Longer life to HV battery?

How many miles of the vehicle?

Best to let the vehicle ECU maintain the charge level(s). Using the HVAC without the ICE running will deplete the HV battery.

The only time I've had to force charge the battery was during extended climbing sessions over large mountain ranges (the Sierras).

 

do you want longer life, or higher charge?

 

Since you've brought up charging externally, it might not be a bad idea to balance the HV battery given your current mileage.

Are you noticing any abnormal fluctuations in the HV battery charge level?

It was designed like that, the ICE isn't supposed to charge the battery all the way. Find a long downhill if you need a full charge.

Yes, that is forced charging. You would only do that when climbing a large hill or potentially for short term storage.

Why do you need a full charge?

What kind of maintenance has been done so far?

You can DL copies of the model year manuals and or run the VIN for maintenance history at http://toyota.com/owners

Just drive it like a normal vehicle, check the oil often, change when needed, etc.

 

There are two kinds of Gen2 owners: those that have changed the HV battery and those that are about to. Which are you?

 

As SFO stated, it's designed to work the way you described

. I have a slightly different question for you. In normal driving, how long does it take to go from green bars to blue bars? The shorter amount of time, the closer your HV pack is to throwing a code. I recently replaced my HV battery at 155K miles. When I was idling at a long traffic light, my Prius went from full bars to 1 bar, in only a couple minutes. Inversely, going down a long hill, the HV pack would change from 1 bar to 5 bars in under a minute.

 

It would NOT be economical to have it do that.
But a really LOT of people have trouble grasping that.

 

Normal is in the middle or above, generally speaking.

Well, it's all down hill from here. Start reading up on DIY battery options, and or balancing gear.

What kind of warranty did they offer, and do they have an actual physical location that you can descend on in the (near) future?

If not to forward, which Florida entity was so kind as to liberate you from those benjamins? (strictly for archival purposes)

 

green and purple are fairly rare, unless you happen to have repetitive driving situations that will cause them.

in general, the computers keep a healthy battery around 5 or 6 bars, but they can go higher or lower depending on circumstances.
if there's any battery warning before the red triangle, its usually rapid fluctuation of the gauge. a weak cell causes the battery to appear to charge and discharge quickly

 

After the 2nd Red Triangle appeared on my Prius, the entire pack began acting as one cell. Using Dr. Prius, the typical readings changed, from showing individual block voltages, to all 14 Blocks reading exactly the same. That was the final kicker to replacing the pack.

 

NO.
But that could mean that part of the problem is corroded connections.

 

Not necessary to floor the gas doing that really strains the whole drivetrain.

Just gently push the gas pedal enough to turn the engine on. I do this all the time.

Patience.