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Battery charge

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by mike03, Jun 22, 2004.

  1. mike03

    mike03 New Member

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    Does anybody notice if there battery gets fully charged ever? We have 11,000 miles on our 2004 Prius and I don't think its ever been fully charged once. Mike
     
    #1 mike03, Jun 22, 2004
  2. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    You'll experience "full" if you glide down the side of a mountain; otherwise, not gonna happen.
     
    #2 john1701a, Jun 22, 2004
  3. eak354

    eak354 Member

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    yep, coast downhill long enough and it'll be fully charged in no time! :mrgreen:
     
    #3 eak354, Jun 23, 2004
  4. frbill

    frbill New Member

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    With real carefull driving technique I have managed a full battery about three time but it last but a moment. The last time I got it to full I took a picture. We have a few long hills where I build up charge and also many railroad crossing where I coast over them as they are murder on the suspension. All that momentum has been turned back into juice for my battery.

    Peace,

    Fr. Bill
     
    #4 frbill, Jun 23, 2004
  5. aarons12

    aarons12 New Member

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    i was wondering the same thing. drove all the way home from WV (over 600 miles) and it always still had 2 empty bars, except for a few minutes when it went down to 1 empty...


    thanks once again to friends at priuschat!
     
    #5 aarons12, Jun 23, 2004
  6. jchu

    jchu New Member

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    What are people find is the normal state of charge? On our '04 Prius, the battery seems to mostly between 4 and 6 bars. I've never seen it higher, only once lower. We took ownership of it at about 3400 mi on the odometer as it had been the dealership TRAC car (but got it for much less than MSRP). Currently, has just over 10,000 mi on it.
     
    #6 jchu, Jun 23, 2004
  7. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    The ECU 'prefers' to keep the Traction Battery operating within a very narrow SOC (state of charge) both to preserve the life of the battery itself and to be sure to have room for additional charge but with enough reserve to meet demand.

    As mentioned, certain terrain (though not necessarily a mountain) seems more disposed. Technique also seems to matter quite a lot.

    I have some gently rolling terrain on my usual route to work where, in the initial days, I would notice the ICE shut off (as usual) at stops, but then it would cycle off-on-off-on about 4-6 times. Since this was early after release others were posting similar experiences. We figured out that that is the mechanism the ECU uses to discharge the battery when it gets 'full'. Indeed, if I switched over to the Energy screen the battery would be all green with bars to the top as I approached the stops where this happened. The ICE would cycle, as described, after stopping and the charge would drop to green but not full (i.e. 1 bar gone from the top). This occurs b/c the Prius doesn't know if you might be at the top of a long descent which might force an overcharged condition in the battery.

    Probably more than you wanted to know, but you'll probably see an all green/full battery at some point.
     
    #7 efusco, Jun 23, 2004
  8. xevious

    xevious New Member

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    My daily commute via highway takes me over a large-ish hill. Consequently, my SOC goes from 7 or 8 bars (completely full) to 2 or 3 bars and back again at least once a day.

    Makes me really glad that the battery has a 100,000 mile warranty...
     
    #8 xevious, Jun 23, 2004
  9. tag

    tag Senior Member

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    Seems like mine has been perpetually stuck in that SOC. As far as I can recall, I've only seen it full, and at 1 empty bar, on one occasion. Every other time I've looked it's had 2 empty bars.
     
    #9 tag, Jun 23, 2004
  10. jamarimutt

    jamarimutt New Member

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    Correct... I drive up and down a hill every day, to and from work, and I see all the bars green twice a day.
     
    #10 jamarimutt, Jun 23, 2004
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