Prius (2010-12) :: Battery Discharge By Headlights When Vehicle Stopped
Aug 26, 2014
This evening, long after sundown, I found myself stuck on an unmoving expressway with no sign of traffic starting up again (the radio reported a vehicle fire ahead, all lanes blocked). Time dragged on, and I started worrying about the possibility of the headlights draining the 12V battery , assuming that they do indeed run off the 12V battery. In a conventional car this wouldn't have been a problem because the idling engine would have maintained enough battery charge, but of course here the ICE wasn't running. So I turned off the power button to shut down the lights (it's a Canadian car, so there's no way of turning off the headlights with the power button on). That was safe in this particular situation because there were plenty of stopped vehicles behind me. It definitely would not have been safe if mine had been the last vehicle in the lineup.
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I've noticed that the display shows the Battery Discharge warning while the vehicle is running. I notice it while reversing, because - well, I'm watching the image from the camera. The message goes away in a few seconds and the regular "look around you" advice appears. It doesn't happen every time nor does it follow a change in weather. Just random occurrences.
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Very occasionally and usually from a cold start I get a rapid discharge of the battery.
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2006 Prius with 130k miles. I'm thinking that my HV battery has slowly deteriorated to the point where it's causing drivability issues, and now needs to be replaced.
The main symptoms I'm experiencing are rapid charge/discharge according to the MFD and significant loss of power once the battery has discharged to one bar. I realize the latter is "normal," but the problem is that I'm seeing one bar frequently now. Hill climbs that my car used to do with no problem and would drain the SOC to 2-3 bars now cause the battery to drain to 1 bar about half-way up and then loss of speed from 65 mph to 45 mph by the time I reach the top. Descending hills, it's not unusual to see the SOC go from 2 bars to 7-8 bars within 30 seconds or so.
I'm not seeing any error lights, and my (cheap) code reader does not report any logged DTCs.
This seems to be a slow degradation of battery performance, rather than an outright failure. I first noticed that the battery would charge/discharge a little quicker than it had been at about 90k miles. At 99k (before the warranty ended) I took it into the dealer and they tested the HV battery. Block voltages ranged from 16.59 to 16.68 V and resistances ranged from 0.025 to 0.026 ohms. Based on this, they said that the battery was fine, and sent me on my way. Since then, the problem has just gotten worse and worse, though.
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About 20 minutes ago I started up the car and the screen indicated the main battery was pretty much empty. And hour before I had pulled into my driveway and the battery had indicated maybe 70%+. The car was off, nothing like headlights or anything I know of was left on.
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My car is an 05 and currently has 219,000 miles. Runs great. Only things I've replaced are the 12 volt battery and the rack and pinion. Replaced the rack because I was trying to drift in the snow and tried to beat the traction control. Needless to say, I lost and hit the curb. Jammed the gear in the left side of the rack. Replaced the rack with a $75 used one and no problems since.
My issue is this, even if my battery is at 6 bars when I first take off, my hybrid battery drains down to even as low as 1 bar. It only got down to 1 once but is hitting 2 regularly. After about 3-10 miles it is back to the regular charge rate. I also noticed the other day with the window down, there was a slight whirring sound, almost like a gear or wheel that is a gummed up and is being slowed down. It also felt like there was resistance, almost like the brake was dragging. After a few miles, as in less than 5, the noise was gone and the car was going along just fine. I've checked the emergency brake to see if it's dragging by applying it and releasing it several times. Does not appear to be the issue. Today I put it in neutral to see if that changed anything but it did like it always does and just coasted along fine with no resistance. My thought is the transmission. I'm wondering if the fluid it so old and broken down that maybe things are gumming up. Either way, I purchased the tranny fluid and will change that out. I know people will probably gasp but I have never changed it. Actually thought because it's a cvt and there is no dipstick to check it, that it doesn't need changed. After reading up yesterday I discovered I was mistaken.
I think that's about it. I'll edit it if I think of something more. Once the battery is back up to charge it accelerates and drives like normal. I do want the car to last so my daughter can use it when I buy the new Prius Prime.
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I've noticed that if I press the EV button when stopped at a stop sign or red light, I can get the vehicle moving up to 25 MPH with the battery. This must save fuel. But I wonder if I am doing something that causes problems with the battery, motor, or other systems.
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I have a 2005 with 165K on it. Just within the last 2 weeks, at start up, no matter what level the charge shows on the display, the HV battery will almost fully discharge and then come back up to full charge within a mile of driving. I just replaced the 12V battery thinking this could have been an issue, but it didn't change anything. The car never acted like this since I bought it in 05. When it drops to the discharge level, It running on ICE only, with the typical slower acceleration. What could be going on?
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I bought my Prius in November 2010. I replaced my headlights about three months ago when the right one went out. It went out again a few days ago. Then suddenly the diver side went out 2 days later. I also noticed that the right side parking light is out. The only lights that work are the high beams. I did check the fuses.
iPad ? HD ?
