Newly purchased 2008 stuck in driveway 2 wks till DMV appt

, that's a funny comparison, but if you hear a "barking" noise while using the brakes, instead of an occasional "buzzing", that's not good. That is the most common description used by those whose actuator is on the verge of failure. If it actually fails, you will see several lights on the dashboard (typically Brake, ABS and VSC), at which point you will want to have the codes read to confirm, but if you are hearing the barking noise regularly, you need to prepare yourself for a major expense to have the actuator/accumulator replaced. Sorry to be a party-pooper.

 

That should (try to) charge the 12 V battery but the HV battery will "cycle" between about 80% and 20% pretty much just like it would while driving but the cycles will be much longer.
Sounds to me like you also need a multi-meter.
The little red ones from Harbor Freight are more than adequate, for a bit less than $10.
Similar models available at WalMart and auto parts stores for a bit more.

 

That's normal, nothing to be concerned about. That number of bars corresponds to about 45% of battery capacity still remaining, well within normal operating mode.

If you were going to leave the car unattended for many weeks or months, some members here would recommend force-charging the battery to 6 or 7 bars, because of the tendency of NiMH modules to self-discharge over time, but over the course of a week or 2, the amount of discharge on a healthy battery would not reach a level to be a cause for concern.

 

Not too many healthy 07 battery’s out there given how old they are now.

 

I don't disagree. Last year about this time, I said as we were packing our 2007 for Florida, this will probably be its last trip. Guess what? It made it there and back and we are going to leave the Gen 4 sitting here in the Bronx again this year, and take the Gen 2 . My wife keeps saying she wants to buy a new car for herself (the Gen 4 is mine), but when she starts looking at my monthly cost for car payments and insurance, she always ends up agreeing to run the Gen 2 a little longer. I know one thing for sure, if we ever let it sit, as we do the Gen 4, that would be the end of it.

 

Not trying troll but cheeerist: do you have access to 120 volt outlet? Get a smart charge if possible, lol.

 

I forgot.
Too many threads, not enough brain cells.

 

That is NOT an unusual situation......and does NOT necessarily indicate any sort of problem, by itself.
IIRC, the computer is set up to never let it get below a 20% SOC and the gauge does not show true SOC.
So, when there are two bars left it is at something like 40%.
Even seeing it go to ZERO bars for a brief time once in a great while does not necessarily indicate a problem, since that really is 20%.

 

Sorry if this is redundant, I don't have the will to review the whole thread:
You do realize that will be useful ONLY for the 12 V aux. battery, right ?
It will in no way be useful for the HV hybrid battery.

 

Not quite, at least for Gen 2, which this forum is.
2 purple bars = 43 - 47.5%
1 purple bar = 40 - 44%
0 bars = 39 - 40%

 

Hybrid battery can endure much longer down time. Owners Manual suggests 3 months as max IIRC. Two weeks is nothing.