Why did my battery die?

Your not really giving us enough information what model, what year. From 2004 Gen II up the headlight do turn off as soon as you open the door even if you left them on when you turned the car off. Did you turn the car off?

 

Even if he left the car on, the 12V battery will be topped off by the HV battery thru the inverters.

I don't understand why you will need a bigger battery to jump start the Prius. Since the current needed to start the Prius is so much less than a regular car. You just need enough juice to bootup the computers and make some relays close.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FBear @ Sep 15 2006, 12:33 PM) [snapback]320135[/snapback]</div>

There are some circumstances where the headlights will not turn off automatically:

1) If the driver's door wasn't opened. Let's say the car is on, with nobody in it. Then you open up the passenger door and reach in and press the power button to turn off the car. The headlights will not turn off automatically.

2) If you turn the headlights on after you turn off the car. If the car is off and you turn the headlight swtich from off to on, the headlights will come on and will not turn off by themselves, even when you open the door.

 

Yes, but the charge rate from the converter (not the inverter, which produces the high voltage for the motor) is quite slow because its output is very stiff and fixed at only 2 levels (nominal 13.8 and a slight boost to 14V).. This fixed output results in a current-limited charge, so if your battery is really drained, even a 20 minute drive will not put much charge back into the battery.. On the Prius, if you have a dead battery, you really need to take it out and put it on a charger overnight vs. trying to rely on being recharged by the vehicle systems..

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScottY @ Sep 15 2006, 01:08 PM) [snapback]320141[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(avalpert @ Sep 15 2006, 01:56 PM) [snapback]320176[/snapback]</div>

I have no idea.

 

Well, the easiest reason for this particular setup is that the driver is not going to be exiting from the passenger side of the vehicle. I know that it would be difficult, but not impossible to leave the car from the passenger side, but I don't understand why anyone would do that unless they happened to have parked themselves next to something that didn't allow the driver's door to open.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(c4 @ Sep 15 2006, 02:01 PM) [snapback]320179[/snapback]</div>

Hi C4, I agree with the charge rate. But the DC-DC converter is part of the inverter assembly in the Gen II Prius.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Sep 15 2006, 01:24 PM) [snapback]320149[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Sep 15 2006, 01:24 PM) [snapback]320149[/snapback]</div>

I did the second one day and killed the battery. In a very early senior moment (like the one that led to a blank post above) I got out of the car and turned the headlights on thinking I was turning them off. It took about 20 minutes of a connection to another car battery to get enough charge to boot the computers. It is not instantanious (as with traditional cars) but, if you are patient, it will work.

 

Anything you leave on will drain the 12v battery "if" you were only in accessory mode.
If left in "ready" mode, the inverter should reimburse it and the ICE should cycle to reimburse the main battery until it runs out of gas.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Sep 15 2006, 05:18 PM) [snapback]320315[/snapback]</div>

DANG!! In that line you were talking about the Camry, not the Prius.

I just had to go out and try it on the Prius. Nope! Only opening the driver door or manually turning off the lights will do it. In order to automatically turn off the headlights, the driver door must be open while you power off, or opened after you power off. No amount of opening and closing other doors or locking and unlocking of doors, remotely or otherwise, will automatically turn off the headlights . . . that is, up till the 12-volt battery dies . . . and then, the traction battery isn't coming to the rescue.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ScottY @ Sep 15 2006, 10:08 AM) [snapback]320141[/snapback]</div>

Same here... its a tiny little battery... I wonder if the jump from the car was just positioned wrong?.. maybe a bad connection.... the other car shouldn't even need to be on.... it should take very little amperage to boot the computer. The inverter and main battery should take over then.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jeromep @ Sep 15 2006, 02:00 PM) [snapback]320201[/snapback]</div>

Why would anyone contort themselves to crawl over the center console to exit the passenger side? Even if you did park too close to something. If there's enough room on the passenger's side, back up and park over. Or just find another parking space. Exiting the passenger door is nuts.

This is reminiscent of the "lowest mileage ever" post.