Temporary alternate 12v battery?

You should be fine. As you said, make sure the battery is secured and there is no risk of a short circuit. Remove the existing battery as it probably isn't helping.

Tom

 

Any of the OP's options are reasonable, but regarding option 3: you need to make sure that your wife and daughter know the difference between red and black, and hook up the replacement battery observing correct polarity. If they make a mistake, it will cost you $4K to replace the blown inverter.

 

Not sure how to answer your question on this one.you may find swaping in a normal battery (non sealed/ventalated) may be against state laws.even for temp use.as for carrying a spare battery, same deal.battery fumes stink,i wouldnt want it siting in the back of my car.

 

Go to the nearest auto parts store, Wal Mart, or wherever, and purchase a portable boosting device. They usually come with an air pump and light as well. They are very useful. It will be safe to carry one of these in the car (still secure it using the metal loops in the hatch area). Afterwards you can use it to help other people (give them a boost - NEVER boost another car from the Prius - the Prius battery is just not designed for that), as an air pump, as an emergency light.

It just isn't safe to carry a "normal" car battery inside the car. In the event of an accident you will have acid and a very heavy object flying about inside the car.

 

PA Prius,
Sorry you are having the battery problems...if you were closer I'd gladly let you use my "old" battery that was still very good. I just got my Optima from elearnaid about two weeks ago. I'm not sure what I will do with the "old" one, since it never made the car die, etc, but was replaced because it was almost 3 years old. I just replaced it for MPG gain, (hopefully).

I'm sure you know that the post size is different on a "regular" battery compared to the OPM battery. The idea of one of those "jumper battery" set ups is a good idea.

I hope you ordered the retrofit kit from elearnaid even if they were out of stock on the battery. You kinda need it because of the different post size.

On a slightly different but related subject, I recently used my Prius's 12v imput, (I don't know what you call it, but you know, the cigarette lighter hole without the lighter part) on the dash to power a small tire inflator. Was that ok to do?? It did not seem to hurt anything. I know, (I think) it is ok to use it for a GPS or an ipod, but I was not sure about the tire inflator.......

Thanks, Frank

 

You can use either the cig. lighter (on the bottom of the dash) or accy. socket (in the console) for any load up to 10A. Neither will work when the car is off.

 

Thanks! Frank D.

 

Hi Frank,

As a reference point, I also have a small tire air compressor which draws ~7A of current, so it is OK to use the 12V auxiliary socket to power this.

I suggest that you make the car READY when using that accessory because that will make the voltage 13.8V, instead of <12V if the car is ACC-ON. The higher voltage will help the air compressor work more effectively.

 

Thanks Pat!
I do not see myself doing this often. It was when I was at the Florida home. It's frustrating to have all my tools, compressors, etc up north when I'm down south. The small compressor was a neighbors and I was just filling up the golf cart tires. Can't wait to have all the tools in one place and far from my kids.

At the risk of hijacking a thread, I just installed my optima battery on Christmas Eve. I try to not drive my Prius much in the winter, so it may only be driven a couple of miles once a week. It is currently only 4 degrees here, and the car has sat in the garage for almost a week. Should it be ok, or do I need to drive it more and farther to charge it more.....

Thanks! You guys are the best. Frank D.

 

I slid a temporary battery under the seat of driver. Came in handy twice when needing a jump. Also nice to aid others in trouble

 

Hi Frank,

This usage is insufficient to keep your battery charged. Who knows if the new battery was fully-charged when you received it.

Suggest that you obtain a battery minder and hook that up all the time; or else use a battery charger set to 2A and use that to charge the battery once every two weeks, while your car is not being driven during winter.

 

Thank you Patrick! I think I already have what you are talking about. I have a small "Battery Companion" fully automatic battery charger/maintainer with float mode monitoring Made by Schumacher. (Model #WM-1562A)
It says it is a 1.5 amp slow charge charger for 6 & 12 volt lead acid batteries. It has a "6 or 12" volt switch on it that I've always kept on 12.

Can I use this? I would connect like I would if I were jumping the car....that is the positive on the positive lead under the hood, (under the black cover, then under the hinged red cover) and the negative on a unpainted grounded body bolt.

If you give the ok, I'll hook it up tonight and leave it on. It has 3 small lights on it, Charging, charged and trouble. I'll await a response from all you guys that are smarter than I am on these things.....

thanks! Frank D. (freezing here in NY)

 

I vote to hook up the trickle charger to the jump posts under the hood.

 

Thanks Jim,
That's basically what I'd be doing. On my 2007 Prius, there does not seem to be a negative post under the hood. The positive post is in the fuse box, under the black cover. Once the black cover is off, you see a hinged red cover. Under that is the positive post. There does not seem to be a negative post, but about 6 inches away from it, closer to the firewall, there is a prominent bare bolt. That is the only place I see to put a negative clip. i'll look in the owners manual to see if there is another place to put the negative clip.

More important I think is needing to know if this charger I have will be ok to use. I do not want to hurt the delicate electrical components of the prius.
Thanks, Frank D.

 

Hi Frank,

This should work nicely. The negative can be attached to one of the nuts that secure the top of the driver's side front suspension strut. See how long it takes before the charger thinks the battery is fully-charged.

Note that Toyota's recommendation is that the battery should be disconnected and removed from the vehicle before the battery is charged. However I don't think that any owners bother to take this step.

The point of removing the battery is so that in case the charger screws up and provides excessive voltage to the battery, and the battery subsequently blows up, then the car will not be damaged.

 

Thank you so much Patrick.

I love our Prius, but am a bit intimidated by the complexity of it. It's like a spacecraft or something. Something as simple as jumping or charging a battery makes me think first, where with a "regular" car, I have no qualms doing minor work or maintenance.

I did just look at the owners manual....it said to just clip the negative clip to a bare big bolt. the picture shows using the bolt on the far other side of the car, but like you said, I could just use the matching bolt on the same side much easier.

Although it was not that hard doing the optima change out, it would be a pain to remove a battery just to charge it...you would lose all of your settings, etc.

I was more concerned with me using this charger. I do have another more powerful 6 amp charger, but I thought this one was better. I'm going to put it on charge now....Thanks!!

Frank D.

 

PA Prius,
Wow..59 mpg! I'd be beside myself if I got even 50.

I chrged up my Prius last night. After 2 hours it said it was still charging. I went to bed, and this morning it said charged. If I find I am not driving it that much in the winter, I'll keep it on most of the time, or at least every few days.......Thanks!!

Frank D.

 

i have a rather beefy jump pack that sits in the back hatch area. it stays hooked up and has a large built in switch. if the car isn't functional, i use the mechanical key to open the door and flip that switch.