Using A/C in traffic

[dylandog]

Hey there - I just spent a ridiculous amount of time in traffic this weekend... with the A/C blowing and the Prius creeping along at 5 mph at best. I was getting concerned when my battery was registering at 2 bars and purple. I was fairly sure that the gas engine would kick in and charge up the battery but I was too chicken to find out while on the Bay Bridge.... so I turned off the A/C, rolled down the windows (and suffered CO poisoning) and turned off my headlights. Was I too conservative? Would the gas motor kicked in and rescued my battery? I'm rarely stuck in this type of traffic and the weather is just starting to get warm enough to justify A/C. Any advice out there? Thanks

[hycamguy07]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dylandog @ May 25 2007, 12:07 PM) [snapback]449848[/snapback]</div>

Hey there - I just spent a ridiculous amount of time in traffic this weekend... with the A/C blowing and the Prius creeping along at 5 mph at best. I was getting concerned when my battery was registering at 2 bars and purple. I was fairly sure that the gas engine would kick in and charge up the battery but I was too chicken to find out while on the Bay Bridge.... so I turned off the A/C, rolled down the windows (and suffered CO poisoning) and turned off my headlights. Was I too conservative? Would the gas motor kicked in and rescued my battery? I'm rarely stuck in this type of traffic and the weather is just starting to get warm enough to justify A/C. Any advice out there? Thanks
[/b]

this ones good for the record books!!!!

The A/C really doesnt effect the prius like a normal car, the regenerative braking and eng starts to charge the battery at 1-2 bars..... It will give you years of pleasure as long as you keep up on the maint.

Good luck!

[SomervillePrius]

Yeah, don't baby this car. It's a work horse with brains! It will never let you harm the batteries (in normal operation). It will charge them when it's time to do so (or whenever it can while running/braking). Another good thing to know that the battery display is not accurate nor linear. Even 1-2 bars mean a lot more charge then it "shows".

So just set the temperature and forget it. Your mileage will drop once the engine starts due to low battery but you will NOT harm the car!

[subarutoo]

Been there, done that. No worries about the air. Just drive it and the car will figure out when to charge the battery.

[likesmpg]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the A/C compressor runs off the high-voltage system while the headlights run off the 12V battery. So yes turning off the A/C will lessen the drain on the battery pack. Don't think turning the headlights off will help though. That being said, I echo the other comments in that the car is smart enough to turn on the engine to recharge when it needs to. Like SomervillePrius mentioned... even at the bottom of the battery display, I believe the SOC is still ~30%.

[seasalsa]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(likesmpg @ May 25 2007, 12:47 PM) [snapback]450011[/snapback]</div>

Correct me if I'm wrong but the A/C compressor runs off the high-voltage system while the headlights run off the 12V battery. [/b]

The 12v battery is charged by the HV battery since there is no 12v generator. I agree with subarutoo the car is smart enough to take care of its self. Just set the AC and forget it. If low SOC bothers you just switch to the consumption screen.

[dylandog]

I assume this applies to periods of idle... I occasionally have to pick-up my niece at school and the long car-line takes 10-15min to start up; I've seen my battery drop to two bars within 15min of idle (I hate idling for so long, but I have a baby in the car... and he gets overheated pretty quickly in the back, so the AC stays on).

[Betelgeuse]

It's been said many times before and it will be said many times again: Just Drive It! You won't get the optimum mileage that way, but you're not going to harm the car. I was just on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway last night and it took me 1.5 hours to go 1 mile (no exaggeration). I had the A/C on (not absolutely necessary, but it was nice) and the battery quickly came down to two purple bars. However, once it reached that level, the engine kept coming on to charge the battery a bit. As soon as I got back up to speed, the battery was a good solid blue within minutes.

We talk a lot on this forum about how to get the most out of your car, but it's very hard to actually harm your car unless you modify the batteries or try to drive the car when it's out of gas.

[Charles Suitt]

<_< In the final analysis of your Prius, anything which consumes any kind of power consumes fuel - headlights, sound system, air conditioning, etc. Thus, in the strict sense, turning the air conditioning and headlights off would lower the fuel consumption; however, IMO there's not enough savings to warrant turning services off to tolerate the loss of those elements.

As previously posted, your Prius will take care of itself, using the ICE to keep the traction battery charged, and in turn the traction battery through the Invertor runs the air conditioning system and maintains an adequate state of charge for the 12-volt battery. So... stay comfortable and let the Prius do its thing.

[lenjack]

Happened to me today in Harrisburg, PA. No problem. Never dropped below 2 purple bars. As the other posters have said, the battery takes care of itself, without your input.