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Sitting in garage fully charged, bad idea?

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by elmofongo, Mar 15, 2012.

  1. elmofongo

    elmofongo Member

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    I haven't driven my PIP for 3 days and it's been fully charged in the garage.
    I was wondering if I'm compromising the battery by leaving it fully charged.
     
  2. andi1111

    andi1111 Member

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    Few years ago, when I was regularly flying RC Helicopter with LiPo batteries, it was said that 100% SOC full battery should not be left charged for two weeks or more.
    PiP battery, when fully charged is only 85% charged, so don't worry.
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    what do we do when going away for weeks/months at a time?
     
  4. jbrad4

    jbrad4 Active Member

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    Manual Sec. 1-2, p. 93
    ... By observing the following precautions, battery charge decline can be suppressed.
    ...
    Leave a low level of charge in the hybrid battery (traction battery) when leaving the vehicle undriven for a long period of time.

    After confirming that EV mode has switched to HV mode, turn the “POWER” switch off.
    ...

    What this says to me is, "Drive the car in EV Mode until the EV range has dropped to 0.0 miles. Then, make sure the car is in HV Mode before turning off the 'POWER' switch".
     
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  5. LenP

    LenP Member

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    The manual says to keep the battery partially discharged for longer storage, but for a few days in the garage unless its very hot should be fine.
     
  6. elmofongo

    elmofongo Member

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    Which brings up another question: Is the PIP portion of the traction battery that is chargeable through the plug-in cord part of the same "charge pool" as the portion that is charged by the ICE ? Or are the cells segregated somehow? How did you come up with the 85% ?
     
  7. Tracksyde

    Tracksyde Member

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    Using Torque (Android app) via the OBDII port (and a whole lot of help from usbseawolf2000)I've confirmed that a full charge is 85.1%. I've only tested it once so far, but when I ran out of EV range the SoC was 23%.
     
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  8. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    With "full" being only 85%, you are fine.

    Does the PiP provide any way to do this? The Tesla has a Storage Mode, which maintains a low level of charge, but never lets it get too low.

    If you leave the PiP at, say, 50% SoC, how long can you leave it unplugged before the charge goes dangerously low? How much parasitic drain is there? If they are recommending storing the car "partially discharged," is there an option where the car will keep the proper level of charge for storage?

    Or is there effectively no self discharge because the traction battery is completely disconnected? (In which case, parasitic load is on the 12-v. battery, and you'd want to use a battery minder to keep the 12-v. battery alive. That's what I do now with my 2004 since I drive it so seldom.) Okay. That's my guess until someone says otherwise. Leave the pack at 50% and put a minder on the 12-v. and the car is probably good for many months. Oh, and add some Stabil to the gas tank.
     
  9. Tracksyde

    Tracksyde Member

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    I can't say for sure, but I do notice when the car is shut off, there is what sounds like a relay that "clicks" in the back, near the battery area. Maybe thats what it is doing, disconnecting?
     
  10. jbrad4

    jbrad4 Active Member

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    The 85 % has been answered above. The traction battery is just one battery that is used in EV Mode and in HV Mode by the ICE. The battery management system switches From EV Mode to HV Mode when the battery gets down to 23% SoC (State of Charge).