1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Radio when Parked: ACC or "regular run" mode?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by fshagan, Mar 19, 2006.

  1. fshagan

    fshagan Senior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2005
    1,766
    4
    0
    Location:
    Noneofyourbusiness, CA
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    I regularly eat lunch in my Prius, parked in a nice shady spot. Its part of my "mental health break" philosophy to actually get out of the office where no one can bother me.

    So here's my question: I've never had a problem with a regular car battery handling the use of the radio for 40 to 50 minutes on the ACC position. But the Prius doesn't run the ICE unless it needs to, and the 12v battery is pretty puny. The owner's manual recommends not runnign things "too long" on it.

    I'm wondering if I'm better off just driving up to my favorite little shady spot, stopping the car (and the ICE), pushing the "Park" button and sitting there with the Prius operating off the regular run mode? What do you think?
     
    #1 fshagan, Mar 19, 2006
  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    44,837
    16,073
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    it'll automatically shut off after 1 hour in ACC mode.
     
    #2 Tideland Prius, Mar 20, 2006
  3. KMO

    KMO Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2004
    1,421
    352
    0
    Location:
    Finland
    Vehicle:
    2023 Prius Prime
    Model:
    N/A
    You Americans do realise you are allowed to get out of your cars, right?
     
    #3 KMO, Mar 20, 2006
  4. Vegas Prius!

    Vegas Prius! New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2006
    23
    0
    0
    Now THAT'S funny!
     
    #4 Vegas Prius!, Mar 20, 2006
  5. fshagan

    fshagan Senior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2005
    1,766
    4
    0
    Location:
    Noneofyourbusiness, CA
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Its rumored that in the olden times people used to get out of their cars when obtaining food, medicines and other supplies. They had to do a thing called "walk" when they did this ("walk" is similar to what you do from your garage into your house, but was done partially OUTDOORS). In some cases, even when the merchant was indoors, people would "walk" to the merchants place of business! Can you imagine?
     
    #5 fshagan, Mar 20, 2006
  6. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2006
    6,057
    388
    0
    Location:
    Northern CA
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Don't listen to these guys! You go right ahead and stay in your car... as long as you never turn it on. :)

    If you're just running the radio, I wouldn't worry about an hour in ACC mode. The radio doesn't draw much! I'd hate for you to be sitting there in a car that's running the ICE just to play the stereo!
     
    #6 darelldd, Mar 20, 2006
  7. aaf709

    aaf709 Ravenpaw of ThunderClan

    Joined:
    Apr 23, 2005
    3,862
    18
    0
    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    Vehicle:
    2022 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Limited
    This discussion came up before when someone wanted to use their Prius for going to a drive-in which used FM for the audio. I forget the conclusion, normally they left it in Ready so the ICE would kick in from time to time or that it would last if the MFD was turned off.
     
    #7 aaf709, Mar 20, 2006
  8. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2004
    3,790
    152
    0
    Location:
    Park View, Los Angeles, CA. U.S.A
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    it takes an easy 1.5 to 2 hours to drain the battery. That's with music blaring too... I was using it as a boom box for a party :) When the system gets really low, everything turn on and off because there's not enough power to keep it all on. There is still plenty of power to power the car into "ready" though.
     
    #8 V8Cobrakid, Mar 20, 2006
  9. tmorrowus

    tmorrowus Member

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2003
    514
    15
    2
    With a regular radio you would probably be fine running it with the hybrid system off. But why risk it? From owning a pure electric vehicle I've learned that the worst thing you can do to a battery is overdischarging it.


    By running the radio with the hybrid system on, you avoid any risk of hurting the battery. And because it's a hybrid the gas engine will only run every once in a while, so it's not costing much gas or environmental effects.
     
    #9 tmorrowus, Mar 21, 2006
  10. gschoen

    gschoen Member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2004
    343
    3
    0
    Location:
    Chicago/Wrigleyville
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    For 40-50 minutes, you will use more juice (and gas) in READY since it powers other components as well (besides the radio and other obvious stuff). You won't drain the battery only running the radio. I concur with V8CobraKid, it takes some effort to drain the 12V and even if you did have the situation where the sound cuts out, just putting the car in ready for a few minutes will top the 12V off. It's not a deep discharge and not long enough for battery damage. The 12V battery in the Prius leads a pampered life compared to a normal car battery, it takes some effort to damge it.

    EDIT: Oops, didn't realize this thread was almost 4 months old. My bad.
     
    #10 gschoen, Jul 7, 2006
  11. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2004
    15,140
    611
    0
    Location:
    South Puget Sound, WA
    Vehicle:
    2013 Nissan LEAF
    Model:
    Persona
    i wouldnt worry about it. i have been doing the same thing since i got my Prius. probably average 1-2 days a week spending my entire lunch hour in the car with VAIS running my ipod. with CANVIEW, i know the SOC still changes. also have "started" the car in EV mode and have seen SOC drop maybe 1-3% without the car starting one time.
     
    #11 DaveinOlyWA, Jul 7, 2006
  12. stanleyjohn

    stanleyjohn New Member

    Joined:
    May 21, 2006
    269
    1
    0
    Location:
    Higganum,Ct
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Id enjoy the radio in ACC mode.Running the ICE just to play the stereo will do a job on your mPG stats after awhile.
     
    #12 stanleyjohn, Jul 12, 2006
  13. Lil Mo

    Lil Mo New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2006
    171
    0
    0
    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KMO @ Mar 20 2006, 01:29 AM) [snapback]227229[/snapback]</div>
    Of course, but why would we want to? :p
     
    #13 Lil Mo, Jul 16, 2006
  14. KMO

    KMO Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2004
    1,421
    352
    0
    Location:
    Finland
    Vehicle:
    2023 Prius Prime
    Model:
    N/A
    Ka-ching! You're right, these are Priuses we're talking about. B)
     
    #14 KMO, Jul 17, 2006
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)