Hybrid battery pack health status.

[FROSTYBALLS]

22 hours ago, Timmon said:

How far do you travel before spending 4 days without starting your RAV? Why I ask is do you use the car enough to get a full charge into the 12volt battery before you lay it up for 4 days? If you don't use the car much and it discharges often, the battery condition becomes very poor and it won't hold a charge.

 

10 hours ago, livium said:

Hi,

What do you mean by "use the car enough"  ? And what do you understand by " use the car much" ? It s all relative !  Is there an objective way to find when I used the car enough so that I get a full charge of the 12V battery ? Or to get an alert when I stop the car and the battery is not fully charged ?

From my point of view, yes use the car often and enough.

Are you all satisfied with the autonomy offered by the Toyota's hybrid battery  ?

Do you struggle to maintain the battery charged forcing yourself to use the car when you don t need it only to maintain the battery charged  or you can use it normally like another car ?.

Thanks

It was a straightforward question.

You haven't indicated previously how you use the car, so members don't know whether you use the car in an urban environment with lots of stop/start traffic, long runs, short runs, etc, etc. Chill a bit!

[Gerg]

11 hours ago, livium said:

Is there an objective way to find when I used the car enough so that I get a full charge of the 12V battery ?

This has been highlighted on earlier threads (not for RAV4 hybrid, though).

You could consider buying one of these cigarette lighter socket voltmeters - there are plenty of other similar ones with, perhaps, a better appearance/build.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Cigarette-Lighter-Voltage-Voltmeter/dp/B00DE3H4G8/ref=pd_day0_c_263_2/258-4330738-9698635?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00DE3H4G8&pd_rd_r=75789659-63cd-4fd6-a998-e339a07a666f&pd_rd_w=BwxhY&pd_rd_wg=ufDMz&pf_rd_p=cb7ac7c9-1220-4f8e-9626-3d6840134f7f&pf_rd_r=54ZSXHTVDFKZFHYCNHSX&psc=1&refRID=54ZSXHTVDFKZFHYCNHSX

When the car is turned on, but in 'accessory' mode, the 12v system is running directly from the 12v Battery, which is receiving no assistance from the inverter/traction Battery in that mode.  So any voltage shown on the gauge (via the cigarette lighter/accessory socket) will give a good idea of the 12v battery's charge level.

In your particular situation, I think the 12v Battery needs a long charge (at least overnight on a charger) to get it fully topped-up.  I think when you have 'broken out' of your discharged battery/flat battery 'loop' , then the car's 12v performance might seem a bit more reasonable. At the moment the 12v battery charge energy from the car during your journeys is probably the equal of the drain out of the battery over 4 days.  But as you already have a battery that is very low, the car tips into non-operation - you are 'dragging along the bottom' of the battery's charge curve, maybe. 

The parasitic (parked up) drain on the 12v battery on these hybrids is not really different to a conventional car, but the 12v battery, which despite being made to a higher specification than older generation, conventional 12v batteries, seems to be unable to take a fast charge - which the car is almost certainly able to provide via the inverter/traction battery when the system is fully 'on'. This might be a sizeable factor in this problem. 

Regrettably, the more (times and duration) the battery is flattened, the smaller it's capacity becomes as well.  This is true for any car battery in any car.

A long-duration 'drive' (distance covered/speed will make no difference on this car) will get some charge into the battery, and this could even be with the car in traffic, or even parked on your drive, if you have one, although this is not necessarily practical for all!

That's as I understand it, anyway.

 

[RabButler]

Do you by any chance have a dash cam hardwired into the car or some other device that might be activated while the car is parked?