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Normal Battery Levels

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by norton, Jun 3, 2007.

  1. norton

    norton New Member

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    I'm a new Prius owner as of about a week ago.
    I spend a lot of time (not watching the road and) paying attention to my energy regeneration and fuel consumption graphics. My battery level seems to fluctuate greatly. Is this normal? I am generally in the blue, but it really seems to change more than I'd expect. I'm not particularly concerned, but was curious what others see. If I go through a long drive-through, I can get really low. The other day, I left the system running while I showed it off to a friend parked. I dipped into the purple range. As a test, I left it running with the AC on. Eventually the ICE kicked on. Will it just hover here indefinitely if you were to idle for extended times? I concede there not being many good reasons for doing this, but just wondering.

    Thanks.
     
    #1 norton, Jun 3, 2007
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Sounds normal for the conditions you describe. You'll find it tends to stay at around 5 or 6 blue bars the majority of the time, but depending upon your driving conditions can get higher or lower. The behaviour you saw when the car was in READY but not being driven is also totally normal and of no concern.
     
    #2 efusco, Jun 3, 2007
  3. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Lots of folks get concerned about that battery icon. Don't. The car knows what it's doing. If anything goes wrong, a warning light will come on. If no warning lights are on, the car is doing what it's supposed to do. It'll generally stay around a mid range, but on a long downhill it'll get high, and if you give it conditions where the gas engine doesn't need to run, it'll get low. When it gets too low, the engine will come on for a bit to charge it up some. What really freaks folks out is that if it gets too high sometimes it'll start and stop the engine just to get rid of some charge. It's all normal.

    Welcome to the wonderful world of the Prius. Do try to keep your eyes on the road, though. :)
     
    #3 daniel, Jun 4, 2007
  4. kyherdgirl

    kyherdgirl New Member

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    I have noticed that my battery isn't hitting green as much as it used to. I have 55k on
    a 2005 Prius...my mpg's have been in the 47's/48's(but I think that's because of the new
    tires I put on in Dec.).

    Is this normal?
     
    #4 kyherdgirl, Jun 5, 2007
  5. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(kyherdgirl @ Jun 5 2007, 05:51 AM) [snapback]455571[/snapback]</div>
    Yes...
     
    #5 efusco, Jun 5, 2007
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