Two quick questions Is there a way to remove or is there a recommended way to remove the fingerprints from the display monitor? I was sitting waiting for my wife today and was listining to the radio. I noticed the battery color change from yellow to blue. Is there a way to run accessories without wearing down the battery? I had my Prius for a full week now and have no regreats about giving up my Hummer.
I have a small bottle of Griot's window cleaner and a micro fiber towel in my middle console. It works perfect to get the finger prints off of the nav screen and surrounding areas. I own a detailing business and I use this technique on all the cars I clean
I just grab a tissue from the draw under the front cup holder and wipe it over while the car is off. Seems to do a good job. My tissues in there are peppermint scented. The electric for your radio has to come from somewhere but what you can do if you're waiting for someone is switch off your Prius them press the power button once with your foot off the brake, this is accessory mode and it will only run the radio and accessories that are plugged into the "lighter" socket. The display will be on but no battery information is displayed. This all runs off the 12 volt battery and there is no charging from the main traction battery. In this mode it will turn itself off after a predetermined time, 20 minutes or an hour I think(someone will tell us I'm sure but it's in the handbook), to protect the battery from going flat. If you are waiting long enough for it to turn off, switch to ready mode to recharge the battery from the DC-DC converter and traction battery. Should be enough power in the traction battery to run the radio for a few days so don't worry too much about flattening it. I hope this helps and love your Prius.
I use an LCD cleaner like that used for a notebook computer. Mine has a little brush, a microfiber squeegee, and a bottle of cleaner. It's a good idea to do the cleaning with the car powered down, or the MFD turned off, otherwise you end up pushing a lot of random buttons. Tom
Thank you all for the responses. I'll take you up on the suggestions ( not sure on the peppermint tissues though). This seems like a great forum.
I think any tissues but the oily ones will do. I don't think the peppermint has anything to do with it but who knows. I picked them up by accident, I mean't to get plain ones.
I used a microfiber glass cleaner cloth to clean it, works great. Yes, make sure the car is off... I ended up zeroing the fuel consumption when I cleaned it with the car on.
It should stay in ACC for a hour and then shut itself off. It is in the manual but I don't remember which section.
I always wear gloves when driving. This leaves no fingerprints on the MFD and no buildup of skin gunk on the steering wheel. Once or twice a year I clean the MFD with a little windex or alcohol on a cotton rag. Unless you are sitting inside a completely enclosed space with no provision for removing exhaust you can simply leave the car ON and in Park (NOT Neutral!) and use all the accessories you like with no fear of draining the batteries. The state of charge of the big traction battery, shown in the display, will never drop below two purple bars because the car will run the engine as needed to keep it charged; the 12V battery is re-charged from the big battery. Even with the A/C running it would take a day or more to burn a full tank of gas.
