Another newbie: 07 prius, dead battery?

Relax. Sounds like low voltage battery, 12v. If you have AAA card best way to go. They will confirm 12v battery issue. Then call around for best 12v deal tomorrow.

FYI, autobeyours in Scottsburg, Indiana if you need anything other than 12v. Steve is a Prius genius!

Good luck

 

Jessie,

Sorry to hear about your problem. My son had a very similar situation a few months ago. It DID end up just being a drained 12v battery (it was only a year old). Your 12v battery is in the trunk, on the passenger side, just in front of the turn signal, under the small floor trim panel/cover and will look like this image.

Unfortunately, with a dead 12v, you'll be unable to open the hatch. My son and I never were able to determine why his 12v drained, but we were able to power the car up by attaching jumper cables in the engine compartment. We connected the positive cable to the jump connection in the fuse box and we connected the negative to the car chassis. I keep a fully charged full size 12v battery in the garage just for these situations. He was able to start the car normally and the 12v battery recharged enough while he was driving it home. (~25 mile drive). He drove it to USC ~25 miles each way 5 days a week, so it fully charged over a few days. The same battery is still installed in the car and we've never had another problem.

 

jessie,

There are only 2 batteries. The high voltage hybrid battery and the 12v battery. The HV battery is also referred to as the traction battery, hybrid battery, high voltage battery, etc. There is no 12v battery in the front on a 2007.

 

Also, the 12v battery is a bit sensitive to charging and should be limited to 3.5 amps, if I remember correctly. The 12v provides control power for all the systems on the car and power for the auxiliary functions like lights, radio, etc. If the 12v is dead, the HV battery can't do anything because there is no 12v power to operate ECUs, relays, etc. Do you know how old the 12v battery is? If you're at 4+ years old or more, it's probably safest to just replace it.

If you do get a jump, once the jump cables are connected, you should be able to pretty much immediately power up the car. Once the car is powered up, the HV battery sends power to the inverter in the engine compartment and a portion of that power will be used to supply the 12v system and recharge the 12v battery. Once you power up the car, the jump cables should be removed.

 

Here is the step by step from my manual:
1. Connect (+) jumper cable to the jump start terminal in engine compartment fuse box
2. Connect (+) jumper cable to (+) terminal on booster battery
3. Connect (-) jumper cable to (-) terminal on booster battery
4. Connect (-) jumper cable to chassis ground on vehicle with discharged battery
5. Depress brake pedal and press"power" button to start the vehicle.

refer to owners manual for more details.

It also mentions you may need to have the cables connected for ~5 minutes prior to starting if the 12v is totally depleted.
It also mentions to disconnect the jump cables in reverse order of connection.

And don't forget, if you end up having it towed, the transaxle is locked in place when there is no 12v power, so it must be towed with the front wheels off the ground.

 

I hope it works out well for you!! Let us know. Hope you have a better second half of the weekend

 

Glad you got it all sorted, having a dead LV battery can cause all sorts of problems and faults. Its a shame that they make the battery so hard to locate and replace for new owners.
Once you know the location of the jump terminal in the fuse block you can just use any 12v jump starter to get your car going.
Was that 9 years on the original 12v battery?
If it was thats fantastic battery life