parked <2 hours, all electrical function dead (pre-troubleshoot)

hi everyone... i LOVE LOVE LOVE this forum. it has been so useful since i bought my 2008 prius.

quick run-down:
bought with door lock fuse blowing
replaced fuses for a while, bought an automatic circuit breaker to put in place of fuse (25a, proper size/fit)
door locks worked with circuit breaker for about 2 weeks
fuses no longer blow, locks still don't work (fob beeps at all doors)
replaced 12v battery - no change (did clean up corrosion on positive terminal)
replaced driver door actuator - no change (did get the reman' actuator with lifetime warranty, so not a total parts cost loss)

about 4 weeks later, driven almost daily at least up/down a 1 mile hill, with no issues other than the lock, the car is parked at 4pm (with no noticed issues on that 1 mile drive up the hill - although it was a very non-mechanical human driving) and at 6pm is 100% dead - no juice.

i have not tried to jump start it, yet.
i have not, but am going to check the 12v terminals.
i have a replacement fuse box since it seems that door lock circuit died entirely.

as for standard maintenance, i have all parts on hand to replace the serpentine belt, water pump, thermostat, and tensioner/idler pulley - just because the belt looks worn and something on the gasoline engine is making noise - assuming a pulley bearing.

what else should i check? i will report back as i get time to check the above, i'm working and have a busy kids' schedule this week!

 

update - had a few minutes to climb through the hatch, battery leads are tight. borrowing a trickle charger tonight, and hopefully get a multi-meter tomorrow. i still have the older 12v battery in my garage to swap if needed.

 

which fuse bank is the dome fuse in? inside car or under hood?

i believe it's at 175k miles... the 12v battery in my garage has J14 on the sticker, so it was definitely due for replacement consideration!

 

ok, fuses are good, jumped the car, drove it a few spaces to my driveway and plugged in the trickle charge.

aside from not getting enough drive distance to stay charged, what are the biggest drains on the 12v battery to avoid or at least be aware of, particularly when driving small distances?

 

the fuse that was blowing so much was the door lock fuse. it has no connection to the circuit any longer, i have a replacement fuse panel. it was blowing BEFORE i bought it, so i knew i was dealing with that issue. so we have manual car locks at this time, which is a pain for hatch opening!!! i'm hoping to find the wiring issue (fingers crossed the $15 replacement fuse panel resolves it) while replacing the fuse panel. the door locks have always been ALL or NOTHING, so it didn't surprise me when the actuator made no difference.

i don't have a multimeter, yet, i will pick one up so i can test continuity in the wires and battery voltage.

i suppose it is possible that the new battery wasn't at full charge when we installed it, so it just slowly drained, i do have the old one charging in case the new battery is faulty and has to be sent back to be replaced.

i will look into the inverter coolant reservoir in the next few days (weather permitting, huge storm coming) and see what i can see. i don't have maintenance records on it, but it was a commuter car owned by a small local college, so at least basic maintenance was done.

if the inverter coolant is yucky/pump needs replaced - this is different from the engine water pump, correct? and this is the one that requires the special bleeding to refill?

 

so... i originally had 2 issues - one is resolved (although i will monitor it and take suggestions on prevention) - and i will be doing standard maintenance.

issue 1: (ugh)

the fuse that WAS blowing (no longer blows OR works) was the door fuse inside the car - 25a. when this would work, it either worked 100% or the fuse would blow - all doors locked/unlocked normally prior to the state it is in now which as ZERO functionality and no longer blows the fuse.

i visually traced the driver door wiring, replaced the actuator, and plan to replace the interior fuse panel - as well as get a multimeter to trace the wires if needed.

issue 2: (resolved)

the dead car issue was the 12v battery - completely drained - it is brand new, but aftermarket, not OEM. did NOT charge it prior to installation, and then driven most often on a 1 mile down hill, parked 8 hours, 1 mile up hill, parked 12 hours, with only a few stop signs.

i trickle charged the battery, turned off the auto-headlights feature and turned off the dome light. i did NOT turn off the SKS system, although this is an option, the car is parked > 20ft from the house almost all the time.

we have let the car sit, on the new battery, for 5 days with no issue starting at the end of that - however, it seems it needs very little juice to start the car, so this makes me think the tiny driving distance is slowly draining it to use the radio, auto-headlights, and dome light (i didn't require the radio to stay off, as that gets dull - even on a short ride).

everything else WORKS fine. and once the battery charged, it was working fine (except door locks).

 

this definitely changes things... so, as long as the car is STARTED, nothing should draw off the 12v... which means it may have been really low to start with, and that's all i'm dealing with - a poorly charged battery - or the braking system isn't keeping it full as it should - but i'm getting no warnings or indicators that anything is astray with that.

 

i'm going to apologize here, my partner does most of the driving, and he's car illiterate... so i'm troubleshooting off his experience, which means i hear a lot of 'i don't know' and 'i didn't notice anything' etc... i would trade him daily, but i happen to like my van - i DO drive the prius sometimes.