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All lights flashing and dead battery?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by satsuke, Mar 16, 2009.

  1. satsuke

    satsuke Junior Member

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    I've looked through the archives a bit and see a lot of examples of dead batteries, but nothing describing exactly what that looked like .. so here I go if what I had occur on mine was a dead battery or something else (more expensive).

    I recently had what I think is my battery run down due to sitting in the passenger seat with the ing-on (two power button presses without brake applied) .. sitting for 20 minutes and than off, but with the headlights on and no driver door open to turn them off.

    When I got back to the car, the small lights in front were working, but the interior lights were off. The power door locks worked to the extent that the proximity keys seemed to work OK.

    When I tried to start the car, it started only beeping once, than all of the lights around the speedometer flashing several times. I heard an attempt at the typical click at the rear of the car in what I assume to be the hybrid battery being connected to the rest of the car .. but no dice, car wouldn't power up.

    After shutting off all accessories, shutting doors it wouldn't power up for a few minutes. Than just as suddenly started up without complaint. The only thing I noticed was the gas gauge was flashing like it was low on fuel before resetting higher.

    My question to the group is, was this just a run down battery (lights would have been on for 2 hours total)? Or something else. This is on a 2006 package 2 prius with 66k miles.
     
    #1 satsuke, Mar 16, 2009
  2. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    Probably just a run down 12V battery. Moral: don't use IG-ON or ACC for more than a few minutes. Unless the car is parked in a completely enclosed space with no ventilation, if you want to use the radio or whatever it's better just to leave it READY and in Park.

    Watch for future peculiar behavior and be prepared to replace the 12V battery sooner rather than later. In my experience once they've been drained that far they're never the same.
     
    #2 richard schumacher, Mar 16, 2009
    Steve Prosterman likes this.
  3. satsuke

    satsuke Junior Member

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    I suppose the takeaway I was looking for was it DID have enough power to come back up unassisted and DIDN'T discharge to the point of no lights no response. IE what's the effect of being drained TO the threshold for function instead of beyond it.
     
    #3 satsuke, Mar 16, 2009
  4. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Depending on the health of your 12V battery going into this bit of abuse, it may charge up and be okay, or you may be looking for a new battery. If you have a good charger, put it on that. If you jump start, it will take some time to charge up (hours, not minutes).

    Tom
     
    #4 qbee42, Mar 16, 2009
  5. Bob64

    Bob64 Sapphire of the Blue Sky

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    Also... I must stress this one thing:

    be DAMN careful when jumping your prius. Accidently switching the polarity may result in MASSIVE damage to your inverter and other electronics!
     
    #5 Bob64, Mar 17, 2009
  6. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

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    My take on this is the battery may be fine but do you want to risk it?
    You know that battery will let you down when you really need it to work and you know that running a battery down like that will shorten its life so why not put a new battery in soon and save the hastle?
    If my battery is flattened in a vehicle I need to rely on I put a new battery in.
    Ball is in your court.
     
    #6 patsparks, Mar 17, 2009
  7. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    Ditto Pat.

    No, sorry, draining it that far certainly shortened its life. How much is hard to say without more data. Measure the voltage at the jump terminals with the car OFF; if it's less than 12.0 get a new one. You can also use the built-in self test procedure (reported several times, I'm too lazy to search for it at the moment). If any odd behaviour occurs at any time the battery is probably about to die. You should not use it any more in ACC or IG-ON.
     
    #7 richard schumacher, Mar 17, 2009
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