I have a cabin in the woods and inorder to keep mice and critters from building a new home in the warm car everyone props up the hood when the car is parked. I did this the first night and the next morning had only 3 bars on battery. Is there an energy flow when the hood is up? Raising the hood also discourages critters from chewing the wires - My last car was a feast as the wires were coated with some soy product. Has anyone had either of these problems?
What was the SOC when you parked? If 4 bars, you could have just been right above the 3-bar threshold... Was the cabin locked? This ensures all lights are off, doors closed, etc.
I don't see how an open hood would affect the hybrid traction battery (the charge indicator bars) or the 12v battery. Have you tried Rataway Fragrance, moth balls, red pepper spray, peppermint oil, dryer sheets or other purported rodent repellents? (Personally, I use mothballs which I hang in a tea ball under the hood.) Also, given where you live, you might want to use 1/4" or smaller screening wire to screen off the holes underneath the windshield wipers/plastic cowl. Rodents have been known to go through those entrance holes and nest/die in the cabin filter area and air circulation system.
It was our first long trip - 250 miles - we had between 6-7 bars the whole way down. However I am sure we did NOT lock the car - so will do that in the future.
Having the cabin locked has absolutely no bearing on the SOC of the HV (traction) battery. It's sound advice, as it will help keep you from running down the 12V battery, but it has nothing to do with the HV system. When the Prius is powered off, a relay disconnects the HV battery. At that point there is no possible electrical drain on the HV battery. Likewise, leaving the hood open cannot possibly affect the HV battery. There are two possible explanations, both having nothing to do with the hood being open: 1) It was cold out, and cold soaking the HV battery brought down its SOC a bit. 2) The battery monitor was confused and reported a lower than actual SOC. #1 above may have made a small contribution to the observed drop in SOC, but most likely #2 is the big culprit. The reported SOC is calculated, not measured directly. Many factors can throw off the calculation, but the system soon recovers and starts reporting reasonably accurate information. Tom
We'll give these suggestions a try - been using decon and mouse traps- and all I ever found was a huge nest in the old cars fan...just want to be extra sure I am doing all I can with new car - It was scary driving a car when you knew the mice chewed thru at least the windshield wiper wires- and who knows what else!
How does raising the hood discourage the forest critters from building a nest in the warm engine bay? Surely the easier access simply invites them to do exactly that!
The most likely explanation is that you didn't actually turn the car off. I've heard this is actually quite easy to do with the Smart Key System, and is why most people recommend locking the car - because you can't lock the car with it on, and the car will beep at you if you try to do so. It's easier for me because my car isn't equipped with smart key and the car won't let you have the keys back until it's turned off - there's a solenoid which engages a latch in the keyfob slot on Gen 2. The Prius will run the HV battery down a bit while it's on, but will kick the engine on if it gets down to two bars, and run it for a bit to recharge a little. I think it stops once it has a few bars, rather than trying to reach 6 bars as it normally does when moving. Make sure you press the power button and check that the READY light and the transmission and speed indicators turn off, every time you leave the car. If the car is off, the HV battery cannot discharge (except for self-discharge, which is pretty slow). There are three large relays which connect the HV battery to the battery cable that runs from the back of the car to the engine bay; they are normally open (disconnected) and are only switched on when you make the car READY. Any power used when 'off', in Accessories mode, or in IG-ON mode, comes from the 12V auxiliary battery, which doesn't have a gauge on the car.
The above is also what I think happened. I guess no damage done. Just remember that all power to the car is turned off for the night.
See, this is exactly why I'm addicted to Prius Chat. I would of never thought about leaving the hood of my car propped open to discourage "critters" when parked in the wild. Depsite the heat loss, I'd of thought the opposite. However I do live in the suburbs of a major city so leaving a 1993 Honda Hood propped open invites bigger problems than rodents chewing through wires.
