Prius (2010-12) :: Battery Charging While Going On Downhill Especially With Braking Mode / Cruise Control On?
Nov 8, 2010
Curiosity question. I've noticed that on a downhill of a couple miles, especially in "braking" mode or with the cruise control on, the motor/generator and engine are used to keep the speed down and the battery gets charged to the very top quite quickly. That's good!
On a really long downhill, will the motor/generator still be used for braking and the excess electricity discarded to keep from overcharging the battery?
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Right now my husband and I are driving from San Luis Obispo Ca to LA and back in a day. We noticed right before the grape vine on the I5 that the engine was really working, even on flat ground. Looked at the battery and it was purple. We have been driving for about 2 hours averaging about 70mph on mostly flat land. The battery finally charged itself on the big downhill of the grapevine (I5) but we're noticing we're running right through it again unless we start to break more. So, it's not getting any recharge during driving, just breaking. Can it be the generator? What causes this?
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Twice now, while going downhill hill (steep grade on freeway) my Prius has revved up to over 4,000 RPMs with the cruise control set at approximately 65 mph. The noise of the engine was my tipoff and I immediately had to turn the cruise control off. This just doesn't make sense to me! Seems like this could be a potential problem for those of us utilizing cruise control!!!
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2012 Prius with 10K miles.
One of the features I really like over the '06 Prius is the ability of the cruise control to hold the set speed on downhills (until the battery fills up and it switches to compression braking "B" mode, but that's a different topic).
After taking it in for the 10K mile service, it no longer engages regenerative braking on downhills with cruise control set. This is on the same hills where previously it would hold speed.
Did Toyota do a software upgrade that disables this feature?
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I drive a 2005 Ford Explorer (automatic) with 84k miles on it. Recently when I was driving on cruise control at 35 mp/h down a hill and applied the breaks to make a turn, the engine completely shut off. The lights came on, the power steering went off, the engine had shut off. I pulled over, turned the key off, turned it back on and it started no problem. I drove it for 3 days without problems (and without using cruise control of course), then I took the car to a shop. They ran diagnostics on it, test drove it, but couldn't find anything wrong with the cruise control or the transmission. I don't think they tested this driving downhill as the shop is not in a hilly area. Tonight, I went down the same road again, 35 mp/h in cruise control, slowed down for the same turn, and the engine shut off again exactly the same way it did before. What this could be?
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About 2 months ago, I was driving and my cruise control wouldn't engage on the highway ... I happened to be right near the dealership so I immediately returned there .... didn't turn off the car, but the tech put it in P while I was waiting. I was so ticked off because I thought that may have 'reset' things, and of course when the tech took the car for a drive (in D) the cruise worked fine. We of course never confirmed that the cruise control didn't work.
Today, the same thing happened at the same place, so I returned to the dealership, calling them on the phone, and informing them that I would not turn the car off, or allow the car to be put in park. The service manager met me out front and we went for a quick ride so I could 'prove' that the cruise was inoperative. He confirmed that it was not working, and why. For some reason, I glanced at the dashboard and noticed that the car was in 'B' mode. I mentioned that to the manager and he noted it as well. I must have bumped it somehow while driving as I NEVER use B mode for anything ... ever. I said I wondered if that was the reason, and put it in D, and lo and behold, the cruise worked again.
I haven't checked the manual yet to see if this is stated there, but the cruise control is inoperative if the car is in B mode. Or at least it seems that that is the case. Other than the car being in B mode, it acted just like it always does, and since I was on the highway, I never noticed the braking effect that B mode gives you.
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We have 2 trips coming up this summer (600 miles and 1400 miles), these will be my first long distance with the Prius.
Did anyone tested fuel economy using the cruise control in ECO vs NORMAL vs PWR ?
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I have a 2012 Hyundai Elantra and have noticed that my cruise control doesn't slow me down when I am going downhill, is this normal?
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Prius Five 2012 fully loaded in Blizzard Pearl. A/C keep changing mode from face/head only to feet every 2-3 minutes on its own. Auto button light is off and this continues..... I've stumped all the dealers, no one has a fix.
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Very very odd thing happened. Driving up from Houston to Colorado yesterday. Snow tires mounted in preparation for the snow in NM and CO. Around 300 mi into the trip, the CEL (check engine light) came on. I was on cruise control, I did not notice the lack of power. Checking the battery, it was in the purple. I first opened the gas cap and screwed it back in. I figured the change in elevation or temperature may have had something to do with the CEL. Nothing. Gas tank was a quarter full.
At Lubbock, I pulled over and filled up. I played with the rubber gasket on the gas cap but decided it was going to be more trouble than I was prepared to deal with, without any tools. CEL stayed on for another 30minutes or so while I navigated through the city, covering another 20 miles or so. After a pitstop to pick up OJ, I started the car and the CEL was off.
