My Prius is dead and too hi-tech for a newbie ... where to start? Is there a checklist?

That's interesting, 9 out of 10 tow truck drivers don't know S*** about how the Prius works.

I don't know that there is much juice left in the hybrid battery now. At the stop sign, the car quit when the battery was at 40% SoC. After the reboot, the car reset SoC, and you got 130m coming back before it figured out that SoC was less than 40%. It probably just barely had enough for the final 70m. It probably just barely barely has enough juice to crank the engine a couple times. I wouldn't even try putting it in Ready for loading on the tow truck tomorrow, just do Ig-On and put it in Neutral, and it must be towed by a flatbed!

I'm sorry if I am coming across as a curmudgeon here, but I am trying to help you avoid the need to having your HV battery recharged by a dealer.

 

It looks like the advice to preserve as much traction battery power as possible has fallen on deaf ears. The dealer will probably see a flat traction battery and want to charge you $3000 to change it before they even attempt to figure out anything else. Good luck.

 

Not sure where you are now, dealer, at home, BUT, one thing not suggested was: if you get it in ready, if you can confirm the engine is running.....then step on brake, keep left foot on brake, apply emergency brake firmly, put it in drive. THIS is the HV charge position!
Keep your right foot on the accelerator pedal, the MFD should now show a charging effect by increasing bars. If you get this far, continue to charge until you get green bars, preferably, all the way to the top, this is the 80 percent design point, which indicates a full charge. Do not attempt to drive it until you get to this point. Should you get this far, it is now safe to drive and you can observe any unusual HV battery drains. Good luck.

 

Since you have had some electrical training, there is a wealth of info on PC concerning testing and module replacement. Might be fun! Concern over danger is way exaggerated. Read Hobbitts post on subject. :cheer2::cheer2:

 

incidentally, there is a certain amount of natural regeneration to most batteries, small, but perhaps enough to enter ready again.

 

The HV battery is dangerously low now. Without recharging it through the gas engine or dealer charger, it will sure cause damage. Prius logs the number of time the HV battery gets dangerously low. Hopefully, this is the only time. Torque app with custom PIDs can display that count.

 

I'd be really keen to hear what work needs to be done. I'll keep watching this thread.

 

I am curious what fuse it was.

You had the wrong FOB and you could turn on the car?

 

Glad you updated us.

No need to go overboard, 5-6 bars is a really healthy state. Charging to 8 is actually a little bit more than optimal, especially from near zero in a short time. Basically you've just given the battery a "hammer cycle", a bit like revving an engine to red-line, it shouldn't do any harm if you don't make a habit of it.

Re the fob. Many people have found that when trying to reprogram a second hand (or ebay acquired) fob, that they can get the ignition to work but not the doors. I suspect that this is what's happened in your case.

 

You could also just have put the car in P and then pressed the gas pedal.

 

As I have always understood it, you get NO regeneration in PARK, but I will try your system when I get home. :cheer2:

 

I agree with that, overall you did fine, one more point! Do not give up on reprogramming the FOB, there are posts on the subject. As in all reprogramming you may have to go thru the procedures several times. In the meantime you got some good basic schooling on the Prius, which was what you asked for on your first posts. Only rarely do we have a newbie that follows our suggestions, progresses AND gets back to us! So we appreciate that! and, we learn something too. :cheer2::cheer2:

 

Yep if you just make ready and leave it in park it will start the engine and charge the traction battery, no need to force feed it.

If the battery SOC is healthy (over 3 bars) then it will just charge it for a minute or so until the engine is warm enough for "stage 2" and then cut out.

If the SOC is really low however (eg zero or 1 bars) then it will fast idle and gently charge the battery for a few minutes up to 3 or 4 bars and then turn off the engine (I did this once but cant remember if it was 3 or 4 bars).

 

OK, I am in Germany the last three months, so I am forced to agree with your post. But, remember I was trying to encourage the OP to charge to the highest possible state, I said all green bars knowing that is the 80% percentile design charge point. After carefully reading all the posts I noticed that the car was almost correct, but, he had never really bought it to a full charge before testing the car. And I know on my car I can do this. but, TY for your input! :cheer2: