Interior light shut off timer - no more battery drain

Well the light stays on because the door is ajar....shut the damn door!!!

You could always put a LED in place of the incandescant bulb. That draws much less current, should help save the battery, but really shut the door properly!

 

Look here for a link to the 2006 wiring diagram. Hopefully 2007 is similar.
http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...ed-questions-requested-files.html#post1081778

 

Sorry the first link used to point to a list of repair manuals and wiring diagram. But it looks like the web site may have taken it down.

 

You are indeed correct. Both my 04 and 07 dome lights turn off after approx. 20 min. This is not the case for the reading lights, nor the trunk light. They stay on and discharge the 12V battery. Lesson: Keep the trunk light switch OFF and the same for the reading (map) lights. Just for fun, I did install LED's in all interior positions, including the lower door panels. That should pretty well protect the batt. even if I fail to turn the map and trunk light switches off when done with them.

 

Also, I don't think the dome lights turn off if switched to the always on position instead of the Door podition.

 

Thats not a bad idea but won't fix your problem:

Why don't you just lock the car? Most people on here including myself lock the car every single time especially in the garage.
Never ever walk away without locking it. Only takes 2 seconds. 2 seconds. Either hit the button on the door or hit the FOB.

Attempting to lock:

A---Will instantly report a door ajar or a hatch ajar. No dead battery.

B---Will instantly tell you that you have left the keys in the car.
Very easy thing to do. I do it all the time. How do you know you have the keys on you if you just walk away from the car and not try to lock it.
And unlike any other car you don't even need to find the keys if there loose inside the car to start the car. If a car burglar jumps in and he knows a prius while he's rifling through your car he might try hitting the start button. Bye Bye.

The alarm will sound if you try to lock it by the door button and the keys are not on your person but inside the car.

C----You will not be able to lock the car if you get out and its still in READY. Engine off but in READY. A running car. Many people have posted here they have left there car run all night out in the driveway or at work. Forgot to shut it off. Never heard the beeps. And never tried to lock it. It will run till it runs out of gas. If you try to lock it, it sounds a constant beep.

In any of the above it will not allow you to lock it alerting you to a malfunction.

This simple thing will easily keep the battery from going dead which exposes you to the worst achilles heel of this car. Many many posters in the last 3 years have had there new cars destroyed by a bad jump.
Major electrical damage. Usually by a reverse polarity jump. You might not do it but the goofy AAA guy your wife calls on that rainy night can. Real easy.
NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY.
Many many posters have sworn the battery jumps they did were not reversed polarity and major damage still ensued. This car does not like to be jumped. Especially if the battery is really dead. Pulls alot more charge current than the factory designed. If your forced to jump do not turn the donor car on. The boot battery needs very litle current to get it going.

And btw, if you kill that little battery pretty good it will begin sulfating and not able to keep a charge for even a reasonable amount of time. I'm sure you have discovered that already.
Usually kill it once and its done.

I use the alarm set more as a systems check than antitheft. Its so freakin easy.

Toyota has provided you the tools to not get into this nightmare. Your not using them.

 

Watch out, you going to be accused of "living in a perfect world" as I was by the OP. All I said was just shut the damn door!
For what it's worth, my world is perfect, I do not have to tell some one something over and over and over and over only to be ignored, ignored, ignored.
Sounds like OP's communication skills are lacking....... His family won't even listen to him!!!

 

You have my sympathies. The used-to-be brand new minivan that my wife and kids use daily now has been turned into a huge moving trash can, or a garbage truck for that matter.

 

The attached Wiring PDF is for a 2006 Prius.

JeffD

 

Don' t know about the dome. I left the reading light on over night once. luckily it didn't run the battery down.

 

Your welcome. Just trying to save you from the dreaded jump start. Thats no joke. Its cost posters here thousands of dollars.
My 2007 is on the original battery and if not for locking it I'd have killed it at least 3 times. And I like to not have the keys on me when I'm driving and like to leave them in the car. Locking the car always alerts me to that brain dead idiocy.

But especially with a wife and kids out there its vital that she lock the car no matter where it is. Insist on it. And lock the car the minute you get into it. Alot of horrible crime out there that can be easily prevented. That simple thing will really help keep your family and the car safe.
Good Luck!

 

A very old thread, but I was looking for timer options on the dome reading lights.
I've manually turned on one of the reading lights to dig through my armrest container, then (in a brightly lit garage) forgot to turn it off when I left the car -- it doesn't timer off automatically, and it killed my starter battery. Just recently, I did the same thing again -- but a friend spotted my dome light on in the garage and told me about it in time.
The post about locking the car doors won't help with this, as locking doesn't turn off the dome reading lights. It would be awesome if it did---if the Prius were wired to recognize "whenever the car is locked by the fob outside, or the door handle button, it is safe to turn off all interior lights."