Battery Icon went from Blue to Green

What it means in Winnipeg is that the ambient air temp went below -26 C ...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Prius The First @ Dec 12 2006, 04:16 PM) [snapback]361239[/snapback]</div>

You dom't really have any control over whether it's green, blue, or pink. The computer takes care of all that. Anyway, don't worry about it. It's perfectly normal.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Prius The First @ Dec 12 2006, 07:16 PM) [snapback]361239[/snapback]</div>

It's just a narrowly-regulated state of charge. There is little you can do about it, so don't even worry.

 

It's going to blow up!! :lol: :lol:

jk; as Dr. Fusco stated, its just a higher state of charge in your battery. I don't know if there's any "benefit", except I like to try to keep my charge as high as possibe . In my mind, at least, I feel that I'm using less gas & more ev mode if the charge is higher. Probably not true, but just a feeling.

Glad to know you're paying attention. Don't forget to look at the road from time to time! Enjoy you're Prius!! :lol:

 

It happens more when you've gone down a long hill, but it won't stay long. Evidently the Prius prefers being in the blue area.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Prius The First @ Dec 12 2006, 04:16 PM) [snapback]361239[/snapback]</div>

No. There is no benefit in trying to keep it green. The computer tries to keep the state of charge around the middle. It wants (and you do too) to have enough charge in the battery to provide energy for acceleration when you step on the pedal, and still to have enough head room in the battery to absorb energy when you step on the brakes. So the ideal is probably from 4 to 6 bars. But the computer will see to all that, using electricity when the battery is high, and recharging when it is low. (Except that, as Jayman suggests, in very cold weather, when the engine must run to provide heat, the charge will generally stay pretty high.)

The only time there's any benefit to trying to fool the battery into getting a high charge, is when you're about to hit a long uphill. Then it's nice to have more charge available. And similarly, when approaching a long downhill, it's nice to have a low state of charge, so it can absorb more regenerative energy. That's why a bigger battery would translate to better efficiency. But in 2004 the present battery was judged to be the best match of cost vs benefit. The rumor is that the 2009 model year will have more battery capacity.

Basically, just drive it. It will do everything it needs to do.

 

I had an interesting situation the other night. I had stopped at a traffic light with the battery fully charged (all bars green), radio & headlights on, heater on low fan. I would have thought that I would stay on battery power but the ICE keep kicking in as if it didn't want the charge to go below max. It was ICE on, ICE off, ICE on, ICE off (sorry Mr. Miyagi) in very rapid succession.

Anyone else have this experience?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Dec 13 2006, 11:05 AM) [snapback]361445[/snapback]</div>

Mine neither, and I used to achieve all greens and have this cycling every day at the end of the same hill. Could it be that the battery is starting to lose its capacity to hold a charge?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jim1eye @ Dec 13 2006, 06:20 AM) [snapback]361425[/snapback]</div>

I don't think I've been able to keep it EV mode when starting the car with either air condition/heat or the front defroster on. It always turns on the ICE within a few seconds. Likewise, even though it's been running and warmed up, with sufficiently charged batteries it still doesn't want to go into EV with the defroster on.

Dave M.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dmckinstry @ Dec 13 2006, 05:40 PM) [snapback]361963[/snapback]</div>

With the heater on it really likes to run the engine. After it's good and warmed up, the heater can be on a low fan setting and it'll go electric. But otherwise it's hard.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Dec 13 2006, 08:41 PM) [snapback]362024[/snapback]</div>

I guess it's not really completely warmed up then. Only driven 5 - 10 minutes.
I know that even in the summer, I'd have to drive about 15 minutes before my mileage would start to get much above 50.

Dave M.