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Rapid discharge

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by bp1000, Aug 10, 2014.

  1. bp1000

    bp1000 New Member

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    Very occasionally and usually from a cold start I get a rapid discharge of the battery.

    What I mean by this is I would accelerate past the middle line on the HSI and the instant MPG would still be reading 50-70mpg despite accelerating up to 60mph. I would see the battery deplete quite quickly too. After about 1 mile, the right sort of range I would feels the subtle change in power as the battery switches off and begins filling up again.

    I also had it happen trying to climb a very steep hill, I remember looking at the instant mpg and thinking, wow 60mpg up this massive hill this car is awesome. That was the first time I noticed it happen and then I realised it was using all the battery.

    In both examples it happened about 2-3 miles into the journey, about 5 mins in.

    Is this normal or do I have an issue ?

    Thanks
     
    #1 bp1000, Aug 10, 2014
  2. drysider

    drysider Active Member

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    No issues. The Synergy drive is using the battery instead of the engine during the early part of the warm up. Hard accelerations during this period will quickly use up the battery. There are a lot of threads on the warm=up process.
     
    #2 drysider, Aug 10, 2014
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  3. macman408

    macman408 Electron Guidance Counselor

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    To add to the above, for about the first minute that the engine is running after you start the car, it will produce very little power. So any acceleration you do will mostly come from the battery. If you wish to avoid this, accelerate very slowly (like 1/4 or 1/5th of the fat part of the HSI), and you'll stay within what the engine is producing. Obviously, that's slower than most traffic, unless you're in a quiet residential neighborhood. After that minute is up, you may be able to hear the pitch of the engine change a bit, and then the engine will provide most of your acceleration rather than the battery.
     
    #3 macman408, Aug 11, 2014
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  4. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    What you do puts a lot of stress on battery and hurt the final MPG. Either wait a minute for warm up to complete or drive slowly at the beginning.
     
    #4 Former Member 68813, Aug 13, 2014
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  5. T Tankka

    T Tankka New Member

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    I started to experience this after about 25,000 miles. In the morning when the engine is cold, a mild acceleration (25mph zone) would deplete the traction battery from 6 pips to 2 pips in very short order. Again this only started after 1.5 years and 25,000 miles. It doesn't happen every time, but enough to make me curious. I talked to the dealer and have got nothing of use from them. I had the recall performed after this started and no change. I would like to learn more about this.
     
    #5 T Tankka, Aug 20, 2014
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    dealers can't help if you don't have any codes. they don't know anything about cars, they're just parts changers. did your commute change or anything?
     
    #6 bisco, Aug 20, 2014
  7. T Tankka

    T Tankka New Member

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    Good question. I moved from a steep hill to the flatland right after this started happening. I had a steep downhill for about .2 mile so I would not have had to accelerate while the engine was warming. So this occurred right after the move and intermittently ever since?
     
    #7 T Tankka, Aug 20, 2014
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    it can definitely be related to the type of driving during warm up. some types will use a lot of battery and some won't. also, outside temp will have an effect on warmup time, consequently affecting battery usage.
     
    #8 bisco, Aug 20, 2014
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