Here are the variables:
Elevation delta - +3000 ft
Temp delta - -10F
The only thing I can think of is that the hybrid battery is getting long in the tooth (2008 MY, 103k mi), the wind in the high plains chewed through the battery power, and the long length of being in low charge got the ECU to confuse itself into thinking that the hybrid battery has bad cells, which it probably has a few weak cells.
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The cruise control on my 2013 works as I expected.
However the cruise control on my 2016 Sonata does not.
When driving at highway speeds (65 to 70 mph) in cruise control and the shifter set on "D" (drive) the transmission will down shift to 4th speed whenever I go down hill.
This might be intentional as a way to keep the car from exceeding the set speed, but I have never heard of this and it would seem to place more wear an tear on the transmissions.
Do the down shifting is engineered in or if it is a service problem that I need to have addressed...
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I like to drive with cruise control engaged but I find I can't do that in my new (well, 182K 2005 6.0L) Excursion. It's holds speed just fine, but if I top a rise and start going downhill - basically when no effort needed to maintain speed - it starts chugging and shaking the whole truck real bad. It feels and sounds bad, can't be good for it (or so I've assumed in my head). It's a real staccato feeling as if fuel is being applied less than a second, stopped, reapplied. Is this something unique to the diesel (my first diesel), an issue with the cruise control (vacuum, electronic?), or what?
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Just picked up an Excursion with the V10 and 4R100 (2001). Drove it in to work to day and while on the freeway cruising on cruise control about 60 it seemed to shift or atleast lock/unlock the trans on ever slight downhill you encounter on a city freeway. Just light humps in the road. Does this seem normal? RPM's would be just shy of 2000 then I'd hit a small decline and would shift to 1600 or so then back up when it leveled out.
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My 2001 F250 with 5.4 gasser surges when it rolls downhill when using the cruise control. It does not do that when it is going up hill or on flat level highway. Why it does that? This is only when I use cruise control.
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My dad's Gen III has been sitting garaged for almost a year now, and of course the 12 volt battery is dead. Firstly, it's sitting in a one car garage, and secondly I have a Gen II so a straight jump isn't possible. I have a trickle charger that should be able to bring the 12 volt back up in 15-19 hours, but here's my question:
Maybe I'm being lazy, but I'd rather not deal with climbing in the back to release the hatch and running an extension cord so I can get the charger close enough to hook straight up to the battery..
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2010 gen III bought Aug 2009.
Would it be possible to disable HV battery charging or regeneration (with torque pro regen coop)? This way I could use battery and ICE power when going up a long mountainous area, and end up with 30% charge at the top instead of 60%. Then on the way down I could use regen to build back up the battery.
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Yesterday I was stuck in traffic and the battery eventually went down to 2 bars and the engine came on.
My question is: In stop and go traffic, if I stay in the first half (left part) of the HSI while the engine is on to recharge the battery, is the ICE turning the wheels or just charging the battery?
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My 12 volt battery is flat. I attached my CTEK MXS 5.0 and started on the Normal setting. I figured (wrongly it seems) that having the battery charger attached would support in starting the car. The green light displayed when I depressed the brake pedal and I pressed the Start button, but everything went dim and the brake pump slowly wound into life. The Start button glowed was on but no other functions started.
I pressed Start again and the light went out. Now when I connect the battery charger, a whining noise starts from near the inverter. The speed varies; dropping from a peak and rising again, and there's probably a pattern to it.
I've disconnected the charger a few times and the noise stops immediately. I wonder if the car has not switched itself off. I've disconnected the charger and I'm waiting some period of time before connecting it again to see if something will fall asleep. If not, I'll just have to climb over the back and disconnect the battery from the car before I charge it.
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How I can charge my hybrid battery while driving on city streets with an average speed of 35-45MPH. Once I get off the highway, the hybrid battery is almost full, only missing two "bricks" or "Bars." I will then accelerate very slowly only using the electric motor to drive the vehicle for the next couple of miles.
Once the battery has depleted to where it only has two bars, I will then accelerate a little faster to run the engine so it can charge the battery. But, I bring up the energy monitor and then watch the arrows.. making sure that arrows are coming out of then engine to drive the vehicle AND making sure that the electric motor is not supporting the engine.
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I have 2011 RX AWD and noticed when driving downhill and braking, car will shake. It feels like the wheels are shaking but the steering wheel does not. Is it rotors or something else?
Also RX is certified pre owned warranty for another 30k miles and I want to do alignment on it but not sure if warranty will cover that ?
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If i am driving say for 15 mins on the highway at 65-75 mpg with a few brakes and accelerations in between due to other cars around, is it better to use the cruise control (i have adaptive cruise control on my prius v) and let the car figure out the throttle and braking or is it better to just drive by myself without using cruise control? i read about the different pulse-glide driving methods.
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