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Battery stays blue all the time

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by zfk110, Aug 27, 2014.

  1. zfk110

    zfk110 Junior Member

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    My 2008 Prius battery stays blue all the time and my MPG went 43 from 51MPG. Two days ago I drove almost 600 miles but battery sign didn't go to green. I dont know if is there any problem with my car? NO CIL. Thanks for any help..
     
  2. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Green is a sign of 'over' charging. You get green bars with regeneration, or with the engine running to provide heat. (you should not be running the heater often in August in Atlanta)

    If you have green bars, your computers are looking for ways to burn off that excess charge and get back to blue. All is well!
     
  3. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Older more worn out batteries usually show much more variation in charge levels. So seeing only little charge level variation is actually a good thing. Keep driving like that and your battery will probably last a long time. :)

    If however you were to drive in more mountainous terrain then trust me that you would see more charge levels variation.
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    not enough info!:p
     
  5. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Well, how long have you owned your vehicle? Nobody should be more familiar with how your vehicle behaves than yourself.

    Because I'm not convinced you don't have a problem.

    I would say on a 600 mile trip, assuming some large stretch of relatively normal or flat terrain your battery should of charged itself into the green zone.

    HUGE ADMISSION...however, my experience is with a Gen 3 Prius. My observation or behavior with a newer Gen 3, is that the Prius will strive to keep itself charged into the green, once the battery is depleted down to 2 bars or less which is a purple or blue color.

    A long stretch of EV driving, uphill driving, hot day or heavy accessory use can force the Prius into lower states of overall charge, but at least with mine it DOES strive to recharge, and generally stays 1/2-2/3rds..to 3/4 charged...all which are indicated as Green bars.

    If you do have a problem. I suppose the "good news" is it's the type of situation where it will become undeniable.

    Never reaching a state of green charge? Wouldn't be normal behavior for my Prius.
     
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  6. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    On flat terrain driving without using the brakes, you should NOT see green. You will see blue and below most likely. If it stayed blue, all is well.
     
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  7. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    OMG! Maybe I'm color blind!

    Maybe we should talk number of bars? My Prius strives to stay in the 1/2 to 3/4ths or more "charged" zone.

    I would say, if the OP's Prius isn't striving to stay charged at around that level in 600 miles of driving, he may have a problem.
     
  8. zfk110

    zfk110 Junior Member

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    Two weeks ago my car wasnt starting, my car mechanic unplugged those two oranage cables goin into front inverter box then he plugged them back within one min, some how that fixed my starting issue, but since then Im noticing this. I used to have green bars all the time. I got 61000 miles and its touring package Prius with 16" rims. Thanks
     
  9. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Normally in summer with A/C on we are in the blue mostly, because the A/C drains the battery,
    In the winter, with heat, we get a lot more green as the ICE runs extra to make cabin heat and as a result the HV batt charges.
    In summery, as far as I know Blue is good.
     
  10. HaroldW

    HaroldW Active Member

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    I just took the 2006 out to check this out. When I started the car it showed all blue. 1/2 way up. I really had to be light on the throttle to finally get green turned on. Blue does seem to be the norm. H
     
  11. jqmello

    jqmello Junior Member

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    I'm curious as to the answer...
    The same thing just happened to me today. This is my wife's car, but I drive it fairly often. Today she filled it up, drove it back 8 miles. Usually this same trip averages 38-40 mpg, with a big hill at the end. Today it averaged 32 mpg. This evening's drive started with the battery fan running for 5 minutes solid, which it usually doesn't do, and engine running 100% of the time, which it usually doesn't do. The charge never got into the green. I drive with a light foot, to maximize fuel economy. Pulse and glide, right? Not today. Right up to the top of the blue, and I drove in a manner that usually charges it into the green. Something is preventing the battery from topping up. No codes, though.
    If this persists during the whole tank we'll see what the average mpg is - substantially lower, I think. We usually average 48-52 mpg over one tank.
     
  12. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    You have a different problem. Your case is caused by the traction battery getting too hot (or failing). While it's not uncommon to have the (rear seat) battery fan running quietly in summer, if it's loud enough to hear from the driver's seat then it means the battery is uncomfortably hot.

    What was the temperature when you drove it, and what was it doing before the drive (eg had it been recently driven, or parked in the sun etc)?

