Prius (Gen 2) :: Traction Battery Loses Charge Overnight?
Sep 25, 2011
I see this was discussed back in 06 but not resolved. Maybe more owners have had additional experiences with this.
View 18 RepliesI see this was discussed back in 06 but not resolved. Maybe more owners have had additional experiences with this.
View 18 RepliesMy 2007 Prius has 120,000 miles. I live in a mountainous area. I need to climb 3 miles at 6% grade to get out of my neighborhood. Lately I've been noticing the traction battery loses charge fairly quickly and I've been thinking about replacing the battery. Much of my driving is in steep hills and I run a full charge cycle many times a day, so I guess I should expect some loss of life.
View 7 RepliesShould I be concerned..I have been noticing my battery is charging down overnight. I checked and all lights are off. It does charge immediately in the 10 mile I drive to work..but I am concerned why overnight it should be discharging.
Another Question - The right/left indicator sound is very muted..is that normal? Like, if I have the indicator on to merge into traffic, I am not sure it is as I can barely hear it chirping..
Is it normal that over night parking battery looses charge from 7 bars down to 2 bars? I never lock the car and leaving my key in it.
View 10 RepliesThe symptoms are: HV Battery loses almost all charge over night. Sometimes it won't start. HV battery loses charge fast while cruising in the city (I used to see it getting green at the highways with cruise control and now it doesn't happen). Red warning light goes on randomly.
View 6 RepliesTook my C to the local drive through car wash as it was pretty crusty looking from all of the rain we've had lately. I had my A/C on as its a nice and warm sunny Florida day. Pulled inside and put my C in Neutral to go through the wash and half way through my car started beeping like mad and flashing the "!" in a triangle symbol and on the small screen it said something to the effect of "Cannot charge traction battery when car is in 'N'." My HVAC system drained down the traction battery and since the car was in neutral the engine couldn't keep it above the minimum SOC level. Turned the air off and anxiously waited for the car wash to hurry up so I could put it in drive. After I put the car in drive the SOC read 1 blue bar and took FOREVER to charge back (or perhaps it just seemed that way because I was freaking out..)
View 17 RepliesI know car likes to shut off at 3-4 bar, but what if I want to keep the battery closer to full in order to get more power. Is there any way to tell the computer to keep engine running?
View 19 RepliesI have a 2005 Prius with about 170,000 km on it. I bought it two years ago used at 150,000 km. Everything worked fine for about 8 months, them I noticed the main battery started to drain on first start in the morning after driving a short distance. It would drop down to about 2-3 bars most days, especially on cold mornings. After reading on this forum for a bit I turned off the key locator, and it went back to normal for about 6 months, at which point it started dropping again. I haven't had any warning lights come on yet.
I replaced the 12 V battery, as recommended here with an Optima Yellow Top, even though the original one showed no voltage drop. It actually tested higher than the new Yellow Top I got. My fear is that the traction battery is losing modules. I'm planning on testing them soon.
A month ago I bought a 2007 Prius with 140,000 km. I notice that the state of charge drops into the 'red' bars within about 20 minutes of the car switched on, in Park with no accessories running. A mechanic connected his diagnostic computer and saw 2 cells are low. However, the mechanic informs me there is no value in replacing those cells as others are likely to go down, thereafter. Is there anything I can do to avoid having to replace the entire traction battery?
View 10 RepliesI've noticed that after sitting over night my battery for the hybrid system is not charged enough to operate the car in EV or for the first mile or two it does not seem to use as much electric power to supplement the car. After a couple miles it is charged or near charged and I see more use.
View 5 RepliesOn a hot sunny day, occasionally I have to be stopped for extended periods with the A/C running which means the engine will come on for a few minutes out of every 10 minutes or so. to charge the traction battery. Engine comes on at 2 bars and goes off at 3 bars.
As engine efficiency at idle is low, would it be better to put it in D with the brake firmly pressed and push the accelerator so that the engine speed is in the high efficiency range so as to produce more charge for the fuel burnt and maybe also I could charge it to a few more bars on the battery indicator?
