A Little Bit Paranoia, A Little Excitement...Those Pink SOC Bars

After a few months taking care of the blue egg, I'm ready to hit the road to California. Luckily the route I'm planning hasn't had snow dumped on it in a couple of weeks and the temps have been nice and steady in the 40-70 F range.

New 12v, 120K service included new spark plugs, cabin and engine filters checked/changed, oil change. Got the HV battery assessed since it was rejuiced. Doing well; no charge lost. Blocking grill on cold (~40F) mornings, and removing foam before the drive home. New LRR tires. I'm creating a sleep area in the back (so glad I picked a Prius with privacy tint). I'll probably use bins between first and second row of seats to extend surface area for...not enough time to customize my dream build.

So, just wanted to quadruple check this forum and ask, via this post, anyone who hasn't responded to this topic yet...

At what point in your long-distance drives did the two pink bars prove to be a pre-cursor to an event that needed immediate attention?

On these long road trips, with or without cruise control, climbing hills, I will likely see the SOC go down to two pink bars a few times, but they will turn around after cresting hills and/or decreasing acceleration demand, and this seems normal. Even on my regular commute depending on what mood is operating the gas pedal, plus road conditions and traffic flow, I sometimes drop to two pink bars that quickly turn around into the blue range when I exit the highway, usually a descending off-ramp.

In my paranoia, I've mapped out Toyota dealerships along the way and a couple of hybrid specialty shops. This forum is set in my browser favorites on my phone, too.

 

When the 12v failed, I started reading up on that and the HV and read about rejuicing/deep cycling the HV or buying a brand new one. I also read up on the grid chargers, which sounds like a smart investment if the Prius isn't driven everyday or enough everyday. My educated guess and observations after installing a new 12v (not yellow top) was that I should at the very least get the HV assessed. If it was still healthy enough to get deep cycled, then I would try that. If it was beyond consideration, I was going to get a new HV from Toyota, seek financial assistance, and move on.

It was a good candidate for deep cycling, so I stuck with that course.

In this process I slotted time aside for getting to (and cleaning if needed) the battery fan behind the back row.

I remember tell-tale signs of a pet hair when I purchased the car (animal hair in the back/base of seats and in the carpet between the seats and doors...not a lot, but it was there), so I expected a hairballs in the fan, but it was spotless! Yay. It was a project to get to the fan, but worth it.

I live where it's dry, but I don't have pets. I will still check it next year at about this time.

I'm still fascinated by the instant feedback of my driving habits...still glued to that consumption screen.