How long can a Prius sit?

Open ended questions on Prius chat are the best!

 

When our 2010 Prius was 4 years old I got a one year job overseas. We left it with a friend who said she would drive it periodically but hardly ever did. The 12v small battery died but the hybrid battery was still going strong when I traded it last year.

However, now with your Prius being 12+ years old, the hybrid battery could die with the stress of being left for weeks or months. So, bottom line there is no clear answer but you would be taking a risk.

 

There are 2 main concerns, they hybrid battery and the 12V battery.

1) For a regular Prius, I don't know how to make sure that hybrid battery is full charged, when you park the car. Hopefully, others can help.

2) As for the 12V battery, that's easy - Depending!
Depending on many factors, the 12V battery will last between 1-20 days.
A) First, start with a new battery.

B) If you park inside, or have to worry about snow covering the windows for many days, then you're mostly screwed.
Get a good lithium-ion jump pack (~$100), and use that to jump the battery.

C) Most people will have some daily sunlight falling in the car.
In that case, it's easy to keep the 12V battery charged.

Use a Solar Battery Tender by Deltran.
Be careful, some solar chargers are garbage. Others will have a critical drain on the battery, when the solar cell isn't charging. People can use something else, if they do, good luck. Check the specs, and also measure the real life charging currents and power draw at night.

With a Prius, and many other vehicles, the cigarette lighter is disabled x-mins after the car is shut off.
So, you'll need an OBD-II to female cigarette lighter adapter,
For the solar charger, you'll need a SAE Quick Release to Cigarette Lighter adapter. NOTE: Get one without a power indicator LED, or cut the LED out (it's simple: open the adapter - one screw and nut, and cut the LED out).

Here are my suggestions:

Code:

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-Mountable-Weather-Resistant/dp/B08V8FSCF4/

Battery Tender 35 Watt Solar Battery Charger with Charge Controller, Mountable and IP67 Weatherproof Solar Panel, Suitable for 12 Volt Lead Acid and AGM Batteries
$199.95
Note: This panel is BIG.
(This is the one I use. Don't screw around. Plus, I live in New England, where we don't get a lot of sun, or daylight hours, during the winter.)




Or:

Code:

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-Mountable-Weather-Resistant/dp/B08V89MCBB

Battery Tender 17 Watt Solar Battery Charger with Charge Controller, Mountable and IP67 Weatherproof Solar Panel, Suitable for 12 Volt Lead Acid and AGM Batteries
$149.95





For the OBD-II to cigarette lighter, I use the following:

Code:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F5H63PR/

OBD2 to Cigarette Lighter Female Connector Vehicle Car Constant Power Cable 16AWG Safely with 15A Fuse
$19.88






For the SAE Quick Release to Cigarette Lighter adapter without a Power indicator LED:
Note, make sure it doesn't have a power LED, they may change the Cigarette Lighter adapter style.

Code:

https://www.amazon.com/AAOTOKK-Cigarette-Disconnect-Connector-1ft-2Pack-M/dp/B0813NRYMC

AAOTOKK SAE Cigarette Lighter Charger Cable,16AWG 12V Cigarette Lighter Male Plug to SAE 2 Pin Quick Release Disconnect Connector Plug Adapter Extension Charging Cable with Fuse(0.3m/1ft-2Pack-M)
$8.99






Fwiw, I put my big solar panel in the back hatchback area. It does get less light then being on the dash, because of the greater tint on the rear window. Again, another good reason for the bigger panel.


Good Luck with the CDL and keeping the Prius' 12V battery happy!

 

Where will you park? In a secure garage? Or outside without security?

 

Nah just trade the Prius buy a good Corolla and not have to worry You're driving the Corolla Prius whatever so rarely because you're in this big truck so make it easy on yourself a Corolla will sit there with its 12 volt for a year and start when you get back to it generally speaking unless you're in places where it sets record colds and all this kind of stuff and it's sitting out in the street and even then it's got a real good shot at firing right up when you get to it If not you put your noco GB 70 on it for a few and crank her right up with the Prius not so much but it is what it is I wouldn't think you would really need the Prius so sell it in good shape get the money out of it buy a Corolla doesn't have to be a brand new one and you should be set to crank anytime you're ready and go for the most part of course it depends where the car store it also preferably in a garage not sitting on the street hell if it's sitting out on the street you don't know what you're coming back to could have been swept away by a snow plow.

