

If you want to know your actual SOC, use Dr.
Car battery indicator no color full#
Having a full battery may seem neat, but in reality, it is not complete. If you want to know more about dendrites and battery failure, check out my other article here. The cause for this is that the capacity of the battery has become minimized over time. If a battery meter falls and rises rapidly, it is weak. How fast does it fall when you are accelerating? First, if your battery quickly gets "full" when you drive, you need to pay attention to the next thing. Having a full battery can help you understand a few things about your Prius. A full battery only means one thing it is at the set SOC (state of charge) that is computer-controlled. This question of a full battery being healthy could not be farther from the truth. My Battery Is Full, So It Is Healthy Right?

The meter is misleading and will show full even though the battery is not complete. How I found this out is by using the Toyota Techstream tool, going to various hybrid training, and looking at data PIDS. So when designing the car, "full" on our meter is 80%. However, Toyota knew that consumers would not want to see a battery meter that would only ever show 80% SOC. Having the hybrid battery stay in this range allows it to be in a happy place where we can cycle it heavily for thousands of cycles without extreme failure. Toyota designed the battery to be "fully charged" at 80% and "fully discharged" at around 20%. We are taught to think that the battery level full is what we need to achieve for something to work right. Due to the nickel-metal characteristics, if we fully charge and discharge the battery fully, we will wear it out, and it will become useless. With nickel-metal, though, a fully charged battery is not something we always want. When most people think of a fully charged battery, they believe that it is good. I have also learned that a fully charged battery is not always a good thing even though we think it is.

I have studied how the battery charges, discharges, and why they fail. Understanding how cells fail has led me to look at a lot of data, and I mean a lot.įor the past two years, I have owned 8 Prius cars and driven them all under varying conditions with batteries that came from all walks of life. I say both because I feel very strongly about maintaining the battery on our cars. One of the things that we continuously have to fight is battery failure and preventative battery maintenance. Once I figured some of that out, it was game over I am hooked. One of the reasons I started working with hybrids is because I was curious to know how they work. How do I know this? I am by trait, an analytical person. Sad as it is, the battery level meter on our Prius is nothing more than a feel-good gauge for us. When my battery shows full, is it wholly charged?ĭetermining A Fully Charged Prius Battery

I will start with the first question that came to my mind. How charged is my battery? Can my Prius battery be bad and still show full? I began having all sorts of questions I had to answer. I enjoy a full tank of fuel, an entire cold beverage, warm clothes from the dryer, and the list goes on.Īs a Prius owner, I have also found that a guilty pleasure I have is watching the battery meter hit full. When it comes to oddly satisfying things, I live for them.