    If there is not exceptional circumstances to account for the fan running then you should check the rear vents and fan for obstructions as soon as possible. Otherwise you may get an early traction battery failure.
     
    #12 uart, Aug 28, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2014
  13. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Well let's do some maths. The gen2 Prius has an 8 bar display. So by your own numbers 1/2 of 8 is four bars - which is blue, and 3/4 of 8 is six bars - which is also blue! So what exactly is the problem!

    The Gen2 Prius actually strives to stay around 6 bars state of charge most of the time - which is blue on the display. More than six and it tries to use the battery power more freely and bring it back to six. Less than six and it charges it a little more aggressively and again tries to bring it back to six.
     
  14. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Of course we had 90 deg F yesterday in DC but as per UART sounds like battery is getting old.

    If you follow threads here, one Gen2 issue is sometimes the batt fan gets clogged up especially dog owners notice it. I've procrastinated not checked my fan yet.

    One thing some people are doing, to be kind and gentle on the battery, when you start the Prius, warm up a few minutes. You will notice after about 30-secs in PARK the ICE motor comes on for about 30 secs and then the ICE motor stops and you have silence again. Then drive off.

    We are starting to chat here about a new $400 device to refresh the battery with a deep discharge/full charge cycle. But you'd have to be somewhat of an advanced DIY to get to your HV battery and hook it up.

    How many miles do you have? We have been trying to figure out DC's CARB status whereas the CARB warranty covers batt for 150k miles and 10-years. Probably a long shot there but would be nice to know.
     
  15. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Sorry, it get's confusing because we are talking about two different generations, with slightly different displays, and there are two battery state of charge displays on a post refresh Gen 3 with MFD window.

    I only occasionally use the one on the MFD that appears when you choose the display that shows the outline of the automobile, engine and battery. I monitor primarily using on the dash HSI display. The HSI display is mostly colorless.

    However, I checked closely yesterday. And indeed, my Prius stays Green and strives to charge to green at any level above 2-4 bars. It turns blue only when significantly low.

    I'm believe this must simply be a difference in display behavior between Gen 2 and Gen 3.

    For me, continual blue would mean The battery was in a low state of charge, unable to use EV, and the vehicle would be aggressively using the engine to charge back to green.

    This state CAN and does happen in driving occasionally, but I again would say, my Prius seems designed to stay in the green (middle charge or higher). If I went on a 600 mile road trip...assuming it wasn't all uphill...and I never saw a green state of charge on my battery? I would consider it abnormal behavior for my newer Gen 3 Prius.

    This may NOT be the case for a Gen 2. Where evidently "Blue" and "Green" may represent entirely different behaviors for the battery.
     
  16. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Before your mechanic touched anything HV he disconnected the 12V battery positive and removed the HV safety interlock. Many people have reported a temporary drop in fuel efficiency after the system get "reset" like that. I wouldn't worry about it too much for now, just drive it for a while and the reported MPG will probably go back to where it was.
     
  17. jqmello

    jqmello Junior Member

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    Ok, well, it was hot yesterday, the second drive was about 40-minutes after my wife had driven back from Gaithersburg, gotten gas on the way. At the end of the 2nd drive it was 88* at 8pm. And we do have dogs - I put some very open foam (like home filter) to catch the dog hair when I opened it up and cleaned the fan a year ago (preventative maintenance), have popped the cover off and wiped those down a few times since. Time to check again.
    If the battery was getting warm enough, I could see that the computer would prevent it from 'topping up', and that it would dump the 'recharge' like it does on long downhills and the battery reaches 8-bars (top, green).
    Secondarily, in addition to being hot, we added a roof rack (with fairing) to (potentially) carry our kayaks. This means yet another vairable, and any anecdotal dropping in mileage will not be easy to pinpoint. I know there are many Prius owners with roofracks... but I never looked to see if they experience lower mileage than average.

    zfk110- I hope that your battery starts 'topping up' again, and that you get back to 51. I know we usually average a little under that, but I gather that it's not out of the 'normal' range to have a tank or two average low 40's.

    I didn't mean to hijack the thread, thought I had a similar situation that could add data.

    edit: someone asked miles? 176,000-ish and rising.
     
    #17 jqmello, Aug 28, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2014
  18. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    ^^^OK good...well I find my roof rack empty is minor impact...roof rack+ top box on there can be -10MPG