drive through car wash

[cordluver]

I have a question,if car is put into neutral,traction battery is not charged. When I went through car wash with me in it,you were supposed to put car in neutral. After I got through it traction battery only showed one digit. I understand from owners manual that if traction battery goes dead,you will not go anywhere,Is this right or is there another proceure for going though this type of car wash.

[PriusRos]

Originally Posted by cordluver

I have a question,if car is put into neutral,traction battery is not charged. When I went through car wash with me in it,you were supposed to put car in neutral. After I got through it traction battery only showed one digit. I understand from owners manual that if traction battery goes dead,you will not go anywhere,Is this right or is there another proceure for going though this type of car wash.

I'm surprised the car didn't beep at you. You have to put it in neutral. When I went through the last time, before I got to the end I got a warning beep and a message telling me that the battery was low and to switch to P. Which I did -- that was the WRONG thing to do! The car came to a halt and I was panicked that somebody was going to roll into me from behind. I couldn't get it back into neutral because in my panic I had forgotten that you are supposed to hold it in that position for a few seconds before releasing it. Eventually, one of the workers came over and put it into neutral. I got through without the traction battery going dead, and then realized that I had my A/C on the whole time, which was also the wrong thing to do.

So, the moral of the story is to make sure you have several bars available before you go through the drive-thru, and to turn off your A/C.

I'd been through the carwash a number of times in my Gen II Prius and never had this happen.

[radioprius1]

If you just leave it in N, and the last battery blip goes out, wouldn't the ICE just kick on and everything would be ok?

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by PriusRos

So, the moral of the story is to make sure you have several bars available before you go through the drive-thru, and to turn off your A/C.

Yes, turn off the A/C and any other electrical loads (lights, blower fan, radio, etc.)

Originally Posted by radioprius1

If you just leave it in N, and the last battery blip goes out, wouldn't the ICE just kick on and everything would be ok?

No, when the car is in N, there is no electrical connection between the MG1 (and MG2) and the HV battery. In a conventional car, N is a mechanical state where the engine driveshaft is disconnected from the rest of the drivetrain. In the HSD system, N is an electrical disconnection of MG1 and MG2 in the inverter.

I had to leave my car in N while they did a wheel alignment, and it ran the HV battery down to the purple bars after about 1 hour on the alignment rack. I left the heater blower fan on, so if I had turned it off completely, it wouldn't have discharged the HV battery as much while in N. The HV battery discharges because it supplies power to the DC to DC converter to supply the 12v power buss and recharge the 12v battery.

[radioprius1]

Yikes! So what happens if the HV battery completely drains?

[patsparks]

I'm not sure how these drive through car washes work as I have never used on however the way to put the Prius into neutral and not run the battery flat is to switch off the car then with foot off the brake press power twice, this pits the car in accessory mode. Now select neutral. For maximum battery duration keep the AC off, radio off and lights off. You can leave the radio on really.

When you get to the end put your foot on the brake, select park and press the power button once, then select drive and drive off.

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by patsparks

I'm not sure how these drive through car washes work as I have never used on however the way to put the Prius into neutral and not run the battery flat is to switch off the car then with foot off the brake press power twice, this pits the car in accessory mode. Now select neutral. For maximum battery duration keep the AC off, radio off and lights off. You can leave the radio on really.

When you get to the end put your foot on the brake, select park and press the power button once, then select drive and drive off.

The type of car wash they are using has a conveyor system built into the floor that pushes the car through the wash by bumping up against the tires. The attendant parks the car just at the front so that the conveyor will bump the front tires and leaves the car in N so it will roll freely through the wash. My GF uses one of these with her Avalon, but I make it a point not to let others drive my Prius as much as possible. I avoid valet parking also. Trust No One.

I concur with your description above, but pushing the Power button twice w/ foot off brake actually puts you in IG-On mode, not Acc Mode. You can't shift to N while in Acc mode, it will stay in P.

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by radioprius1

Yikes! So what happens if the HV battery completely drains?

You have to go to the dealer and use their special battery charger. There are only a few in the entire US, so you might have to wait awhile until they can get it.

That is why the car beeps at you and displays a message when you try to leave it in N. And there are numerous warnings in the owners manual.

[patsparks]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

The type of car wash they are using has a conveyor system built into the floor that pushes the car through the wash by bumping up against the tires. The attendant parks the car just at the front so that the conveyor will bump the front tires and leaves the car in N so it will roll freely through the wash. My GF uses one of these with her Avalon, but I make it a point not to let others drive my Prius as much as possible. I avoid valet parking also. Trust No One.

I concur with your description above, but pushing the Power button twice w/ foot off brake actually puts you in IG-On mode, not Acc Mode. You can't shift to N while in Acc mode, it will stay in P.

Thank you, I stand corrected.

The important thing is you press twice from off with foot off the brakes.

[PriusRos]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

The type of car wash they are using has a conveyor system built into the floor that pushes the car through the wash by bumping up against the tires. The attendant parks the car just at the front so that the conveyor will bump the front tires and leaves the car in N so it will roll freely through the wash. My GF uses one of these with her Avalon, but I make it a point not to let others drive my Prius as much as possible. I avoid valet parking also. Trust No One.

At the automatic carwash that I have been using, the driver stays in the car -- the attendant doesn't drive it. You have to steer the wheels onto the conveyor and put the car into neutral. However, even though I haven't had a problem up to now, I think I'm going to try to keep away from the automatic carwash because I am worried it's going to scratch my car sooner or later. I might just use it during the winter when it's really icky out and my outside water is turned off, so it would be hard for me to wash myself.

Also, I had brought up the problem of N not charging the battery in the following thread:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-main-forum/68185-dont-do-in-carwash.html