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Dead 12 Volt Battery Problem

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by prius4driver, Dec 12, 2016.

  1. prius4driver

    prius4driver Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I haven't posted in a long time--learned so much when my Prii was new (Nov 2009) I haven't been back. Move this please if in wrong place. I left my car door open last night, car in garage. Dead battery today. We have a spare 12 volt battery--replaced the original this year but kept it for emergency use for my husband's CPAP machine in power outages. It went dead at about 45K miles when he sat and listened to the radio for an hour or so and we were told it needed replacing. He charged it and it held 12.3 volts since the charge in April 2017. He was going to replace the dead battery with this old one but can't get the back hatch open. You also can't get the car out of park with the battery dead to push it out of the garage next to the truck to jump start it. He jump started the car in the garage with the 2nd battery and drove it for awhile and left it outside. Thankfully we had that extra battery that still worked. I have to use the car tomorrow morning to go the 14 miles into town so hopefully with have some juice back it when I get home. Is there any way to get around getting the car into neutral when the battery is dead--and get the hatch up?
     
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  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Too short notice for anything but a jumpstart, but for next time: look into having a 3-4 amp smart charger on hand.

    To your question, as I understand it: the car has to be on to be moved. The hatch can be opened tho, you crawl thru car to hatch and there is an emergency lever (tiny) just below latch.

    You can jumpstart from the connection infuse box, under the hood. Assuming your cables will reach.

    The Owners Manual shows hatch emergency latch and under-hood jump point.

    For a reference: CTEK 3300 is a tried-and-true charger, that works for me. :)
     
    #2 Mendel Leisk, Dec 12, 2016
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2016
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  3. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    Next time keep the car in Ready when listening to the radio. As Mendel suggested, buy a charger and charge both batteries.
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    get a digital volt meter at the same time, and keep an eye on the resting voltage in the morning before starting the car.