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If my prius 12V starting battery is dead, and my keyless entry prius is locked, would I be able to jump start my vehicle when I cannot enter it to open the doors, hood or trunk ? The problem is I do not know if the keyless entry is powered off the hybrid battery or the 12V starting battery. If the keyless entry is powered from the hybrid battery, then this is not an issue.
However if the keyless entry is working off the starting battery and that battery is dead and the vehicle is locked, I do not know of how to open the door or the trunk or the hood to jump the vehicle as I cannot access any place in the vehicle suitable to give it a jump start.
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On 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?
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My car is eating up battery power: only when outside is cold, below 10 C,something very strange, in summer days there is no battery draining, my climate stays adjusted at 19 C, but now is very cold and I make it 25 C,and then it is the mystery: the battery is draining for 2-3 hours below 10V?
I made some tricks:
-when the car i turned off while climate is set to 25C(or above 24C)-the battery is draining very fast, second battery relay switches on and I can turn the ignition on only with the key in!
-when the car is turned off while the climate is set to 18C(or below 24C) the battery drain is very small???
So does something turn on while the car is locked,or something is trying to keep any temperature inside? I double checked if AUX heating is off,and it is off,I don't have parking heater or anything. Another thing I notice is when I turn on the rear seats climatronic above 24C the voltmeter goes from 14V to 13V and stays there for a 5-10 min,if I turn off the rear seats climatronic or set it below 24V the voltmeter gets back to 14V?
Whats is happening with the car?
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The stereo will power off after 10mins or so (even if the ignition button is on ACC or Power position), and the radio screen shows a battery discharge warning (this goes on before the power gets cut off).
Is there a way to keep the stereo power on even with the engine off? The ignition button is already on ACC or Power (without engine on) and the system still cuts off the power after 10mins or so...
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I got the Battery discharge warning massage today, I was listening to xm in the car for about 5 minutes on engine set to ACC and the Battery discharge warning massage came on and tells me to run system while the engine is running. Am I not suppose to be on ACC if I just want to listen to music?
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I just brought home a shinny new 2012 Hyundai Sonata Limited with Nav and it's awesome! Just discovered something though...
When the engin is off and I am running the radio I get the Battery Discharge Warning pop up on the Nav screen accompanied by a beep. It goes off every minute or so.
This is going to be annoying next time I go to the drive in that we like to frequent as we need to play the audio on the FM radio with the car turned off.
How I can turn this off or disable the sounds at least?
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I replaced a post-cat O2 sensor because of a code that came up last week. We didn't reset the ECU, but after driving it a couple days the check engine light went out. 3-4 days of driving and everything looked good.
Today the check engine light came on again and autozone read the code as:
P0136 - heated oxygen sensor - bank 1 sensor 2 (HO2S12) sensor range/performance condition
Explanation Open circuit or short circuit condition
Probable Cause
Poor electrical connection
check other service codes
Faulty Bank 1 Sensor 2.
Anyway, I thought it might be because we didn't reset ECU and some kind of calibration might be off in the system. So, I unplugged the battery in an attempt to let it discharge and reset ECU. When I connected the battery back up.... ALL THE FREAKIN LIGHTS ARE NOW ON THE DASH. Check engine... traction control.... tire pressure.... everything.
Golf TDI 2012
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Friday I went to pick my daughter up from the school. Turned 2010 Rav4 off while waiting on her and then attempted to turn back on. I have a smart key, so it is just a matter of pushing the button, but nothing. Band teacher attempted jump starting it with no results. Next day my husband purchased a new battery from AutoZone and we installed it. Have lights, etc. now but it still won't start. tried putting the key up to the on off switch to get it to start, still nothing. It doesn't even sound like the car is even attempting to turn over.
There are multiple lights on in the dash, the check engine light, oil pressure light, electric power steering light, and the automatic transmission fluid temp light. I just had my car into the dealer to have the oil changed, tires, rotated, and the 25 pt. inspection done on it. Upon raising my hood the other night, I noticed that the reservoir for the radiator was empty. It should have been full, as I just had it into the dealership, so where did it go. Should I add coolant to it. Is there something that needs to be done after changing the battery?
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I had a new windshield installed and the first time it rained, my auto unlock,the tire pressure monitor and the auto headlights stopped working. The dealer said that the fuse box got wet. I have since fixed the leak but can't find a fuse or reset any where.
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I rebuilt the HV battery w/(tested) Gen II cells on a 2001 that I purchased cheap knowing that the HV was bad.
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I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but if you need to put an 01-03 Prius into Neutral with dead battery (i.e. to push the car so you can reach it with jumper cables) you need to remove the rectangular panel on the bottom drivers side of the steering column. It's tiny, smaller than a postage stamp. Use a strong pen-knife or very small screwdriver to pop the panel out.
You may want to remove the panel when things are good, so if you ever have to use the gearshift release you don't have to hunt around for a knife since it's on pretty tight from the factory. (just leave it off once removed).
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Our 2015 Prius 4 with 8,900 miles just suddenly stopped chirping and turning the lights off upon locking. The courtesy lights also no longer work (the lights worked last night as I approached the car but not tonight. The locking chirp/beep worked 3 hours ago but not now. Also headlights no longer go out after double clicking lock on either of the 2 fob.)
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