I got my TCH last week, had done 250 miles in 1 long trip and some local driving, display shows 40 as avg mpg. i am enjoying this car very much,. i have few questions here


1) yesterday when i was going i got stuck in a bumper to bumper traffic and in about 10 - 15 min of travel on electic motor the battery drained out to last 2 bars (purple color) from 8 bars, is this common or any thing is wrong here

2) does any one found about the override feature with 6.1 ver of NAV, mine came with it.

3) can we put the car in the cruise mode at such a early stage, is there any milage limit till which we cannot use cruise mode.

Thanks
jlp

I can only answer #1 as I do not have NAV and I have not used cruise under 45.

It is normal for the battery to be drained as it is being used to move the car. It also powers the brakes, steering, and AC. The only way it charges is by braking or ICE.

Thanks for the answer FL07TCH

Do you mean it powers the power brake pump?
Where may I read more about this?

Somewhere here, a thread described the actual friction brakes as being the same as non-hybrid cars.

1) As FL07THC stated, it is normal for the battery charge to decrease in the manner that you described. You'll notice the ICE cycling on to keep the main/traction battery charged. One note: Do NOT put the transmission in "N" if you're stopped in traffic! The battery will NOT charge while in Neutral.

2) No override has been reported with the 6.1 NAV DVD, yet.

3) According to the Owner's manual and some other places I've checked, the stated lowest speed that you can set the Cruise Control is 25 mph. (BTW, the max speed is 125 mph -- I'm not about to verify that number)

The owner's manual is wrong in one aspect: according to page 177, when the speed drops below 10 mph,the cruise control speed is erased from memory. This means that when you stop at a traffic light or stop sign, you would lose you preset speed. This is incorrect.

Another item concerning Cruise Control that is not precisely spelled out in the manual: If you set the transmission to "B" - Engine Braking, Cruise Control is disengaged. In a few cars, most notably the TCH, I have found that they had a tendency to pick up speed when going down hills, even with cruise control on. Other cars I could select 2nd gear and keep Cruise Control ON and maintain the desired speed. TCH automatically disengages Cruise Control. No problem, just took some getting used to.

John


2007 TCH -- Desert Sand, Bisque -- Original Equip: Leather Seats; NAV; Moonroof; Heated Seats
Completed Mods: Moved the side "HYBRID" emblem/badge to trunk lid; Mud Guards (Colored); Back-up Sensors; Door sill protector; ScanGauge II; Front Bra (Clear LLumar); Window Tinting (40 % Charcoal LLumar); Rear Deck Lid Spoiler
Mods in progress: None
Future mods: Rear bumper appliqué, Sliding Center Armrest

It does power the brake pump. Everything else about the brakes is normal. If you look under your hood you will notice that there is no belt going to it like in normal cars.

Doesn't coasting (i.e. momentum) charge the battery too? Or are we talking about the 12V battery?

Thanks for all the replies,

i was not clear in my question about the cruise control and i am sorry for that. here is my question abt cruise

my TCH is new and has done only around 400 miles now, one of my friend was saying that do not use Cruise Control until you cross atleast 1000 miles or more, is this true or not.


Thanks
JLP

When I took delivery of my car, the salesman told me to not drive a steady speed for the first 1000 miles. As I thought about this, it didn't make that much sense. The Hybrid Camry has a continuously variable transmission, and an engine control computer that wants to maximize ICE efficiency by running at optimum RPMs and mixes in electric motor power to minimize RPM variation.

If you're not pushing generously on the gas pedal, then it doesn't sound like it's running at significantly different RPMs. I quit the cruise control ban around 600 miles, and now I use it all the time.

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your new hybrid.

The high-voltage (NiMH) "traction" battery powers only the two motor-generators (MGs) and the air-conditioning compressor. It gets charged only by the internal combustion engine (ICE) via MG1, or by regenerative braking (via MG2) which occurs when coasting or braking. The 12-volt ("auxiliary") battery powers everything else, including the power steering (its voltage is boosted to 34 V AC for this purpose by the power steering electronics), power brakes (there's an electric oil pump for this purpose — no engine vacuum is used), lights, gauges, etc. The 12-V battery is charged only by the NiMH battery via a dc-to-dc converter, and only while the car is in READY mode. The friction brakes normally only come into use when the car is almost stationary, or when very hard braking is required. Until then, the braking is regenerative (you can hear MG2's "whine"), converting the car's motional kinetic energy (that would otherwise just be dumped as heat by the friction brakes) into electrical energy, which gets stored in the NiMH battery. I hope this clarifies things somewhat.

Stan