Kinda an odd problem about my 12V battery-cables

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by priuslyfe, Feb 1, 2026 at 12:48 PM.

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  1. priuslyfe

    priuslyfe Member

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    thanks for the advice. HAD to walk through snow and ice today and thought maybe a better design is 1) battery was moved towards the front of the car ie. the normal place or 2) have a hot air vent from the engine towards the battery to at least mitigate the risk of freezing.

    also discovered that while walking through snow and ice, you often take twisted ankle steps, sometimes several in a row. a technique that seemed to work for me today is trying to use one foot as my flat foot and the other as my twist-foot, thus giving me some stability. I seemed to move marginally faster.

    the reason I don't use both as my flat-foot is that isnt a reasonable request. the reason for this is most people havent shoveled their sidewalks. i dont fault them as snowplows have covered them with 2ft of snow that has since become blocks of ice.
     
    #21 priuslyfe, Feb 2, 2026 at 2:33 PM
  2. Hayslayer

    Hayslayer Active Member

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    The other end of that heavy cable is connected as the supply source for the underhood fuse box in the upper driverside of the engine compartment. There is no real slack to be had.
    You'll either need to get the crimp fitting removed, opened up and recrimped/soldered, OR do what some others have done and find a salvage yard that has a gen 2, cut that cable several inches back and crimp/splice the new piece of 'yard' cable onto yours. You don't want to make a loop in the wire, so you'll need to trim it as needed to get the correct original length. Otherwise it's just a pain to stuff it in place.
     
    #22 Hayslayer, Feb 2, 2026 at 2:41 PM
    priuslyfe likes this.
  3. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    but, for that size wire and ampacity, is less common, and requires the heavy crimp tools they have at your neighborhood independent auto electric shoppe.

    I would probably try to get the last foot or so of that wire out of a salvage car, then take it to my neighborhood auto electric shoppe and have them make it up. They'd charge me less than the cost of a heavy-nice-person tool I might never use again.
     
    #23 ChapmanF, Feb 2, 2026 at 3:14 PM
  4. priuslyfe

    priuslyfe Member

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    update:

    half accomplished. got about 6" off that cable which is firmly into the connector off a salvage car. much more length is hard to get as this cable becomes intertwined with others (the main?) that make pulling out more length to cut unfeasible. there is very little slack available at all at most 2-3 inches anyways. the cable basically makes a straight shot to the positive terminal with no room for modifications in length.

    think I'm gonna go with my idea of jamming the wires together. once you cut the cable you see there are about a dozen heavy duty steel wiress housed within the cable. i'm gonna need a breakaway to prevent this from happening again. ideally toyota should have had a white connector about a foot back that I could detach (however i guess ideally i should be living in a warmer place. always forget about this snow/ice in the middle of summer).

    too cold to finish this job today and light is starting to wane so yeah **** that.
     
    #24 priuslyfe, Feb 2, 2026 at 4:51 PM
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2026 at 4:57 PM
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