Not sure if my inverter is failing.......

The sense is most likely coming off a small wire not the large cable. The wire and all connections have resistance to them and will cause a voltage drop as current flows across them. Eight tenths of a volt isn't much. Also could be a difference in the volt meter you used and the built in meter. you would have to find the point where the display sense is and measure there with the same meter.

 

There's some nonsense in this thread...
First of all, why the concern about the inverter? The inverter has nothing to do with the 12V system; it converts the 200-something volt DC from the battery to up to 650V AC for the motor-generators (or the reverse). The 12V system is controlled by a DC-DC converter, which is not the subject of the recall.

Second, the battery voltage when the car is on doesn't really indicate anything about the health of your battery. If you want to know how the battery is doing, measure it when it has been at rest for at least 15 minutes, preferably disconnected. If it's below ~12.4V, it's low, if it's below ~12V, it's very low. The battery voltage when the car is on will fluctuate - for example it will be increased if there is a large load on the 12V system (like headlights) or if the 12V battery was low and needs charging. Let the car do its thing on the 12V system. If you needed to pay attention to the minutia of its variation, they would've given you a gauge or a warning light. (Well, OK, probably not. But still, you can ignore fluctuations like this as long as it's above 12V - and not ridiculously high like 16V.)

Third, never use the navigation system to get a readout of the voltage. Just don't do it. If the car is in IG ON/Acc (i.e. not Ready), you're not measuring the battery in an unloaded state, so it tells you nothing about the charge level. If the car IS in Ready, then you're just measuring the output of the DC-DC converter, not the battery. And in either case, it's horribly inaccurate, at least with respect to the actual battery voltage. You noted a 0.8V difference; I've measured mine before at 0.7V, and somebody in another thread reported that his was even 1.5V off. It's a useless meter, except for telling you that the nav system is on, and there are other ways to ascertain that. Like looking at the screen.

 

Have a lot of you got this IPM Warranty Enhancement Notification-ZE3? I jus got it yesterday and haven't had any of the symptoms but I guess its not a bad deal as they say it'll be covered for 15 years with no mileage limitation from the date of first use . Are inverters expensive to replace?

 

If that is a Toyota letter stating that they are increasing the warranty on the Inverters to 15 years that is really good news. Yes the Inverters are expensive to replace.

The latest Software Recall was an effort to reduce the stress on the Inverter module by de-tuning the quick response of the system to sudden acceleration and loading on the Inverter power modules. This was in response to a sudden increase in Inverter failures. There has been concern on here as to what would happen after the recall and if the Inverter module failed after the warranty period.

Toyota is doing the right thing by extending the warranty on these modules from 8 years for non-CARB states and 10 years for CARB states to 15 years with unlimited mileage.

Kudos to Toyota for stepping up to the plate on this subject if this is going out to all Gen III owners.

 

Yup well see....I just got mine yesterday

Here's the back of it...

 

Is this for all Gen 3 Prius, 2010 to present?

 

Your opening statement troubles me. I'd assume you're reluctant to get the recall due to mixed reports on mpg, post recall?