Dead 12v Battery?

Our Prius V is been sitting for over a couple weeks now with no one driving it. I thought I would check today, and the voltage read 11.97 V. Still enough to start the car. But since we are not driving it right now, I put it on a battery tender and it came up to full charge In less than four hours. Will check again in a couple more weeks to see how far the voltage has dropped again.

 

If it's a smart charger, the kind that can be left on, why not just leave it connected?

 

Every now and then my wife and I think about selling the house and downsizing. But it's hard to find a place meant for a retired couple that has a place for working on your car and keeping your tools -- or for plugging in anything. They look nice and cozy and quiet, but I would go nuts. It would be like those first apartments we lived in as newlyweds over 40 years ago. And that makes me happy where I am for a while again. No electricity, covered work area, or secure tool storage? No Jerry.

Sooooo ... I guess if I was relegated to a place like that and had to leave the car undriven for a really long time, I'd try really hard to find some way to plug in a charger even if it meant parking at a friend's house. A solar charger might work, too. Or I'd disconnect the 12V battery. And even more importantly, find a sure fire way to keep the vermin out of the wiring.

 

What is the name of the battery monitor program? and what bluetooth connector are you using?

 

What I bought is QUICKLYNKS Auto Battery Monitor BM2 Bluetooth 4.0. But there are several different brands of basically the same monitor available in the market. There is no separate BT connector. It is one unit monitor installed in a minute directly to 12v battery. Once installed it connects to any BT enabled smartphone Android or iPhone with the app installed. There was no two-way handshake procedure for BT connection, so presumably, any phone with an installed app could read out the data if that concerns you for a security reason.

The app is free from GooglePlayStore or AppleStore. One thing is that the app that is designated from the packaging is BM2. The most up to date version is v3.0.1. This version for an unknown reason does not offer a data export option. If you want historical data exported in Excel format (stored up to 31 days in the unit, and after sync to phone it will store in the phone indefinitely as long as you keep the app) use the app from different vender JPM BattMon II (downloadable from GooglePlayStore, but not sure if the equivalent app is also available in AppleStore). JPM BattMonII current up to date version is v2.0. Works exactly the same way as BM2 app, but with the data export option.

The spec said it uses 1mA of average current, but I don't know how it translates into 12v battery drain over time. So far on my almost brand new 12v battery, it does not seem to drain much with several times a day of BT sync. But I plan to test the difference in the drain amount without the monitor later on.

http://www.amazon.com/QUICKLYNKS-Battery-Monitor-Bluetooth-Device/dp/B01MT4583U/ref=psdc_15707371_t3_B07WCW49YM

 

Because I use that battery tender on my motorhome right now. Once the Prius V battery is charged up, it should be good for a couple of weeks again. Also, the reason the Prius V is sitting now, I bought my wife a jeep wrangler last year to tow behind our motorhome. Now she loves driving the wrangler more than the Prius. Can’t get her out of the wrangler for right now.

 

I keep thinking to get an on-board smart charger, where you just have a power cord coming out the front grill. Similar to block heater.

 

@MSantos showed us his set up in another thread. I remember seeing the under hood photo of a small smart charger zip tied right by the 12v battery.

Edit: I found the thread. It wasn't zip tied, but close enough. I wonder how the charger is fixed in position? LOL. Battery dead after returning from long trip | PriusChat

 

Thanks for that link. I see a few on-board chargers, and almost all have extremely short cords, for the AC and 12 volt leads. But the one @MSantos shows has generous leads, and is readily available. Also has an in-line fuse on the positive 12 volt lead. I might give that a try.

Above link probably won't show with an ad-block running. What the heck: it is showing, at least for me. Maybe fixed during that recent site down time? Woohoo!

 

Nop, it is not showing for me. I can see it if I turn off the AdBlocker.

 

@MSantos mentioned in his comment that he is sharing the AC connection with the engine block heater, but I can't see the detail of the wire connection for that. Not that it matters to me, since I don't have an EBH, but you may be interested in that set-up.

 

I'd rather have separate cords/plugs. The charger I'd want to plug in much more; the block heater just for a couple of hours prior to start up.

You do have to be more careful with the active grill shutters, just a thought.