 

I managed to find CDL (Commercial Driver's License), but stumped on OTR. C'mon, spell these things out?

With the 12 volt you for sure need a plan. For the hybrid battery, excerpt from the Owner's Manual, page 30:

 

I let my 2012 Prius sit for 6 months in a garage due to a family situation where there was only one driver, but two cars. I simply drove the other car as I was planning to sell it.

My problem was paying insurance for a car that I wasn't driving. I negotiated with my insurance to put my car under "storage" in which it would only be insured for fire. Depending on your insurance, they would allow you to do this with a minimum of 2-3 months duration.

Not driving the car would wear out the 12V battery as it gets charged by being driven. Some would recommend putting a trickle charger. I still managed to store my Prius for 6 months without doing anything extra. I did give the car a long drive and an oil change before storing. The car started up just fine without any problems after 6 months.

 

I left mine for 7 months when I deployed in the military. Hybrid battery was fine but the 12v died and it needed a jump. I would recommend put a trickle-charger on it, you can connect through the fusebox positive terminal and the negative on the strut bolt.

 

Disconnecting the 12 volt battery's neg (aka "ground") cable, or just removing the battery from the car, is another option. You still should maybe leave it on a charger: smart chargers can typically be left on indefinitely.

Our situation: we drive barely 3k kms yearly, the car can sit upwards of a week between uses, and the 12 volt is near-constantly connected to a CTEK 4.3. The battery will have been in use for 8 years as of September, it tests like-new.

 

No, no, NO.
I would NOT recommend using a true "trickle charger" for anything.
A fully automatic tender type maintenance charger is what you want.
Those are two entirely DIFFERENT things.

 

Come on -- while you get to be assert that nicoj36 is "no no NO" wrong and you are technically correct, if you search "trickle charger" on Amazon everything that comes up is a smart charger. Nowadays, the term trickle charger has morphed into smart charger/battery tender.

Don't know why I know this, but its Over The Road, meaning long haul trucker.

As usual, Mr. Leisk has the best answer of the bunch.

 

No it hasn't.
Real cheap trickle chargers are still available.
Most notably one for about $4 can be had at Harbor Freight.

Your assertion is WRONG.
But I don't expect you to admit that.

 

my concern would be the hybrid battery. no predicting how long before a cell goes out of balance after 13 years

 

Anywhere you look for a 'trickle charger' all of them are smart tenders. Harbor freight, Walmart, Amazon, autozone, etc.

 

Smart trickle charger = tender

There, can’t we all just get along?

I do notice that when the 12 V battery is drained the Prius HV battery tends to drop in charge rapidly. Either disconnect the NEG pole or smart charger/maintainer…

 

Most of these tips are applicable to any year Prius...

 

Yeah, a case of “moving language”? Whether technically right or wrong, when the majority use a term in a new way, best to just let it go.

 

It may APPEAR to drop rapidly but if you are gauging that with an "onboard" system, that indication might be misleading.

Disconnecting the battery is NOT the same as connecting it to a good tender.

And I give up.
Y'all can call those small chargers whatever you want.
But the "everybody is doing it" defense doesn't make it right.

 

Sam, you can't stop the flood...

Words can mutate, and whether rightly or wrongly, the changes can stick. Case in point:

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/news/how-sideburns-got-their-name#:~:text=Sideburns%20got%20their%20name%20from,for%20his%20outstanding%20sartorial%20contribution.

in particular, this quote from the article:

"At some point, “burnsides” became “sideburns,”"

I've got one that bugs me; when I hear: "I could care less", as opposed to the infinitely more logical "I couldn't care less". But hey, when everybody mangles it, and you know what they mean, why flog a dead horse?