006 Prius Model: Package: #7 Thanks: 367 Thanked 839 Times in 609 Posts Friends: 14	Leaving it on is the most common cause for this sort of thing. Tom

10-11-2006, 06:03 PM	#4
TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Far-North Chicagoland Posts: 11,217 My Car: 2004 Prius Model: Package: #9 Thanks: 58 Thanked 312 Times in 196 Posts Friends: 27	Agreed. You provide info indicating that you know as a fact that everything was shut down properly. Given that information, something somewhere is drawing power off the HV battery when the car is powered off and that's just plain bad. Keep us posted.

10-11-2006, 06:18 PM	#5
Charles Suitt Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Dallas TX Posts: 1,624 My Car: 2007 Prius Model: Package: #6 Touring Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Friends: 0	One of the easiest things overlooked that drain the 12v battery is the Cargo Area light (left side) which will remain on if the hatch is not completly closed.

10-11-2006, 06:20 PM	#6
longjohn931 Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Orlando, FL. Posts: 109 My Car: 2010 Prius Model: IV Package: Solar Roof Thanks: 7 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Friends: 0	My 05 does this occasionally as well. I have checked for left on lights etc... but have not found anything. I believe it may have to do with temperature conditions changing the battery density???? This is not happening all that often and the battery seems to recover full charge without any problems.

10-11-2006, 07:14 PM	#8
xbdude opticat Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: North Central Florida Posts: 153 My Car: 2010 Prius Model: III Package: Solar Roof Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Friends: 0	Thanks, everyone. It's parked in the garage now, and I will use the Tacoma tomorrow if I need to go out. If you leave it "ON", doesn't it somehow automatically shut itself "OFF"?

10-11-2006, 07:16 PM	#9
Tideland Prius Moderator of the North Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 21,204 My Car: 2010 Prius Model: N/A Package: Technology Package (Canada) Thanks: 370 Thanked 529 Times in 356 Posts Friends: 26	nope. The engine will just come on and run whenever the battery needs charging so it'll keep cycling until you run out of fuel or turn off the car.