Anyway to get the car to charge the traction battery idling?

I don't think so. You can trick the car to keep the ice running but I believe when the battery has had enough the ice just idles.

 

Uh, two things:

1. The battery isn't really "full" even when you see all green bars. The software tries to keep the SOC (state of charge) between 40 - 80%. "Full" is approximately 80% charge.

2. Power in the electrical sense, or power in the sense to propel the car? Neither one is a direct function of the SOC.

It is best just to let the car worry about maintaining the SOC. It was designed to do a really good job of it. :madgrin:

 

when i'm idling for a long time and the battery goes down to one purple, it tells me the car won't charge unless i put it in park. when i'm in serious creep and crawl traffic, it goes to one purple and pretty much stays there until we get moving again. doesn't seem like it would be very good for the battery. fortunately, it doesn't happen that often.

 

Do you have the car in N when that happens? The car cannot recharge the battery when in N because the two MGs are electrically disconnected from the system. You need to be in P or D (or B or R) so the car can recharge the HV battery when needed.

 

To add to dogfriend's comments: the Prius never really deliberately "tops off" the SOC on the chance you might have a long down-hill stretch using "B". I've done this a few times on trips down mountains and it's the only time I've seen the SOC indicator with all bars lit. I think at some point, the car will stop charging the HV to prevent an overcharge by "bleeding off" the regen process. It's rare, but can happen in certain circumstances.

 

force charge the car... shrug....

keep the car ON.. in D.. hold the brake down and apply gas. the engine will spin generating electricity for the battery.. once the battery is full the engine will turn on... (and won't turn back on till the SOC drops)

i used to use this method for rally courses.

 

yes, in neutral when i'm idling and i put it in park when it tells me to. i try to keep it in park when i'm in a live parking etc.
in stop and go traffic, naturally, it's in drive and i don't get the warning, but it still goes down to one purple sometimes and the engine will kick on but only for a minute, not for any substantial charging. i think it kicks on as i apply the accelerator and off as i let off the gas or hit the brake. it's fairly random as i'm moving and slowing in many different speeds with the traffic.

 

The car and it's battery control system is way smarter than most of it's users. (Good thing too) In the off grid solar world, the biggest cause of battery failure is "operator error"!

Let the car do what it was designed to do. 55 mpg, along with great driveability and great longevity (Pruis' in cab service have seen 500,000 km, better than 300,000 miles)

If it aint broke don't fix it.

Icarus

PS Full bar battery gauge or low battery gauge will have no effect on the amount of HP you can put to the wheels. Why would you care in a Prius anyway? By running the engine strictly to charge the HV battery is almost the least efficient thing you can do.

 

It does not have to be full bar.
Just select PWR mode and go!

As V8Cobrakid wrote, you can charge the battery by holding the brake down and applying gas in D, but it is very wasteful solution.

Ken@Japan

 

IMO its not a good idea to put the car in neutral while at a stop, even in traffic, because it will not charge the batteries. Its probably a much better idea to put it in park if you dont want to hold the brake pedal. Plus it takes to same amount of effort to shift it in drive whether it was in park or neutral..., save your batteries and avoid the warning signs and shift it into park when you stop.

 

lesson learned, thanks. just wondering, does anyone know why it won't charge in neutral? i'm assuming the engine is not allowed to run, but why?

 

The engine can run in neutral. It can't start, nor can it shut off. It will keep doing whatever it was doing when you shifted into neutral.

By law cars are required to have a neutral setting which disengages the drive system from the wheels. Since the mechanical parts of the Prius are always engaged, the only way to disconnect is to turn off the fields to the electric MGs. This is why the Prius will not charge in neutral.

Tom

 

makes sense, and thanks for the prompt reply!

 

Yes. but it's unlikely you'll get your SOC down to 20% unless you purposefully try really hard.

 

Yes. Try climbing some of the big mountain passes out west. Once the battery runs down to the low limit you are running on nothing but the gas engine. The poor little beast works pretty hard then, especially with the smaller Gen II engine.

Tom

 

While "force charging" might be useful for races, why would you bother wasting the gas for a tiny boost? (yes, force charging reduces your overall mpg when compared to normal driving). The battery isn't massive, it can only hold a tiny charge.

 

You could add a PHEV kit and only switch it on 5 minutes before the race?