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2012 Prius v Five: sudden 12v battery failure

Discussion in 'Prius v Technical Discussion' started by Synthetic, Aug 1, 2016.

  1. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    May just have placed a 12V helper battery on the underhood fuse box at the guarded +12V cleat and Ground
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    yep^ you can also climb in the back and pull the manual hatch door lever from inside.
     
  3. Ivan White

    Ivan White Junior Member

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    Nope. There's no manual release in a Prius v wagon.
     
    bisco likes this.
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    interesting. any thoughts as to why not, is there a button near the driver?
     
  5. rdgrimes

    rdgrimes Senior Member

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    Yeah there is, behind the center pop-off cover at the bottom of the hatch. This is detailed with images in the manual.
     
  6. EZW1

    EZW1 Active Member

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    8 D cells.... that's funny!
    Reminds me of an episode of a very old sitcom back in the 70s called Fernwood 2Nite. In this episode there was an inventer who was showcasing his electric car. When it came time to start it, nothing happend. After a couple more tries and fails, he opens the hood and there in full display was a tray containing 300 D cell batteries! The inventer had a new battery in his hand and he was going to arbitrarily pop out a suspected bad battery and replace it with the one in his hand (a form of shotgun troubleshooting). It was hilarious.
     
  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Remember the soap "Mary Hartman", it spun off Fernwood Tonight? We used to watch it daily. Geez, about 40 years ago.
     
  8. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    Look harder. It's required by law.
     
  9. booke02

    booke02 Active Member

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    Life of the battery depends on luck of the draw! The 12V battery in my 6 1/2 year old Prius is still fine, despite the high temperatures in Israel and that fact that I have had to jump start the car on three occasions. (one jump start was because of an inside light left on for a couple of days; another was because I left my ODB2 device plugged in when the car was not used for a couple of weeks.)
     
  10. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    While that is true, it is not under the hood -- where the OP stated the intervention occurred...
     
  11. Synthetic

    Synthetic Junior Member

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    Our solution is to carry light guage jumper cables and Lith-ion battery pack which we will charge once a year or as needed. This is the Lith-ion pack we bought at $79 + tax from amazon.

    I spoke with the Battery Tender support person first, then decided on this one.
    a) it is rated at 12V 10A
    b) it is light at 1.8 lbs
    c) it is small and fits in one of the available under the cargo floor cubbys at 8" x 4.4" x 4.8" or under a seat
    d) It has indicator leds for remaining charge, and so indicate when to recharge
    e) the two jumper leads have a combined length of 18", easily spanning the Prius 12V terminals, or under the hood connectivity
    f) has a built-in flashlight

    Per one of the negative reviews, when using on a completely dead Prius 12V, you must press the Boost button on the cable end adaptor (plug that fits into the Batter Tender). This becase there is a reverse polarity fault checker, and if there is no power at all in the receiving battery, then the donor booster will not charge the recieving battery: press the Boost button to override that safety circuit.

    Last, raters at amazon seem to like the device.

    It is in the mail to us now. Any thoughts on this choice?
    Thanks to all for your comments.
     
    #31 Synthetic, Aug 9, 2016
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2016
  12. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    We use the CTEK 7002 smart-charger and have charge/monitor 'tell-tale' adapters mounted on each vehicle battery for easy, visual green/amber/red LED battery condition indication and easy smart-charger plug-in.
     
  13. EZW1

    EZW1 Active Member

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    And it is for this fact that Toyota recommends to quickly remove the jump cables when car being jumped starts up. The reason is, when it comes up, the inverter will fire off the 12 charger to recharge the 12V battery and supply power to the 12V system on demand. But, with the jumper cables connected it will also deliver 12V charge to the jump battery and this could overload the inverter.
    Yup. I started with Mary Hartman. Loved both shows. Too bad the network execs don't get it today....
     
    Robert Holt likes this.
  14. JTT2

    JTT2 New Member

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    We bought our 2012 V Five a province over (3.5hrs drive) for the price of a V Two locally. We arrived there just before they had 3 different buyers coming to buy. I tried to give a deposit over the phone, but they wouldn't take it. We got in it to test drive as they all pulled up, it was a funny moment. The joys of shift work, we can occasionally be somewhere at 4:50pm instead of ending our work day at 5pm.

    We left there with the vehicle, happy. The province in which we purchased it does not have front liscence plates, it isn't as easy as drilling those holes and slapping on the liscence plate. $80 for the plastic bracket, and labour. My first experience with Toyota service. Haha

    I wish I would have gotten them to slap on a new set of all seasons, give us a fresh 12V battery, detail the car properly & fix paint blemishes, and put some gas in it.

    Hindsight.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  15. gggGary

    gggGary gggGary

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    went to farm and fleet put this garden tractor battery in the 2012 prius v when the stocker died.

    Specifications
    Dimensions:7-3/4" X 5-1/8" X 7-1/4"
    Battery:12V

    Group Size: U1425CA
    Power: 350 CCA
    Height: 7-3/16"


    Had to change one bolt for a longer one, adapt the vent tube a bit to fit the rectangular vent in the battery, put some rigid foam blocks under it cause it is shorter. cost $31.00.......These batteries tend to go 4-5 years in hard lawn mower use.
     
  16. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Disclaimer: potential hazard in an accident if it is a liquid battery