I have a 1997 Volvo 850 where the battery slowly loses its charge. We don't drive it much so every two weeks it has to be trickly charged.
I have determined that there is a drain of 150 mA. When removing fuse 15, it drops to a drain of 50-60 mA. When removing fuse 6 (central locking)(in conjunction with 15) it drops to a drain of 10 mA. I can live with a drain of 10 mA
I don't mind removing fuse 15 as it is not critical. However, with the fuse removed, it makes a beeping noise - like the indicator when a door is open. IS THERE A SIMPLE WAY TO STOP THE BEEPING?
I understand that there is an electrical issue but not sure I want to spend a lot of money to fix it. I am not very mechanically inclined and I have a feeling it could cost a lot to fix this.
My 2013 Avalon Limited was purchased in Dec 2012. It is my 3rd one - have always loved them. But THIS one has been a disappointment. It seems that every 10k miles the battery completely loses its charge and the battery must be completely replaced or fully charged - RIDICULOUS. I only have 30k miles on it! Is this a known issue with Toyota? I have gone from feeling completely confident in my car to not knowing whether it will start up when I need it!
View 13 RepliesMy hybrid battery has been running low the past few days. This has never happened before, but it has been around 90 degrees out during the same few days. I noticed it this morning as I left for work. It was down to two bars when pulling out of the garage. I was getting pretty nervous, but at least the ICE was charging it. Although, it never fully charged the system, as I live pretty close to work. On the way home, I tried to drive around for a mile or so to see if I could get the battery fully charged.. The best I could do was four bars. Is this typical of the hybrid system in warm weather? Should I be worried about it? Also, the system has a fan, why doesn't it come on if the hybrid battery is so temp sensitive?
View 18 RepliesMy 2006 Prius battery runs down regularly overnight. It seems to be something connected to the immobiliser and/or the interior lighting.
View 3 RepliesI just bought a certified 2010 Prius and have had it for 3 months now. Twice within one month, there was absolutely no power to start the car because the aux battery went dead overnight. I'm pretty sure I didn't leave any lights on and don't think I did anything differently when exiting the car for those 2 times. I took it into the dealership, and they couldn't find anything wrong. They said the battery was good. What is draining the battery overnight?
View 5 RepliesI went to drive to work today and found that my battery was drained. None of my interior lights were on and I'm 100% sure I turned the car off last night after I backed it into the garage. Last night I drove the car home and was mostly on EV, but drove the last 3-4 miles on ICE. I had the car charging overnight too. This morning, with the battery dead and the cable plugged in, it was making a click sound near the fuse box when I tried to start it.
The passenger seat's heater was on (I think) and I don't think any of the doors were ajar. The only door that could have been opened would be the driver's but I don't think it was half closed.
If my traction battery has plenty of 'juice' in it, and my 12v battery is dead....is there any way to 'jump' the 12 volt battery with the traction battery to get the car started?
View 19 RepliesSo I got a 2008 model, only owner. It has 107K miles. I've noticed something the last couple months now. When I park the car in the garage after coming home from work it has a full charge, about 3 bars below top, it's at the max of the blue color.
When I start the car in the morning it still displays the same level. But after driving down the road about 3 blocks it seems to update slowly and drops the level, sometimes down to the brown, about 3 bars high. The car will run rough for a while almost every morning now since it's not using the hybrid battery to smooth things out.
Ever since owning the car I've noticed it can run rough sometimes normally, like when you're at a train crossing and the battery drops to 2 or 3 and the engine powers on to charge it up a bit. When I drive away you hear the engine a lot louder than usual as it seems to be running on engine only until the hybrid battery gets sufficiently charged and you feel a lack of power as you accelerate.
My 2012 Prius v has a traction battery gauge beside the fuel gauge. The gauge has never shown that the battery is full. It appears as if the indicator is 2 bars below full at all times. Is this by design or should the gauge look full with bars to the very top after charging on a long trip?
View 5 RepliesI've been told that my 12V battery was low.
I stumbled on this ATV/ motorcycle battery companion in the garage, can I use it to charge my prius?