I have an '04 with less than 35,000 miles. I have to go down a long hill to get into town. I have noticed the HB battery is charging quicker than it once did. That is to say I always approach the top of the hill with only 2 bars used up, and now instead of being fully charged near the bottom of the hill I am fully charged in the middle of the hill, and by the time I am at the bottom of the hill the engine is racing to discharge the 'extra' charge. A friend with an old Insight tells me the cause is my batteries are getting old. Seems illogical. Any one else have similar experiences, or alternative explanations? BTW the only problem I have ever had with my car has been a continual problem with the 'deluxe' radio, especially AM which is almost useless due to static. It has been replaced twice and after a short while reverts back to static. Other threads have shown other '04s to have similar radio problems. Has anyone had a permanent fix? What was the cause?
You friend's explanation is not illogical. As batteries are used and aged, their ability to accept a charge diminishes. Think of it like a water tank that is slowly filling with sludge; as the sludge builds up, the tank holds less and less water. If you add water to the tank at the same rate, it will fill to the top more quickly. There are other battery failure modes which cause a battery to not take a charge. In these cases, the battery never fully charges. Either way, the charger circuit will limit the power to the battery, and if there is excess, it has to do something with it, which in your case is spinning the ICE. All that said, it would surprise me that your battery would be noticeably different after only 35,000 miles. I'll have to defer to some Prius old-timers on that. Tom
You know what MarinJohn? You're just getting better and regenerating. If you press lightly all the way down the hill, you'll get full at the bottom. Press harder and you'll recharge faster and midway. I know cause there's a steep hill near me. If I go down with a light foot on the brake, I may or may not get 8 bars at the bottom. Press harder and stay below 60km/h and I get 8 bars midway. So just chalk it up to you learning how to regenerate better. Most people take a while to regenerate via braking cause we're afraid of pressing harder for fear we'll be using the brake pads instead. On the current Prius, you'll be surprised how much we can actually generate if we pressed a bit harder.
John, regarding : "especially AM which is almost useless due to static" The problem is the antenna cable. I think it gets loose from whatever is holding it in place, gets too close to some electronics and this is the cause of the static. I had my antenna cable replaced and my radio works perfectly. The hint was the repair of the steering (the recall last year). After they did that, my radio worked perfectly again so I reasoned they moved something when they went behind the dash. Ron
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Mar 9 2007, 02:37 AM) [snapback]402695[/snapback]</div> Great point. If you brake to consume about 28 hp, the friction brake will not kick in and you can capture all the energy.
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