Recharge you hybrid battery?

[fisherman]

I just bought my 05' Prius earlier this week and the Toyota salesman told me that if for any reason my hybrid battery does not recharge itself and it runs completely out, bring it in so they can hook it up to their "special charger" so they can recharge it. He said it is some sort of "trickle charge" that slowly charges it over-night, but is not something I could do at home.

Has anyone heard of such a charger? (This is NOT for the standard car battery) It would be great to be able to leave every morning with a full charge.

[efusco]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fisherman\";p=\"55188)</div>

I just bought my 05' Prius earlier this week and the Toyota salesman told me that if for any reason my hybrid battery does not recharge itself and it runs completely out, bring it in so they can hook it up to their \"special charger\" so they can recharge it.  He said it is some sort of \"trickle charge\" that slowly charges it over-night, but is not something I could do at home.  
 
Has anyone heard of such a charger?  (This is NOT for the standard car battery)  It would be great to be able to leave every morning with a full charge.[/b]

First off, yes, there is a special charger. However, it is highly unlikely your dealer has one. I'll bet you he's confused. The 12v battery can become drained under certain conditions and Toyota recommends recharging it with a special charger that all the dealers DO have.

The special charger for the HV battery is rare, only a couple places in the US have them and they are very expensive....why you might ask?

Because first off your dealer is competely uninformed about the hybrid battery. If it EVER becomes completely discharged you have a very very serious problem with your hybrid system and it will likely need some very expensive warranty work to repair...your last concern will be having it put on a charger overnight!

Now, you MAY see the SOC indicator on your MFD show that your battery is very low and you may see only one or no bars at all on that display under certain sustained high torque/power conditions (namely mountain climbing), but even at that state you are still at approximately 40% of the actual battery SOC--the MFD only shows a small window, the normal range your hybrid battery functions in, on the MFD, not the actuall full SOC of the battery.

The computers in your car are specifically programmed to prioritize the power flow of the ICE and battery based upon the SOC and driving conditions. If your battery ever gets very low it will run the ICE constantly to recharge and thus it will never become completely drained and will never require a 'special charger'.

[voltoy]

There is only a very small chance that the HV battery could be come fully discharged, and that is running out of gas and continuing to drive the car on the battery. I you are foolish enough to do this, then you have a problem in starting the car when you replenish the gas. The ICE is started by the HV battery, and hence if the HV is dead, you will not be able to start the ICE and then have it charge the HV battery. There is a small chance that you could push the car fast enough to get the ICE started, but since the power train is not like a standard transmission or automatic, this is unlikely to work. Hence you would have to take the car to the dealer where the HV battery will need maintenance.

RULE 1: Never run out of gas

RULE 2: If you run out of Gas, Stop immediately and get fuel.

RULE 3: Never run out of gas :guns:

[daniel]

I may be mistaken, but I believe I have read that people have run out of gas, and then run out of battery power to drive the car, and once they filled the tank, the car started. I presume the car saves enough charge to start the ICE. Or maybe it takes so much less current to start the ICE than to push the car, that even when the battery can no longer push the car, it can still start the ICE.

Anyway, the point is, as Evan said, that if the battery ever went completely dead it would indicate a catastrophic failure of the HSD system. It is not something that can happen as long as the system is functioning correctly.

But running out of gas is a very bad idea in this car.

A lot of dealers, especially salespeople, don't know beans about the Prius.

[myride]

Originally posted by daniel
I may be mistaken, but I believe I have read that people have run out of gas, and then run out of battery power to drive the car, and once they filled the tank, the car started. I presume the car saves enough charge to start the ICE. Or maybe it takes so much less current to start the ICE than to push the car, that even when the battery can no longer push the car, it can still start the ICE.

Anyway, the point is, as Evan said, that if the battery ever went completely dead it would indicate a catastrophic failure of the HSD system. It is not something that can happen as long as the system is functioning correctly.

But running out of gas is a very bad idea in this car.

A lot of dealers, especially salespeople, don't know beans about the Prius.

My dealership has a couple of mechanics that were sent to a special class on how to "DEAL with the Prius battery's and charging systems". I have seen the electrical diagrams for this veh and I am ASE certified to do repairs on electrical components of cars. Now with that being said I will not do my own work (electricl repairs) on my Prius and Iwill be there anytime a mechanic has my little baby. It's not that I don't trust them but if I am not going to do the work then I want to be there to make sure it's done RIGHT the first time. As for the salesmen at the dealer...... I asked my salesman a few questions while we were test driving the veh ( about 30 min) and each question was answered with an "I don't know" "I'm not sure" or "I'll check on that and have to get back with you". And if he did answer a question without one of these it was wrong!!!!!!!!! I now have enough knowlege to tell anyone buying the car to only talk to the sales people about the paperwork and prices/options. After the car is yours read the owners manual and sign on to PRIUSCHAT.COM also... i have been getting diff answers on this so maybe someone can answer this with more than a "i think" Does this 1.5 liter engine (ICE) have a double roller rocker chain for the timing instead of a rubber belt???????
if so then it should last for better than 300K miles befor replacement unlike the rubber belt at 60-80K

[efusco]

Yes "Myride" it is a metal chain.

[myride]

Yes "Myride" it is a metal chain.

So it is metal and would you know at what time intervals is should be serviced?? Also does the cvt need any kind of filter change like a normal trans has(or like an inline filter like the fuel filters to catch metal and trash?)

[daniel]

There is no transmission. The PSD is very like a differential. Toyota calls it a cvt only because they are afraid of confusing people (as they certainly would) if they explained it. The HSD emulates a cvt.

Go HERE and click on "Understanding the Prius." This is the best explaination available for how the Prius works. You can spent a lot of time on this site.

[richard schumacher]

And read the owner's manual. As I recall the transmission first gets serviced at 100,000 miles.