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Draining charge after tire change

Discussion in 'Prius v Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by BubbleDogs, Dec 23, 2015.

  1. BubbleDogs

    BubbleDogs Junior Member

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    2012 Prius v wagon
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    Five
    I got a flat tire, and brought the car to the tire shop. To make a long story short, they put the spare on until I brought in my winter tires so that I would not have to purchase a new tire now. That was Monday. On Tuesday evening, I took the car back to the tire store, and they took the spare out, and put my winter tires on. I noticed that they had turned off the headlight (I usually set it "AUTO") and they also turned off the radio.
    I got in the car on the Wednesday morning and noticed that the bars that showed the charge level was very low, which is very unusual. As I drove the bars went up. I stopped to do some errand for a few minutes, and turned on the car, and the charge bar was low again.

    I use this tire store for 3 years with Prius v for changing the tires, and this has never happened. Only difference is that they took out and put in the spare.

    Any idea what might have happened and what should I do? The tire shop is willing to take a look but I do not think they know Prius very well.
    Thank you!
     
  2. rdgrimes

    rdgrimes Senior Member

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    Just drive it, its fine. If there's still an issue after a couple days then visit the dealer.
     
  3. BubbleDogs

    BubbleDogs Junior Member

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    I drove it all day today. While driving the charge level went up. But if I turned off the engine to do a short errand, and turned the engine back on after 3 minutes the charge level went very low. So while driving, it goes up, and as soon as I turned off the engine, the charge level went down within a few minutes. I read that the spare tire was near one of the batteries, so I wonder if something happened when they were packing the spare tire back in...
     
  4. Matt73

    Matt73 Junior Member

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    The spare tire is quite near the somewhat exposed 12v battery, which is the "little battery" that powers things like your power door locks when the car is off.

    However, that's completely different from the hybrid battery pack that is monitored on your system screen. This is also not too far from the spare, but it is not really exposed.

    The hybrid pack is actually quite powerful (201 volt, 1.3 kWh), and thus a bit dangerous. Because of that it is reasonably well protected against shorts and abuse, and is built inside its own metal case to protect it. If they managed to short your hybrid pack, your whole car would probably reek of ozone and scorched electronics.

    If it keeps discharging, take it to the dealer and have them check the electrical side of the hybrid system for problems (hybrid battery, inverter, etc).
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i honestly can't think of anything they could have done to affect you hybrid battery. reset your trip meter and watch you average mpg's. also, can you track and give us a more complete picture of the battery meter and exactly how many bars it's showing at different times?
     
  6. BubbleDogs

    BubbleDogs Junior Member

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    The bar went down to 3. When I was driving last night, I started out about 5 and as I drove, the bar went down to 4 before going back up. I checked the car before I went to bed, and the charge was steady. I will just have to keep an eye on it and report back if this continues.

    Just afraid after reading this iMentorĀ® weB-LOG
     
  7. BubbleDogs

    BubbleDogs Junior Member

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    Thank you for the explanations. So it sounds like this is not something that the tire guys have done, but somehow related to the flat tire and spare. If this does not fix itself, I will bring it to the dealer :( Thank you!!
     
  8. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    Maintaining normal mpg means the hybrid system is properly managing the delicate balance of HV charging versus discharging the HV battery for more power or acceleration. Lower bars generally means the system is using the battery for efficiency and your driving is not providing many regenerative charging opportunities, like going downhill or the use of moderate braking which primarily regenerates energy versus over taxing the physical brakes.. If I park somewhere with the "ready" mode running for 15-20 minutes, the hv battery may go down to 2 bars before the engine starts to recharge, however it will not recharge much before the engine cuts out 5 minutes later. Getting a full charge takes driving and ideally having those opportunities for regenerative charging. When I drive up and down hills and do things like slowing down early for an upcoming red light, the HV battery quickly goes up. If the HV battery is not pulling it's weight, your mpg would likely drop by 10 mpg or more and the normally decent acceleration capability will disappear making you think you lost half your horsepower.
     
    #8 rjparker, Dec 25, 2015
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2015
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    ^^^this^^^ how long have you owned it?
    the battery charge indicator goes up and down all the time. even as low as two purple and as high as all green.
    it does ride around 5 or 6 bars a lot during normal driving.
    the biggest issue is your first statement about how many bars it's dropping when shut off. more than two is unusual.