vader007

Hi all,

I am considering buying an 04-09 RX400h. One of the things I'm planning on doing is a cross country road trip, some portions of which will require sleeping/camping in the car. Given I will be in some probably hot areas, one of my requirements is decent temperature regulation to make sleeping a little more comfortable.

My question is, can the air conditioner be used overnight, running off the hybrid battery pack? Would the engine automatically come on to recharge if the battery gets low?

I know that the 04 Prius can do this, based on someone's description here:

http://www.cheaprvliving.com/other-c.../living-prius/

There, they describe how they leave the car on and 'Ready', and run the AC overnight. The engine would kick on every 30 mins to recharge. I would guess that the RX hybrid would behave similarly, but I cannot find any information online to confirm or deny this.


In a similar vein, if I use the cigarette lighter to charge my phone or laptop, would that be draining the 12V starter battery or the hybrid battery pack?

Thanks

smassey321

Technically it can do this however I would not recommend it. As my battery has aged, the time for the AC to completely drain the battery is more like 10 minutes. It then takes 10 minutes or so to recharge.

Your charging ports are powered by the 12 volt battery which is recharged by the hybrid system/battery.

The good news is the RX400h can tow a camper (up to 3500 lbs). Pickup something small and light on Craigslist. Get one of those silent Honda generators to run the AC and such. Sell it all when you return and get 90% of your money back. .

Enjoy the trip. My RX has gone from FL to CA and back to FL twice. One of those round trips was with a small trailer for cargo.

jooksing82

Smassey hits it right on, I slept for an hour or two in the car before and the engine will cycle every 10 mins or so. Its not very efficient but it will work. The traction (hybrid) battery will drain rather quickly and then the ICE will kick in to recharge. (It may wake you up) The ICE will run and charge the battery slowly only up to a "acceptable level where the battery is not consider depleted (I would guess 40% or so ) before the engine will shut off.
Some notes.
Sleeping in your car will add extra wear on your battery and ICE.
The driver seat is semi comfy compared to a few cars I slept in...
I tend to take naps on long drives at rest stops and also waiting at airports on delays is my source of research..

bcolins

I purchased a 2006 400h about 2 years ago, thinking I might try the same "Hotel Prius" camping in it in hot weather. Its now fall of 2022 and I have 176K on it,.....average daily fuel mileage on regular 87 octane fuel is about 21 mpg, and on premium 91-93 octane is about 23 mpg. I let it idle with the A/C on for about an hour and a half, and while the sun was up and it was 97 degrees F it would cyle from electric to gas operation about every 10 minutes. A second test after the sun went down and it cooled to mid 80s, had the gas engine running for about 22 minutes out a 60 minute cycle. I have read that some prius owners (including some cab drivers) have let their Priuses run non stop for months at a time.