Car wash

make sure the AC and other things are turned off. When the car's in neutral, the ICE can't charge the battery.

 

I just remove the antenna and put it in neutral. No problem with no charging for the 2 or 3 minutes while going thru the wash. The AC runs off the traction battery.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(seasalsa @ Jul 26 2006, 10:43 AM) [snapback]292548[/snapback]</div>

That's true if your battery's in the green or blue bar zone. If you are in the purple zone, I suggest you turn everything off first. You'll be amazed how much current the AC can draw. I saw up to 10 Amps with CAN-View.

 

If this is a "full service" car wash, where you get out of your car and entrust the driving to the attendant, there are a few more steps to take that fall into the "social engineering" category. These may include:

(1) Confirming with whoever is driving your car that they are familiar with shifting the Prius. (They will say yes - do you believe them?)
(2) From personal experience - even if you have SKS, put your key in the slot. This way if they turn off the car, they won't have to come looking for you (even though I left my keys in the console).
(3) Some recommend that you keep the fan blowing at medium speed so they'll hear something running even if the ICE is off.

Personally, I had asked about this (I even see the thread below) and made up an instruction sheet for carwash attendants. I still have this, but found a car wash where the manager told me that everybody does know how to drive the Prius, and I can go there without worry.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FishHawk @ Jul 26 2006, 05:47 AM) [snapback]292512[/snapback]</div>

We've been using the automatic hi-pressure car wash exclusively during the 2 years owning the Prius. We leave the antenna on (complete with little Canadian flag) drive in, press "Park", the jets move around the car and do their thing then when finished we move slowly out under the drying air jets. Only little thing that happens is that as the drying jets are over the rear window the window washer blade rattles and makes quite a racket. Total time is about 5 minutes and cost $6 (CAN).
Gary