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Just Sit and Listen.....

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by The Electric Me, Jan 22, 2014.

  1. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    I'm a little embarrassed to admit I really don't know the answer to this.

    But if parked in a Prius what is the best way to handle just sitting in the vehicle and listening to the radio?

    I've done it two ways now.

    Once, I put the vehicle in park, left it "running", appled the brakes, and listened to the radio. The engine cycles on and off.

    Yesterday, I turned the vehicle off...put it in accessory mode (one push of the amber power button, no brake applied). The radio works....engine off...no cycling on and off.

    I guess my question is, in the second scenario, for about 5-6 minutes of listening to just the radio, how much danger if any, am I in running the 12V battery down? Or am I perfectly safe?

    Or is it better, just to leave the Prius "On"...and let it recharge itself as it feels necessary.

    I kind of hate to have the engine run, when my intentions and the reality is I'm NOT going anywhere.

    My feeling is that for short periods of time, as long as I remember to turn it off before I leave, I'm okay just staying in accessory mode.

    But I'd like opinions. Which is technically the best way to handle, just wanting to sit in your unmoving, idle Prius and listen to the radio.

    And don't tell me to buy a Walkman.
     
    #1 The Electric Me, Jan 22, 2014
  2. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    Five or six minutes will do no harm as long as aux battery voltage is at least 12V at 60°F ambient temp. As you most likely are aware, battery voltage is temperature dependent and correlates to it fairly linearly. So not the greatest idea to drain the aux battery when temps are below 0°F (as they were this morning in the District).

    You could leave your Prius in READY mode with little consequence other than the engine starting. If the traction battery was fully charged you could conceivably listen to the radio for a half hour before the engine started again assuming everything else is turned off. More wear and tear on the inverter and DC/DC converter though.
     
    #2 jadziasman, Jan 22, 2014
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  3. mediahound

    mediahound Active Member

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    After about 15 minutes if the car is not in READY, it will automatically shut off your radio and tell you it's trying to conserve your 12v battery.

    I always just leave the car in READY, in Park and with the parking break on, and make sure my lights/ running lights are off.

    It' best to leave the car on. It will not harm anything and the hybrid battery has a much bigger capacity, plus the ICE will come on and charge it when it needs it.

    There have been posts by others who leave their Priuses on for days while using it as a generator, it doesn't hurt anything at all.
     
    #3 mediahound, Jan 22, 2014
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  4. FL_Prius_Driver

    FL_Prius_Driver Senior Member

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    If there is any car that someone should feel OK to leave on in order to listen to the radio, it has to be a Prius.
     
    #4 FL_Prius_Driver, Jan 22, 2014
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  5. ny_rob

    ny_rob Senior Member

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    Don't sweat it- put it in accessory mode (one push of the amber power button, no brake applied) and enjoy the radio.
    The Prius will turn itself off after exactly 20 min in accessory mode. I do exactly this every workday at lunchtime without ever encountering any problems. In the summer when it's brutally hot- I put the car in "ready" mode and run the AC too.
    ​
     
    #5 ny_rob, Jan 22, 2014
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  6. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

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    On my PiP, in accessory mode, the radio turns itself off after I want to say 5 minutes but I've never timed it. It's definitely not 20 minutes and it's very annoying as I like to work in the garage with the radio on. I've done this on all my previous cars for up to an hour at a time and never had any problems. Having the engine cycle on and off in a quiet enclosed environment is not an option. Even using EV mode in the PiP is annoying as I would have to unplug it to put in Ready mode and then remember to plug it back in when I am done.


    iPhone ?
     
    #6 mmmodem, Jan 22, 2014
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  7. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Thanks for the input.
    I should clarify, that I've done both.
    I'm in a open parking lot, and both approaches worked, in so far as I could listen to the radio. The time frame I'm talking about is about 5-15 minutes tops.

    Thankfully, it's not a scenario I have to worry about too much, just occasionally at the end of a lunch break I have a few minutes to kill and sometimes a game is on the radio I'd like to listen to...

    So I guess the answer is, that I can do either, assuming I'm not in an enclosed area.

    It seemed to me, that when I left the vehicle in "ready" and parked...the ICE cycled on and off, not so much in relationship to any amount of charge left, but more in an effort to keep the engine warm. I always had plenty of charge showing on the hybrid battery, but the vehicle ICE would cycle on about every 5 minutes. The night I did this it was relatively cold outside.

    I'm thinking since my 12V is relatively new, I'm safe in scenarios of less than 15 minutes to simply use the accessory mode.
     
    #7 The Electric Me, Jan 23, 2014
  8. ny_rob

    ny_rob Senior Member

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    Strange, I've timed mine with a digital watch- it's 20 min on the dot when the car shuts down from acc mode.
    I actually use the 20 min time to let me know when to start heading back to work- 5 min to get out to the car, 20 min listening to the radio, then 5 min to get back to the building = 30 min lunch break... I don't even use my watch any more when going to lunch- I use the 20 min acc mode countdown timer.
     
    #8 ny_rob, Jan 23, 2014
  9. ny_rob

    ny_rob Senior Member

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    I can't see 15 min of radio only use bothering the 12v battery at all.

    In one respect here's where the PIP is very different than the std Prius...
    Sitting in the parking lot I can put the PIP in Ready mode and run the AC for 25 min without the ICE ever starting as long as I have a few EV miles left on the traction battery (in the summer a full traction battery has 11.3 or so EV miles in it). I've found that 25 min of running the AC costs about 1.5 EV miles on a pretty hot day as long as I don't exceed 3 bars on the fan speed and keep the temp around 76 F. With the std Prius- the ICE used to come on after about 10 min of AC use while in Ready mode.
     
    #9 ny_rob, Jan 23, 2014
  10. CaliforniaBear

    CaliforniaBear Clearwater Blue Metallic

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    In any kind of normal operation "wear" is not a consideration for electronic components. Ageing and stressful use is what generally causes electronic components to fail.
     
    #10 CaliforniaBear, Jan 23, 2014
  11. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

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    Alright, that's two people to my one. I must be doing something wrong. I'll have to look into this next time I sit in the parking lot waiting for DW.


    iPhone ?
     
    #11 mmmodem, Jan 23, 2014
  12. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    I've gotten 40 some minutes out of acc. mode a few times now before the warning came on and the car shut it off.
     
    #12 El Dobro, Jan 23, 2014
  13. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    Wear and tear is a generic term. The HV inverter water pump runs continuously in READY mode and that is a mechanical device. And the original HV water pump failed on my 05 - I waited for it to fail before having it replaced for free via the limited service campaign.
     
    #13 jadziasman, Jan 23, 2014
  14. CaliforniaBear

    CaliforniaBear Clearwater Blue Metallic

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    Yes to the extent the ICE is running for a short period of time. Your comment was "More wear and tear on the inverter and DC/DC converter though."
     
    #14 CaliforniaBear, Jan 24, 2014
  15. Maroon

    Maroon Member

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    Just leave it in "ready". It won't kill you to lose .1 mpg on this tank of gas.
     
    #15 Maroon, Jan 24, 2014
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