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Jumping the 12 volt battery on an hybrid?

Discussion in 'Prius v Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by cucaio90, Aug 30, 2015.

  1. cucaio90

    cucaio90 Junior Member

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    Since i bought my prius v (my first hybrid) my mind keeps wondering,since I carry in the car a jump box at all times,how do you jump a 12 volt battery when eventually will run out of juice one day?What I mean I know where to hook it up because I looked in the manual.But even when your successful jumping it and you drive and the car goes to from the electrical motor to the gas motor does it use the 12 volt battery to start it even if the battery is completely dead?Or once you jump it once will keep going even when it switches from gas motor to the electrical one and back again.
     
  2. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    It will keep going, and it will slowly recharge the 12 volt. As long as you don't turn it off again too soon, it's fine.

    The power to run the car, restart the engine, etc., all comes from the much larger traction battery, once the car is in READY mode. It only needs the 12 volt to put it into READY mode.

    If you ever do jump the 12 volt battery, be extra extra careful not to get the polarity of your cables backwards. A mistake there can damage components that are quite expensive.

    -Chap
     
  3. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    There is a positive jump post under the hood in the fuse box on the driver's side. Any bare metal is a negative jump point,


    Here is the manual
    http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM47887U/pdf/OM47887U.pdf (page 537 of the PDF, page 536 of the manual)

    Be careful to hook positive to positive, last I knew it was a $4000 repair to replace the entire inverter if you get it backwards. There are rumors you now only need to replace a $500 A/C and 12 volt board in the inverter. For the same reason, never use the Prius to jump start other vehicles, use your jump pak.
     
    #3 JimboPalmer, Aug 30, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 30, 2015
  4. rdgrimes

    rdgrimes Senior Member

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    All else fails, read the manual which includes quite a bit of information.
     
  5. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    Well since you already know how and where to jump as indicated in your post, the simple answer is if you can get it jumped and started, the car will produce it's own 12vdc from a built in high voltage inverter to run essential computers and electronics. The car starts and stops the engine routinely as you drive using the computers to signal the high voltage battery and motor.. If you are worried about the 12 volt battery you could change it after four or five years.