Purple battery - 3 bars -

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Glen England, Aug 12, 2019.

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  1. Glen England

    Glen England Junior Member

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    I have only had my 2015 Prius Three for going on three weeks now.

    Today when driving to work it was a fierce rain storm. At one point, the HV battery indicator turned purple and had (I think) 3 bars. The drive was normal, and once I got to work, about 16 miles total I had a nearly full battery.

    When leaving work today within the first block, the same thing happened. The battery dropped to purple but came back pretty fast and by the time I arrived home was 1 or 2 bars from the top.

    Before I got all the way home, I stopped and loaded up Dr. Prius. I saw the following screens. I'm wondering if any of this is something I should be concerned about.





    Thanks in advance.
     
    #1 Glen England, Aug 12, 2019
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    perfectly normal. how many miles on her?
     
    #2 bisco, Aug 12, 2019
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  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Your battery temperature is hotter than you want... But that could simply be a long drive in hot weather, or leaving the car in a sun baked parking lot with windows up when it's hot out. If you had those battery temps in Winter and the car was 10 years older than it'd be trouble brewing with hybrid battery pack, but your car is way too new for any problems like that.

    Main thing is to use the app and others like it as often as possible till you have memorized what you're seeing. That way one day when you or a friend with a similar car have a problem you'd be able to notice what's wrong right away....
     
    #3 PriusCamper, Aug 12, 2019
  4. Glen England

    Glen England Junior Member

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    With very little experience driving this car, and with all the water today and the low battery twice I just became concerned.

    Normal is good. :)
     
    #4 Glen England, Aug 12, 2019
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  5. Glen England

    Glen England Junior Member

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    These readings were taken at the end of the day after sitting in the parking lot and driving halfway home. The temps today are near 100 with feel-like to 110 to 120.

    I'll have a look in the morning once it has had a chance to sit and be relatively cool overnight. I can see how the battery temps are then.

    Is this too soon to worry about cleaning the battery fan?
     
    #5 Glen England, Aug 12, 2019
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    probably, unless you carry animals regularly, or the like. make sure the intake grille is clear
     
    #6 bisco, Aug 13, 2019
  7. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    High cabin temp hammers the hybrid battery. You must buy a good windshield shade as the Prius has a pretty good cross section of glass and the car turns into a greenhouse in the sun.
    Buy a weather tech insulated custom fit windshield shade from the Priushop. Mine is going on 13 years old. There insulated and high quality
    It’s not like the cheap crap at the auto stores.

    Keep the cabin as cool as you can lots of expensive ecus in the cabin.
    And the hybrid battery does not like high heat and it will shorten its life.
     
    #7 edthefox5, Aug 13, 2019
  8. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Those temps will shorten the battery life. You can go with my mod, it keeps battery around high 70Fs when it’s 100F+ outside. Or you can just drive it like most people say.
     
    #8 Grit, Aug 13, 2019
  9. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    I throw this question out there..

    I seem to remember recent posts about ordering items from the Priushop and never getting them. Have those issues been resolved? personally, I'm a bit hesitant ordering due to the posts I've read. High Quality is exactly what's needed, but quality is irrelevant if the item never gets to you.
     
    #9 TMR-JWAP, Aug 13, 2019
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  10. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    So what's your mod? Do you have a link? OR do you not really wanna tell because it's a secret?
     
    #10 PriusCamper, Aug 13, 2019
  11. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    I haven't ordered from the PriusShop for a number of years so not aware of issues with them. So thank you for that and i will not refer people to them anymore.
     
    #11 edthefox5, Aug 13, 2019
  12. Glen England

    Glen England Junior Member

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    I'm not familiar with your mod.

    Can you share?
     
    #12 Glen England, Aug 14, 2019
  13. Glen England

    Glen England Junior Member

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    So this happened again.

    When I got home from work today the battery display was about 1/2.

    A couple of hours later, my wife took it for a drive to the store. She said the battery indicator was in the purple range.

    This is all flat land around here. No hills to speak of and no mountains for sure.

    I certainly do not know Prius well enough yet, but surely there isn't anything that I know of that would tax the battery enough around here to draw it down that much.
     
    #13 Glen England, Aug 14, 2019
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  14. RMB

    RMB Senior Member

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    AC use? Short local drive may not get you much regen braking to charge up the HV battery with AC usage, especially with high temperature/high humidity conditions.
     
    #14 RMB, Aug 14, 2019
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  15. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i think it's all temp related.

    grits mod is running the fan at high speed all the time
     
    #15 bisco, Aug 14, 2019
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  16. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    And

    IMG_0199.JPG
     
    #16 Grit, Aug 14, 2019
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  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    you have a clothes dryer in back?:cool:
     
    #17 bisco, Aug 14, 2019
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  18. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    There's a HE load washer in the front that's not in view :cool:
     
    #18 Grit, Aug 14, 2019
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  19. Glen England

    Glen England Junior Member

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    Yes, it was a short local drive with A/C on.

    We just took a 30 minute drive and the battery started out purple. TWO bars, not three, but, I cannot correct the title.

    It did quickly come back and we ended the drive within two bars from the top.

    This is probably just used car jitters. This Prius did come from a Toyota dealer and has a clean Car Fax so I probably have nothing to worry about, but, I'm just trying to cover my bases.
     
    #19 Glen England, Aug 14, 2019
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  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    if it keeps doing it after the weather cools down, then i would be concerned
     
    #20 bisco, Aug 14, 2019
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