12 V Battery Drained after 6 Days!--And worse??

That sounds awfully quick to me. I just got back from a 2 month trip with no problems as detailed here: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...84-battery-survives-2-months-without-use.html

 

Did your friend's car have a security system? they may cause excessive current drain on the 12V battery when the car is parked.

After reading a number of these posts I am suspicious that Toyota may have gotten a batch of bad 12V batteries. The test that needs to be done is a test discharge over an 8 hour period. This is the only good way I know of to determine the actual capacity of the battery. Unfortunately the dealer will probably not be able to do such a test because they don't understand how and don't have the time. They do have a battery tester they can put on it, unfortunately the results of their tests may not be accurate, good batteries sometimes test bad and bad batteries sometimes test good.

If the dealer tells her the the battery is good and can find no other problem she should consider taking the battery to a battery shop and having them test it also. If the problem isn't found it will almost certainly reoccur, and that usually happens at a most inconvenient time.

 

Something like an alarm.

 

Right, as 2K1 said an alarm system. The one Toyota sells either through the port or the dealer is called the VIP RS3200, some dealers sell after market ones also. Several posters have had problems with add on security systems, remote start systems, etc.

 

I left mine for 6 days in my garage last summer and it opened and started just fine and it had about 2 bars of battery which charged up so fast as soon as I started driving.


iPhone ?

 

It is possible for a failing 12V battery to drag down the traction battery.

Tom

 

That would do it. If she did it should still be on I think they are just click on/click off switches, maybe the people at the dealer could look and see when they hook the battery up to a charger? It would be nice if that were the problem then she wouldn't have to worry about "next time".

 

My battery died last Friday night. I have a stock 2010 package 3.

I used the vehicle last about 10 pm. At 840 am Saturday, vehicle wouldn't come on and show "ready" on the screen. All the electronics were haywire.

Following the manual, I jumped the prius with another vehicle and it can on. Of course, I'm upset about this and worry about being stranded.

I haven't had any problems before. I normally leave the lights in the on position when I turn off the vehicle (to provide light in a dark area).

I remember that I accidentally turned off the lights, powered down the vehicle and then turned the lights on. Did this cause the lights to burn longer and kill the battery? I thought the vehicle had a shut off so the lights could provide exit illumination.

 

Yes I think you have isolated the cause. As I recall the auto off feature only works if you have the lights on when you power down the vehicle. If you turn them on with the vehicle already off they will stay on.

 

I think that you are right. 6 days with no unusual and avoidable power draw is way too short a time for practical car usage and doesn't seem credible.

I would pursue it further.

 

The dealer says six days is too long to leave the car without driving it! WRONG. Car should be just fine for a month or more. If there were no lights left on it means there is a sneak ckt drawing current or a bad battery.

If it's not fixed it will almost certainly happen again if she has to leave it. I think if it were mine I would try to get someone at a higher level interested in the problem. That, unfortunately, may be easier said than done.

 

So for each Prius that's on the lot and not sold needs a jump to start? That doesn't sound right. Somebody is smoking.

 

i think its a bug. i reported here that my 2010 Pri 12 volt batt died as well, and it sat for ... well 6 days. hmm, but anyway, i jumped the battery and have not had issues with it since and that includes 2 stretches of 6 days of inactivity

now, the door sensors are supposed to go into a sort of hibernation mode during an extended period of inactivity. this is something i have seen on my 2010 several times where it will take like 5 seconds for the door to open. wondering if the timer circuits need some work ??

PB; i dont think jumping your Pri with another car is a good idea. i have a portable jump box i bought (used it to charge RC cars) that i used to jump mine. paid like $35 for it about 5 years ago. i guess its about to die since the batts are sealed lead acid which dont have much of a shelf life to them. i have used the boxes a lot. take them camping for portable light options. i have a small 12 volt light (made it with a few tail light bulbs that i had left over from a 1987 Corolla) the box will keep it on all night and is VERY bright.

my son was not quite used to the total darkness a rustic campground has, so the light was necessary for my piece of mind.

 

wish Toyota would put in a battery saver feature on ALL interior lights

I don't know if it's on the 3rd gen, but I really wish Toyota put on a feature that's common on Nissans (it's on my 04 350Z and was on my 02 Maxima). If you leave any of the interior or map lights on (even if the key isn't in the ignition), they automatically shut off after 30 minutes, to prevent draining the 12 volt.

I believe it also works if you accidentally leave a door or trunk open, but IIRC, it doesn't work for the rear hatch of the Z.

The above has saved me a bunch of times and I've sat in my Max w/the map light on and had it auto shut off on me at the 30 min mark.

(I even posted about this when I was a Priuschat newbie at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/14548-new-06-prius-owner-bunch-questions.html and got a response. :|)

 

In the Lexus with AUTO-ON headlights, it's bad to leave them in AUTO-ON when storing for an extended period of time because the sensor apparently works all the time and this drains the battery, but the Prius doesn't have AUTO-ON.

However, you haven't confirmed whether or not your friend's Prius has an alarm system, as it could be the culprit.

 

I think kgall confirmed no alarm system in post #9 .