i got this prius for free from my sister 2 years ago. i did a few infrequent 100-300mile trips the next 6 months. then it sat idle for most of another 6months. the next following six months i took it on a long road trip and half way through the trip the battery completely failed on me and i replaced it, and then i would let it sit for weeks at a time and each start up, it would need a jump. i didnt drive it the past six months and now the 11-13 month old battery is at 1.5v the only troubles i know this car has is a bad infotainment screen ...can that cause problems that utterly kill the expensive AGM battery?!?! ugghhhh, i just wanna sell this car but i imagine that will be difficult with a dead flat battery.
my next question! will jump starting the car and driving it with the low 12v battery cause computer issues? i put the battery on a trickle charger and it will only stay up to about 9-10v and quickly drops once the trickle charger is removed. i imagine when the car is running, the system will also only run at about 9.5v and this will probably cause tons of computer issues, ya/na? i think my best bet is to buy a used $75 battery from pick n pull and throw it in the trunk (probably wont fit in battery slot) sell car and tell them that i recommend they replace the battery. does anyone know what size battery i need to purchase as well as any wire-adaptors i may need to purchase? also when i noticed the car wont jumpstart from the terminals under the hood, but will jump start fine if you connect to the difficult-to-access battery terminals in the trunk ...whats up with that?
Oh it'll be very difficult because it's an old Prius owned by somebody that doesn't know much about owning a Prius and so on . So disconnecting the battery was never even thought of ever? That's quite interesting I would think trying to sell the car wouldn't even come on your radar . Maybe donate to PBS . That sort a thing . because certainly selling vehicles powersports equipment and the like sounds like twill be problematic for ya.
Your driving pattern is not conducive to keeping the 12 V battery in good health. With the time frames you mentioned, it probably is impacting the large hybrid vehicle battery in the back, as well. If you are not able to use this car as a daily driver, or at least do 20 or 30 miles every 2-3 days, then you really should consider selling it. If you want to hang onto it, then you need to drive it at least 50 miles once every 2-3 months and hook it up to an automatic multi-stage 12 V battery charger (that has an AGM setting) to keep the 12 V battery healthy. If you are intent on selling it, then yes, definitely put in a new AGM battery. You will just have to chalk it up to experience. It's worth thinking about.
