Hi All, Still very new to the Prius, so this may just be a 'RTFM' issue, but I noticed that the air conditioning stops when stationary and in Accessory Mode. Is this normal? I'd have thought that you'd want the A/C to be fully functional when parked in the sun, rather than just having the fans working (which is all I got?) When everything was powered fully back up, 'Ready' on and moving, the A/C quickly cooled me down, but...
Remember, the AC is working off the battery, if you were to use it in Accessory, you would quickly run down the battery, its designed to work in Ready, so that the engine will come on, if needed, to make sure the battery doesn't drain. Just put it in Park while its in Ready.
My a/c operates in accessory mode, no problem. I always have it set on auto, so I don't know how it would respond in manual mode.
I don't think your ac works in accessory mode. That mode runs off the tiny little battery, I am pretty sure you need to have it in ready mode, so the ac can run off the HV batt.
...Yeah, I guess the Aux battery would be flattened if it tried to run a 'fridge for too long! I'll ensure it is in Ready mode but with the Hand Brake on - job done. Cheers, everyone.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but you mention the parking brake but not transmission. You're putting it into Park as well, right?
To prevent you prius surging when parked in ready mode if you apply the park brake firmly, then apply power in drive then hit the park button. this loads the transmission slightly and prevents the car shaking when the engine starts.
Ok, I missed it in the Owner's Manual. How do you get "Accessory Mode?" I keep turning on the car to "READY" when all I want to do is roll down or up the windows while getting strapped in and getting everyone else ready to go. Thanks, Bob Wilson
1 push. 2 pushes gets you to IG-ON (or ON in other cars). 1 push gets you to ACC or accessory. AFAIK, no car runs the A/C unless the engine is on and it's no different in the Prius. The car must be in READY mode before the A/C compressor runs. In IG-ON mode (2 pushes of the POWER button without pressing the brake pedal) simply gives you the fan like any other car.
When you hit the power button once without a foot on the brake the radio comes on. Hit it again and the fan starts blowing and the rest of the dash lights up. All I know is every time I've done it I get cold air from the vents, but that may just be the fan pushing already cold air around.
That's because you just turned the car on with the second press. The little 12V battery won't run the AC compressor. It could probably run the blower (don't know if it does or not as I haven't tried.) Conventional cars can't run the actual AC compressor with the engine off since it is belt driven off the engine. The Prius can use power for the traction battery to run it when in ignition on mode.
