Total battery power loss after 7 day vacation!

That is why there have been numerous recommendations for everyone to have a portable battery available for jumping the car in these situations.

 

Methinks Toyota should include one if that's the case...

Can you remove the 12v battery to charge it, then put it back in?

 

Yes, you can remove the battery, charge it and put it back in. You will lose some of your radio presets, etc., when you do this, though. The list of what you will lose is in the owner's manual.

 

What about for those situations where a jump won't work? Perhaps some electrical problem and you end up stuck in a lane of traffic? That doesn't sound fun. Or am I imagining an impossible scenario?

 

No, this is always a possibility. There is another thread going on now about a guy with what appears to be a dead battery and it will not take a charge.

Obviously, you cannot plan for every situation but you can prepare for ones that you are aware of.

 

Yes, and what is even worse is, at least on the Gen II, and I assume the Gen III, you can't open the trunk to get to work on the battery. You have to crawl over the back seat into the cargo area and reach into the hatchback for a little manual lever.

Also, since I just had this dead battery issue on the '06 Prius, it is possible to jump start it or recharge it from under the hood where the fuse box is. The lid is extremely difficult to get off if you don't know what you're doing, so I watched [ame="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=526919086408457638"]Prius: Replacing Headlamp bulb (1/4)[/ame]
I would be extremely careful about trying to jump start the Prius though. You need to follow the instructions in the manual.

I'm starting to research putting something on that will disconnect the battery when it drains down to a certain voltage.

 

Wait a sec. The whole idea of the 12v battery is to detect the key and flick the relais to kick in the hybrid battery.

How much power does it need then? Isn't it just a matter of connecting, press start and hybrid systems kicks in? It should take massively less power to start a prius than one would with a conventional car.

I had some cases of a rundown battery on a normal car too and bought a jumpstarter. The garage told me that, a jumpstarter could only jumpstart a car once or twice. I'd guess that it could power up a prius 10 times more.

 

When the car is Ready it doesn't need the 12V battery, so you only have to remember not to shut the car OFF while in traffic :_> If it somehow dies in traffic the problem is almost certainly something that a simple jump won't fix.

 

You have this same problem with any car: what happens if something critical fails in traffic? Answer: you block traffic.

Tom

 

Well no, the issue I was responding to was not being able to put the Prius in neutral if the 12v battery is dead. With non-hybrids you can still put your car in neutral and push it out of the way. But apparently with a Prius you cannot put it in neutral with a dead 12v battery.

 

Well it sounds to me that any of you who are concerned about this situation need to purchase one of those "self-contained" battery jumpers, --- you know the batteries which are in a case and have the leads stored on the sides of it. Carry it with you and make sure (by the meters they have on them), that it is sufficently charged to do the job for you when needed. It could be used to jumper the car for putting it into neutral to move it, or jumping the car to start it.
My Gen III is now 5 weeks old, 1300 miles, and it has set in the garage for over two weeks now with the snow and severe winter weather we are having. If the battery is dead when I go to start it, the dealership can come deal with it! It's new and it's a "fair-weather" car for now, until the new wears off!
These cars are a relative new technology and I guess we are all concerned about "new" senarios of what "might", as well as what has happened.

 

By now they aren't "new technology," but unfortunately some things which could have been improved by Toyota have been overlooked. The inability to put the car into neutral with a dead battery is one of them. Not being to open the trunk either is another.

But if you are letting your new battery die and expecting the dealer to replace it you might end up unhappy. If there is ANY life left in the battery you'll be stuck with it, until it dies two days after the warranty expires. Anyway, I think, but I'm not certain, that the battery is considered a wear item, and might not be replaced anyway. And whether the dealer replaces it or you do, it is a big hassle.

I would get a "Battery Tender Jr." which charges at 0.75 amps, hook up the removable leads to the battery, and then hook up the charger when you know it will be sitting for any length of time.

Also, I would always set all the lights to "off" inside the car. So many people, including me, have had that happen. Either you leave the light on or leave a door slightly ajar and are very unhappy if you don't catch it by the next morning.

I'm still looking into the battery disconnect when the battery is discharged to a certain voltage. That may be the best solution for this problem.

 

Perhaps one solution would be to disable the smart key system during periods of non-use? Would be great if someone could measure the draw on the car when the smart key is enabled & disabled. There's another thread (somewhere) on the procedure to do this, it requires unlocking the car, opening/closing doors a few times, etc.

 

Battery Tenders are great devices. They let you connect to the starting battery and leave a pigtail hanging. When you want, you connect the tender to it and it charges up until it is charged and then "maintains" the battery so it won't overcharge and damage the battery.

I have one on my Thunderbird that I now rarely use and I have one on my whole house generator battery. They work flawlessly and with no need for me to do anything but hook it up. It actually revived the starting battery on my boat when regular chargers would not.