12V Battery Charging/Maintaining, Apt. Dweller Solutions

Yep, I’m all-in that ‘learn by doing’ is a great process/philosophy (I’m a Cal Poly SLO grad), it worked for me. During high school years I did work with her on typical emergency/maintenance stuff – flats, periodic dipstick checks, car-to-car jump starts, accident/incident protocols, dashboard indicator awareness, etc. Didn’t cover DIY oil/filter changes (a bridge too far for her, no problem).

Those skills got dulled a lot over many years - school/work in NYC where she was w/o a car. Now 5+ years into Socal living and using a car almost daily, some skills stuck, others not so much. She’s still good at flat fixes – must be something about Los Angeles area, she’s had at least 3 flats I know about over 5 years (2 requiring new tires), a dab hand at that. Periodic dipstick checks and jump starting – eh, not so much. The ‘forgotten’ jump pack I think was just a brain fart. Having regular maintenance done – good at that, plus I ‘help’ with reminders. Overall, she’s handling things.

I digress, but reminds me of an incident with my 1st wife in early 1970's before we were married. She had a VW Super Beetle, had recently had an oil change done, was driving with her GF and the low oil pressure light came on. She dutifully pulled over, stopped, checked the owner’s manual – it said words to the effect ‘if this happens drive to your nearest VW dealer and have them investigate’. So w/o pulling the dipstick first they drove off to find the nearest dealer (about 30 mi. away). She made it about 5 more miles before the engine seized (loose drain plug). Was she ‘wrong’ for doing what she did? No, she followed instructions – but also yes, because sometimes it’s worth having skills to check basic root causes.

 

Thanks. My search skills are for crap too, somehow I missed this yesterday, it has answered my question with the @Paul Gregory pic of his setup under the relay/fuse box cover – a good ‘Gen 5 Battery Maintainer Hookup for Dummies’ aid. So an under-the-hood plan is workable after notching the plastic box cover, yay. Thinking of keeping the short eyelet connector run secured in the engine bay area versus trying to exit the plug end at an upper grill or headlight area, keep it simple.

Unfamiliarity with hybrid systems and poor electrical skills (barely passed my few EE courses in ME curriculum in early 70’s) makes me cautious. Coming from strictly ICE-only vehicles, getting comfortable with 0w-8 engine oil and seeing a 130A fuse block marking in the relay/fuse box area gives me pause, I’ll get over it but not overnight.

I haven’t driven the LE much at all last 2 weeks since getting it, a cold snap due for us next week (OK, upper 20s F. not cold for a lot of you but for the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain it is). While waiting for the Noco to arrive will be doing a maintenance charge on it with my Battery Tender 1.5A charger using the ‘exclusive’ Toyota + copper plate under the box cover. For grins may see how long my Jackery 500w power station lasts on it.

 

Small world. BSME ’75. Thevenin’s theory doesn’t ring a bell (although Kirchhoff's laws do, if I’d paid more attention in class might have helped me, was probably thinking about my mechanical vibrations course). What stuck with me for some reason was dynamic similitude (fluid/aero courses), never have gotten that out of my head. In my soph year almost changed my major to Metallurgical Engineering (loved the course and lab) until I found out how many chemistry courses were required, stuck with ME.

It'll be interesting for me to see just how discharged my 12v Yusa is after ~2 weeks…don't think that 500w power station will last very long but we'll see...