Battery charging question

[AndyMartin826]

I've been reading some posts here that talk about the battery showing "green" on the MFD. Now, I've had the battery show red/purple (2 bars) and blue (3-6 bars), but I've never seen green. Should I be seeing my battery go above 6 bars? Reading about the SOC, most things say I most likely will never see the battery get over 6 bars, so I'm not really worried about it, but it would be neat to just see it change to a different color.

[aaf709]

You got any long hills nearby? Going down one of those is the quickest way that I've found to see it. As there's a long hill during my commute, I have that happen nearly every day, but it doesn't last long.

[Rangerdavid]

The last two bars at the top will be green when the battery approaches a full charge. As stated above, the quickest way to achieve this Zenlike state is to find a long, long hill and brake going down and you will probably see the green bars at the top....... good luck

[Presto]

Or if you have no hills and really want to see it green, you can force charge it; Switch the car into Drive, keep your foot firmly on the brake and accelerate.
Warning: it uses a (relatively) good amount of fuel to do this.

[Jack Straw]

xxx

[AndyMartin826]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jack Straw @ Aug 28 2006, 06:46 PM) [snapback]310890[/snapback]</div>

I'm able to get mine in the green rather randomly during my daily commute between Chandler and Tempe on the surface streets. Probably 2-3 times a week. I don't do anything special other than driving fairly conservatively but still going the speed limit, coasting up to lights whenever possible and I use the cruise contol quite a bit in the mornings since there isn't much traffic at 5:15 am. Also, I never use the A/C which I'm sure is a pretty big drain on the battery in this climate at this time of year. Conversely, I only have about 1000 miles on the car but have never seen it below 4 bars and never purple. So far, 58.5 mpg on this tank which exceeds my expectations keeps a smile on my face.

If you really want to see green, head up to Payson sometime. Plenty of regen available on the return trip.
[/b]

My daily commute is between Gilbert and Tempe, basically straight down Elliot to Hardy. I seem to get better results doing a pulse/glide rather than CC, but again, that's probably why I'm using my battery more. Routinely, it's 2-3 bars in the morning when I start, and I can get the battery up to 6 bars and that's it. No hills to speak of, really a flat route. I've wanted to take it up to Payson or Flagstaff and coast down the mountain, I'm sure I could get it fully charged then. Second thought, maybe I'll just take a drive up South Mountain, right near work. Coming down that, might be able to get it charged high too. I'm at about 42mpg overall now, about 48 on this tank according to the MFD. Resisting the urge to short-fill the tank since gas dropped about $0.10/gal this week, want to see how far I can go.