Nothing turns on in 2011 Prius

Another dead 12v battery

 

could be a drain while the car is off, are you driving enough to keep it charged?

 

a couple of possibilities.
First thing you need to do is check your cabin air filter.
Then, you need to find out whether your battery is being drained due to an aftermarket device that's been installed since 2011 or if you have an electrical issue due to some dark chapter in your car's younger days such as a poorly repaired accident or your car is keeping pets behind your back.

Or?
You left the dome light on...or you traded a bad battery for a bad battery.

Easy way to find out:

Buy one of THESE:
12V / 6V Switchable 1.5 A Smart Battery Trickle Charger Maintainer - Perfect for Boat,RV, Car, Truck, Motorcycle, ATV or Mower Batteries, 6 FT Cord - Walmart.com - Walmart.com

They're $20 and they come with instructions.
Use it to charge your battery and see if it holds a charge.

Good Luck!

 

I actually laughed out loud at that.....

Don't forget to check your cabin air filter and under the hood.

If you find acorns, fur, insulation, etc....then you have MUCH bigger problems than leaving your dome light on.

 

A new battery shouldn’t need to be in a trickle charger, it comes fully charged when it is installed. A regular working battery doesn’t need any maintaince with regular driving interval.

 

Have you checked your connections to your 12V battery?
A loose battery cable can cause excessive resistance to build up which can cause issues with the electrical system in your car. You can have issues with your battery not charging all the way, problems starting your car, and dim headlights.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Hi Chris, You caught my attention when the battery guy at the dealership askes you not to fill out the survey. Wow, what nerve. I would suspect a lot is going on. I could list a whole lot of reasons that comment was made to you, with none of them being good! As said from above, it could be the battery guy didn't secure the battery correctly so no juice is going out. From what you have stated in here, I just can't believe a good, brand new battery would behave like this.

Also, just so you know, I have had bad experiences waiting till I needed a new battery. Always wound up stranded. Now I just replace batteries at the suggested time. Tired of waiting in the bad part of town for 2 hours for AAA to come to the rescue. The last one was when my wife and I were on a much needed dinner date. When it came time to go home. Dead battery. Sat for two hours!! Then, I paid a premium price for a battery I could have installed own my own, in my garage.......safe and sound.

Batteries don't give you any warning. They just go out. If you got 9 years on the original 12 volt, you got good mileage. August of this year I hit the 5 year mark and I will replace mine. Its just safer that way.

 

When the new battery is placed on the store shelf for months and it doesn't get charge. You, or someone grabs the battery and it's installed in your car from the get go. Back to square one; low battery again.

 

When I buy a battery, the voltage is checked right in front of me. If its low, they ask me to come back in 2 hours, they charge it up for free and we are good to go. I have never bought a battery from a dealership, so I don't know if they bother to check them or not. Your assumption may not apply in all situations.

 

For now on when I reply any post, I will be sure to include a disclaimer that states “... this may not apply in all situations” just to make sure no one believes every reply from me literally doesn’t apply all situations and not absolute.

Disclaimer- this reply may not apply in all situations.

 

So, me replying to your statement makes you think I didn't know this? I don't get it. I am merely replying. No intention of anything else. I am just replying. Is that fair?

 

They should really hook them up to an electronic load tester. They have them there. Good for both parties in the transaction.

Ok, that IS a pickle. The charger that doesn't need to be plugged in (that you elude to) I don't think exists. If you continue to be driving just once a week, short trips in particular, and you've got nowhere to plug in a charger. you will need to do something, either drive more frequently, disconnect the negative cable between drives, or get a kill-switch installed, to do the same thing albeit more conveniently.

This WILL mess up your trip meters, set a lot of the displays back to defaults, lose your radio presets, and so on. It'll also mean opening the car with the mechanical key, possible crawl to the trunk, and so on.

The rub: no matter how diligent you are about not leaving lights on: whenever the battery's connected there is a slight/constant drain.

 

Electronic load testing is what they do. I stated it incorrectly. Thanks for the correction.

 

My experience has been to chalk it up as a mistake and to avoid dealerships as much as possible. Having said that, most of us in here have experienced at one time or another a bad experience at a dealership. You learn how to navigate, or, as in my case, avoid. I just had my Prius at the dealership for the ECU recall. They were busy so it took them all day. However, I couldn't leave without hearing the "carbon in the throttle and you need to re-charge your A/C system". At 53k miles, I passed, plus I was put off with the "carbon in the throttle".