Does anyone know....?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(smtrader\";p=\"51995)</div>

When the car is left on and in park, the display screen will run, and also the climate control system (e.g., heat and air conditioning). The electricity in the Prius ultimately comes from burning gas (regenerative braking, and running the engine for battery charging as well as propulsion). Depending on the elecrical load, the engine may come on from time to time to recharge the battery while it's sitting there in "Park".

 

RE temperture: In my old BMW the sensor was in the front bumper hidden from the sun. Thus, when I idled for awhile, I'd get a falsely high temp due to engine heat.


It seems to me that putting it in the window would cause it to be adversely affected by sunlight.

 

Why would Toyota use more than a single sensor? It's only measuring the temperture.

It' not a critical function.

 

OAT (Outside Air Temperature) on my Prius always reports within 1-3º of what the news/weather radio is reporting. I am also curious about where the sensor is located.

 

1. Where is the outside temperature sensor for the car? And how does it really work? It seems to me that the "temperature outside" on my screen is cooler than what I feel when I step out of the car.

I believe there is one sensor and it is on the dashboard near the window. I believe it is on the driver's side and looks like a small semi-sphere coming up from the corner of the dash.

2. Should I remove the CD from the CD player when I switch over to the radio? Or is leaving it in there ok without damaging either the CD or the player in the long run?

I've been know to leave CDs in the player for a month or more (even in the summer) with no problems to the CD (we have some really good radio stations here!).

3. I accidentally left my car "on" for 3 hours yesterday (I hit Park but forgot to hit the Power button). I was showing some curious friends about the car, stepped outside, and left..it was in a parking lot. Everything seem ok when I returned! My question is: When the car is in "Park", the only energy being used is to keep the LCD screen on...which is not that much electricity and no gasoline is being burnt, so how long could the car be left in that state? (not that I would again, but just curious). :roll:

It would depend on a lot of things, but eventually the gas engine would kick on for longer periods of time as the electric battery is drained of power. One time I had reason to sit in my car for an hour while it idled (long boring story), and I watched the battery slowly drain, the ICE would turn on to recharge. It just continued to recycle itself this way. A lot of factors could increase the drain time, especially if the A/C was on.

I hope that helps!

 

the temp sensor on the Prius is behind the front bumper and just to the right of the frame horn on the drivers side of the car. It is at time inaccurate, eg. if you drive into a parking stall in the summer and the asphalt is really hot it'll heat soak the sensor and give an erroneous reading. The bulb on the dash is connected to the A/C system and is use to gauge the heat from the sun to tell the A/C what to do when in auto mode. It say's in the manual not to cover it up as the A/C won't work properly.

 

also the OAT is adjustable with the dealer scan tool if it's really out the dealer can adjust it up or down. I do believer there is a 5 deg adjustment either way.