Just got a used Hymotion Prius!

[hobbes]

Hi from a looong time lurker.
Ben the Prius uses a dc-dc converter to power all the 12V stuff whenever the car is in ready mode. It should not worry the 12V battery to run in EV mode for extended periods because it uses the hybrid battery to power the 12V (just like any EV).

I had a 2001 Prius and experienced times when the car would not go into stage 4 sometimes (driving on freeway shortly after startup) and would run the ICE even when in stop start traffic. To get to stage 4 in those circumstances you need to come to a full stop for about 10seconds. Sounds like you need an EV button?

Congratulations on getting a PHEV (even though its the wifes)

[bennelson]

Yeah, I think I need an EV button. I also just need to learn more about all the warm-up stages and that other techno-mumbo-jumbo!

I plan to order a block heater and technical manual through the Milwaukee Hybrid Group. Unfortunately, our head honcho is out for a while because of knee surgeries, so I don't know when the next meeting will be...

Ideally, I'd like to have the block heater rigged up in such a way that the car is always warmed up before use, but the car isn't going to be on a regular schedule. So, it's going to need some sort of a remote or other way to activate it when we know the car is going to be used.

I also just got the car into our garage. It's detached and uninsulated, but even just being out of the wind and having a bit of thermal mass around it should help keep it a tad warmer.

[NeilBlanchard]

Turn off the heat.

Originally Posted by bennelson

Trying to figure out why the engine was running, when it wasn't being used to push the car down the road.

I understand that by default the car goes through sort of a warm-up process, where it turns the engine on about 7 seconds after you power it up.

But AFTER that, the engine was still cycling on and off but WITHOUT POWERING the car down the road.

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Turn off the heat.

It wasn't on. No heat, no vents, no window defroster.

[NeilBlanchard]

Really -- well that's all I got... I drove my Mom's 2007 Prius and when I had the heat on manual and the fan was off, then it didn't start the ICE until I'd driven about a mile. How fast are you driving? I think the EV only mode only goes up to ~33MPH or something like that?

[bennelson]

This was mostly 25 mph zone, with about a mile of 35mph.