Help - PiP seemingly dead

good point john

 

Saarp,

You said you called Roadside Assistance.

Did you call #5 General Questions?
The guy I spoke to said he could walk you thru the steps to get the car started.

 

Is this an isolated case? I haven't seen other complaints like this.

 

With the 2005 I would always turn off the smart key recognition if I left the car for an extended period. There doesn't appear to be a way to do this with the PIP

 

It appears to be, for now............I hope so anyway. Toyota, by charging the HV also charges the 12V at the same time. I thought that was the perfect situation.....anyway we will see.

 

His 12v battery may have been bad from day one when he brought his PiP home. I think most of us can remember buying a dud car battery at some point. We buy it and bring it home but it just doesnt have the capacity that it should or self discharges way to fast. Once a lead acid battery is discharged to a certain level it is compromised permanently. If a new battery sits too long on the shelf before being fully charged it will fail early or never have the full capacity as a fresh battery would.

Hopefully he can get a new battery in the car soon and let us know all is fine again

Mike

Mobile on my SGH-i717

 

My 2001 12v battery was never replaced as of when I sold it after 8 yrs 11 months.
I joked to the buyer that I did have to replace the battery once...in the key fob.

My 2004 12v battery lasted for 9 yrs 3 months then died (when stressed from lots of radio use and open doors during a thorough cleaning).

Mike

 

About 2 months after I got my PIP I went on vacation for 4 weeks. I left the car about 1/3 - 1/2 charged. I did not leave the charger plugged in, obviously. I had someone start the car once after 2 weeks. The car was started, left on for a minute, then turned off. I had this done just to make sure the 12v battery stayed charged. The ICE did not run. (I also had my 2010 turned on after 2 weeks and had the ICE run until it shut off).

Driving for 40 minutes every weekend should be plenty of time to to keep the 12v battery maintained.
Without seeing anything, my guess is, in order:
a. you have a problem 12v battery
b. something was draining the 12v battery that you didn't observe (like a door ajar...not sure if the PIP turns off the light automatically after too long)
c. some issue related to leaving the charger plugged in all week (seems unlikely)

The 12v lead acid battery could have had one or more shorted cells. Vigorous charging (even with a small charger) breaks up the crystallization that tends to form over time from the + to - side of a cell. When the sulfate crystals that form reach across the whole cell you get a short on that cell. Generally when this happens people replace the battery. But if this is the only issue a good charging can rejuvinate the battery, assuming the rest of the chemistry is within spec.

Mike

 

I wanted to point out a few things:
–SKS is probably the biggest parasitic draw when the car is parked. the alarm system draws some as well, but since it's passive, probably not that much. at the same time, Toyota no longer provides an SKS shut-off switch and doesn't even have a section in the manual dedicated to longer-term storage. it's possible that the draws are minuscule in the current gen vehicles.
–while the EVSE will charge the 12V battery, once the charge is complete, that's it, you're done. the only way to "top up" is to unplug the charger and then plug it back in. the 12V battery voltage will drop, but until you unplug and replug, the car won't bother noticing this.
–5V sounds catastrophically low, especially after just one week. i suspect the battery was toast to begin with. note that you should get this replaced for free under warranty. don't take anything else for an answer from the dealer – you should not have to replace a 12V battery in a car that's under a year old (hell, when you buy a new battery, it's got a 1-year warranty).
i also peeked in the manual at the fuses section (p. 498 and on for those following along). SKS seems to be on a bunch of fuses:
–In the engine compartment, fuses 15 (ECU-B2) and 36 (ECU-B)
–In the left instrument panel, fuses 28 (IGN)
It might also make sense to pull fuse 29 (PANEL), which handles the Remote Air Conditioning System, among other things.
Pulling some of these will also reset some settings (i.e. 29 keeps the time), so this seems like a last-resort measure for truly long-term storage. but a week? that's crazy.

 

I'll second that, getting the dealer to provide a free replacement. However since you charged it and it is seemingly OK now, they may not. I had this problem in the first year of owning my 05 and they would not believe my battery had a problem. So I went back for a second time and while waiting in line I turned everything on that I could think of in acces mode, NOT READY. When they were ready to inspect my car, it would not start and I noticed they had connected a charger. That was progress. They lent me a car overnight while they checked the 12V, the next day they installed a new battery for customer relations. But definitely implied they did not have to and I should be more careful in leaving lights on, etc. I had had the car 9 months. I have seen my dealer deliberately run down the 12V on a demo, they told me for safety reasons. The next day I saw 3 "mechanics" standing around the front of the same demo. They didn't know where the 12V front connection was, I showed them. They had to now charge the battery, to open the trunk, so the cleaning crew could now clean out the trunk area. I pity the person that got that car. So, crazy things do happen to these cars because of dealer ignorance.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I have gone so far as to unplug all the courtesy lights, not use my auto interior lighting and trunk lights. I did this on my 05 and the PIP. Call it paranoid, but I never experienced any more 12V problems. Get a new FREE battery from the dealer.

 

I am surprised that the battery is now 45AHr.

 

LurkAzusa: Future problems could occur, keep a good eye on that 12V

 

NO, THEY WILL NOT. You have to really be insistent. See my later post # 71.

 

is that more or less than previous?

 

I believe Gen 2 was 35 AH

 

wow, that's a big increase!

 

Yes, I was thinking that, so another minor improvement.

 

How about a timer on the EVSE that is programmed to come on for a few hours once or twice a week? As long as the timer can handle the current it should cause the car to "recharge" as appropriate. Heavy duty timers are rated to 15A.