It may just be selective memory on my part, but the battery charge indicator on my 2009 Prius seems to be staying full green most of the time. I thought in the past it was mainly in the blue, unless I had descended a long hill. Also, when I am accelerating going up a steep hill, the MFD shows the battery charging even though it is 8 bars. Is this normal? I have had it checked by the dealer and they say everything is normal.
yeah, all green all the time? doesn't seem right. mine only goes green after pronged glides or some types of highway driving.
It isn't that it is always green. When driving on level ground in the 40 to 50 mph range like thorugh town, it will dip into the blue for a while, but very seldom.
How's your MPG? Is it dropping...more so than winter weather accounts for? It might be time to check your 12v battery for replacement.
Eight green bars most of the time is very unusual, but 7 green bar not so uncommon, especially when the engine is running a lot to maintain heat in winter. BTW. Many people report 8 green bars when there's actually only 7.
It is possible that I am miscounting the bars, but historically on my average drives I get 49-52 mpg in the summer and 42 to 48 in the winter. Now I am getting 38 to 42, although it has been cold recently. The point has become moot though, as I just traded it in on a 2011 blizzard pearl Prius.
In summer you only run the engine when you need charge or you need to go somewhere. In winter you also run the engine to heat the cabin, but a byproduct of that is 'spare' electricity, so the computers put it in your battery until they can dissipate it.
I trraded it in to the same dealership that does ALL the service on my vehicle so they have a complete service history. In fact, at the last service (300 miles ago) I specifically asked that they check out the issue and they reported everything was fine. I just finished running the procedures detailed in this forum to check the 12 volt battery and find that it is at 11.4 volts so I believe that is the source of the problem. Why they didn't find the same thing during the last service is a mystery.
I see this frequently in winter, and sometimes on the highway where the ICE has to run continuously. Tom
Good question, it's amazing how often people report issues involving low 12V battery voltages but the dealer never finds the problem. I think in most case they don't do anything other than check for codes. No code then no problem found.
Trading my '07 HCH for an '08 Prius. Based on this quote, does the Prius software 'force an impromptu' balance of the cels as a normal state of affairs? Only reason I ask: with issues with the Civic IMA battery, I always thought that there should have been some sort of gentle but forced low amp charge just to keep the cels balanced. Or am i reading too much into this. Signed: 4 days until delivery and counting
