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Battery wend dead. Strange Jumping Experience

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Winston, Jun 13, 2007.

  1. Winston

    Winston Member

    Joined:
    May 19, 2007
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    Location:
    SF Bay Area, California
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    I had my windows tinted yesterday and the shop left the car on for a long time. (so they could operate the windows). When I returned, the car would not go into the "ready" state. Basically every light on the dash lit up except the "ready" light. It would not go out of park. Looked at the warning lights and descriptions in the manual and it just said to park the car and call the dealer.

    Well, I figured that the battery was dead, but was surprised that the manual did not suggest that.

    Once we hooked up the jumber cables (under the hood - to the special jumper connection). I tried to start the car. The MFD came up with a warning saying that there was a malfunction with the "Parking" switch. I could not get the "ready" light. I was about to give up, but then just went ahead and tried to put it into drive and the engine started up. After that, everything worked fine.

    Just seemed a bit odd to me. I am not usually a "read the manual" kind of guy. Have worked on cars for years, but with this new hybrid baby, did read the manual when I had this problem. Even followed the jumping procedure.

    Anyone able to explain a little more about what happened to me?
     
    #1 Winston, Jun 13, 2007
  2. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    18,058
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    Location:
    Northern Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    The shop ran down the small 12V battery. It's not nearly as big as one in a normal car, so you can run it down quickly with things like power windows. Normally it's charged from the HV traction battery, so all the 12V battery has to do is boot the computers. What you experienced with the jump was some residual weirdness while error codes were cleared and all of the computers fall into line.

    If the shop left your Prius on, but in neutral, then the engine can't charge the traction battery. If they left it in IgOn, which is the accessories position, then just the 12V battery is being used.

    Tom
     
    #2 qbee42, Jun 13, 2007
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