erase codes

you want to be 12.4 or above. a new one should be 13.0, we're talking with everything off for a few hours so there's no surface charge.

 

under the hood is fine, screen can be iffy. put a voltmeter on it.

 

Did you have the AC top up at the dealers or just an AC shop?
Using the wrong oil in the AC will cause the problem you are having. Oil used should be ND11 not PAG. If the wrong oil was used you have a case against the shop that did the top up. This would require replacing virtually the complete AC sytem, condenser, evaporator, and electric pump.

John (Britprius)

 

Close but no cigar.
A new battery will read 12.6 to 12.8 volts when fully charged.
Less is not OK and more is very unusual.

Open the hood and connect the battery charger there.
When the "green light" indicates a full charge, disconnect the charger and then DO NOT TOUCH THE CAR for about 4 hours.
Seriously, keep the doors closed and the key FOBs at least 15 feet away.
After that, the battery should read 12.6-12.8 volts.

 

green light on the charger means it's done charging.

 

then don't bother waiting for green. make sure your charger meets toyota specs!

 

Well that likely means that it is NOT an automatic tender type charger.
Does it have a current meter ?
If no lights and no meter......you should seriously consider getting a new one and using that one only sparingly.

 

6 amps may be too high for the prius battery, causing damage, but i'm not positive. there are good threads here on safe charging practices.

 

3 amps and down is just fine. No worries. The Prius internal charger can do much more than that for brief periods. As long as the current tapers off, the battery is OK.

 

If your charger is old type “stupid” charger. You really should monitor voltage with that charger and stop when it gets up to 14.4v. Measure the voltage with charger connected. That type of charger will break any maintenance free battery if left charging for too long. Normally you do see amp meter getting down when battery is full but its hard to know exact point.

 

Not necessarily.

First, with that kind of charger, you need to disconnect it when the current gets down to about 1/2 amp for a half hour or so.

Second, merely seeing that behavior doesn't in itself prove anything. After charging, it might not give up the charge properly......or it might self discharge most of the energy within a few hours.

 

With the “stupid” charger you should first measure unconnected battery voltage. Then monitor voltage and amp meter while charging (you can only monitor amps if you know your charger well enough) and then check voltage sometime after charger is disconnected.

 

By OK, I meant, as a sealed battery, it won't overcharge at that amperage. If the amps goes down, at least there is not a shorted cell, which usually manifests by a continuous current draw, and the battery gets hot eventually. The battery may be sulfated and have high internal resistance, but your charger won't cause much change in that aspect.

 

you probably need a new 12 volt.