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How many bars should be on dash battery meter? Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon)

Discussion in 'Prius v Technical Discussion' started by Gearbreaker, Feb 23, 2017.

  1. Gearbreaker

    Gearbreaker Junior Member

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    I have hooked up a tablet to my v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon. Only 2010 Prius used uppercase Roman numerals for model designation) and have been monitoring the current in and out of the drive battery through the OBD port. I am appalled at what I have been seeing. During acceleration the inverter supplies up to 123 amps for about a second and then bails out and then shows nearly no power being drawn. The cell voltage looks good but I feel that I am not getting much benefit from the electric part of the drive. Has anyone else monitored their current? Also, I have noticed that my dash battery meter never goes down below two bars. I am curious what others are experiencing. How many bars are "normal" for city driving?
     
  2. Aaron Vitolins

    Aaron Vitolins Senior Member

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    Hey man! First, the battery level bars. Normally it hovers around 6 bars for most driving city and highway, if you just drive normally. If you're trying to drive in EV mode it will drain pretty quickly.

    I actually try to not drain the battery very much since it takes fuel (usually ) to charge the battery back up to 6 or 7 bars.

    Second; voltage.. This is actually normal for the 3rd generation, and wagon. The older Prius used the battery more during acceleration than the newer generation does. The reason it does this, the newer models have a larger more powerful and efficient 1.8 liter engine, and it's more efficient to just use it under normal acceleration.

    I thought this was odd too. When I upgraded to the new models I was a little surprised. But it makes sense! It keeps the battery all topped off and ready to assist when needed. And still gets get fuel economy. I honestly don't worry about!

    If you want to see some voltage output during acceleration, go full throttle 0-60. It takes quite a bit of voltage under heavy acceleration.
     
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  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    welcome! how are your mpg's? sometimes, too much information can be deadly.
     
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  4. Gearbreaker

    Gearbreaker Junior Member

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    My v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon. Only 2010 Prius used uppercase Roman numerals for model designation)is a 2014. I agree with what you are saying but if I go WOT the current out of the battery will spike for about a half second and then drop off to almost nothing and then stay near nothing until the next WOT blast. (It does this at all speeds and in both Eco and Power modes). It is then up to the engine to carry the car by itself. After re-reading my first post above, I wasn't clear.... The dash meter never goes down more than two bars. I.E it stays nearly full all of the time. It just seems wrong to not use the battery power more but if you have the same thing going on, maybe its the way that the system operates. However, it seems that if the battery helped accelerate the car more that the economy would be improved. I have a Snap-on OBD monitor that I will hook up soon and print a graph that I can post showing the TPS compared to hybrid battery discharge current. The MPG is about 43 driving Reasonably. If I am feeling like Mario Andretti I can get 34. If I drive in South Carolina (flat roads) like I have an egg under my foot I can pull off 50mpg.
     
  5. Gearbreaker

    Gearbreaker Junior Member

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    My V is a 2014. As I posted above....If I am feeling like Mario Andretti I can get 34. If I drive in South Carolina (flat roads) like I have an egg under my foot I can pull off 50mpg. To add average numbers... Highway average 42, Off highway, 44 average. I'd love to know how this compares to other peoples V's economy.
     
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  6. Sooner Al

    Sooner Al Active Member

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    I get 46-48 MPG around town and 39 MPG or so on highway/interstate driving. I let the car computer do it's thing and just drive the car. When I first got the car I watched the scores closely and ended up driving myself nuts so I stopped doing that. Of course in the city I try to do easy accelerations and stops as much as possible. This is on a 2016 Prius v Three...

    Instead of watching scores I keep watching this display...

    Corrected in town MPG figure after going back through old calculations...
     

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    #6 Sooner Al, Feb 24, 2017
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2017
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  7. Gearbreaker

    Gearbreaker Junior Member

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    Its interesting that I have to try very hard to get 48. My 43 is driving realistically and pretty carefully. It sounds like my car has a problem. I have 50K on the clock so maybe it will go to the dealer. I read somewhere that the drive is still under warranty?? Hopefully they won't push me out the door. I still want to graph the performance and current draw first.
     
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    oklahoma is flat, no?
     
  9. Gearbreaker

    Gearbreaker Junior Member

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    Yes it is pretty flat from what I have seen. It still looks like I should be doing better but I can't sleep thinking there may be a problem. I have to agree that too much information can be deadly! o_O I'm feeling kind of OCD and ADHD!! I'm going to try to pull a graph of the system today.
     
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  10. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Your mileage seems pretty typical for a v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon. Only 2010 Prius used uppercase Roman numerals for model designation)afaik. As for the battery bars, that's normal, too.

    The battery's biggest value in a non-plug in is to store the energy that gets wasted in other cars when stopping. Secondarily, it helps out the ICE (which is a little underpowered to save fuel when cruising) when you accelerate. Also, it provides power as needed to try to keep the ICE at an efficient RPM. Whenever you brake or coast, some of the kinetic energy goes to the battery and some is lost in heat during the conversion. When you use battery power, again some of the power goes to heat during that conversion. So it's more efficient to rely on the ICE whenever possible and the computer does a really good job of making those decisions. Hope this helps clarify things. There are better explanation here and elsewhere on the web.
     
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  11. Sooner Al

    Sooner Al Active Member

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    Depends on where in Oklahoma your at. More small mountains in the north east/east/south east and flatter in the southwest and west.
     
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  12. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Meh, think it'll be an exercise in frustration, for both you and the dealership. Prius v numbers, on Fuelly:

    upload_2017-2-24_9-0-58.png
     
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  13. Gearbreaker

    Gearbreaker Junior Member

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    I can't deny that the numbers don't lie! Perhaps its wishful thinking that I can do better but it is unsettling that the system acts as it does. I'd love to see someone else's result using "Torque". Where did the chart come from? I'd like to compare the economy of different years and models. I am thinking of trading up to a newer model.
     
  14. Sooner Al

    Sooner Al Active Member

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    I corrected my original in town MPG number after looking back at old calculations. I am getting 46-48 MPG in town. Sorry about that...
     
  15. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    That's all the Prius v on Fuelly, all years. It's only one generation so far? Yeah check out results for specific years; there may be variation. But within one generation they would be minor, if nothing's actually changed on the cars, more due to the drivers.
     
  16. Gearbreaker

    Gearbreaker Junior Member

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    tmp_1813-20170225_164307289185938.jpg Okay, it doesn't look as dismal as I thought. It appears that "Torque" shows a limited number of data points. When the Prius inverter is doing its thing it is all over the place as far as charging and discharging goes. Apparently this is normal as my mileage is about what it should be. However, Torque, because of its slow data point capture, shows non-linear data which makes things look not as they really are. I put my real scanner on the car and now I'll be able to sleep at night. This data capture picture should be interesting to most. Remember though, the battery charge/discharge graph has a zero line approximately in the middle. I parked the cursor close to the zero line to give you an idea of where it is. Unfortunately I can't place a dotted zero line on the graph. I plotted a few other PIDS but for clarity I only am showing these two here.
     
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  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    btw, i had a (124?) sedan in the late 70's, i loved that car.
     
  18. Gearbreaker

    Gearbreaker Junior Member

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    I'd love to find a 124.... They are stupid money these days. Even the Datsun econoboxes are fetching 20k in decent shape!

     
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  19. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    should have kept mine, but there was no metalwork left.:cool: i paid a few hundred after 3 or 4 years, i think the msrp was $1,600. or something.
     
  20. Gearbreaker

    Gearbreaker Junior Member

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    I have a couple of spider 2000's..... Much more reliable than the British stuff.
     
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