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Dead Battery

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by tomy2green, Jan 3, 2008.

  1. tomy2green

    tomy2green Junior Member

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    I have an "06" prius/package # 3...
    Last year I drove down to Florida from NY to get out of the cold. On my way down I decided to stop at Daytona and check out the track.The cars were going around the track and it was noisy, I couldn't wait to go on a tour.
    Evidentally, in my excitement, I pushed the," park button",but I forgot to push the Power button to turn the system off when I left for the track.
    When I returned three hours later, I had no power! What I figured I would do is put the car in neutral and push it back to get a jump from someone. Everything seems to be electric or electronic, and with no power, I wasnt getting it out of park and into neutral, and I was trapped between a curb on one side, a car along side of me on the other side, and a car in front of me. It seemed like I was going to spend a long time there, unless I could find someone with an extra long set of jumper cables.
    The security people," fortunately", had a battery with cables mounted to it for just for my idiot situation, brought to me on a little scooter...Thank goodness!. Once he jumped it, I was then concerned if I had stopped for any reason, while getting out of the busy area, the engine would stop running, as it always does, and I would be stuck again. It didn't happen. It seems that once I got the jump, there was enough elec to keep me going until I did get fully charged.
    I had assumed that if I didn't hit the power button, the engine would sparatically run to keep the charge up...but...I guess when you're in park, that doesn't happen...I gave thought to having one of those power jumpers on hand for an emergency such as mine
     
    #1 tomy2green, Jan 3, 2008
  2. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    I think you'd better rethink what you did (so you don't get caught again), because if you stop and press "park" then the engine will continue to keep running as required to keep the traction battery charged. The 12V battery is charged from that via the inverter/charger.

    Note that the engine is started by the "traction battery" (the high voltage one). The 12V battery that went dead on you is only used to power up the systems. The traction battery can't connect to the car until the systems are powered up. Once running, even if the 12V battery is very weak, the system will run off the traction battery/invertor/charger. In other words, the engine can safely be shut down and restarted by the system.

    Usually, those who kill the 12V battery either leave a door ajar (takes a long time to kill the battery - overnight for example), or when they turn off the car they don't open the drivers door. This leaves the headlamps on, which will kill the 12V battery in an hour or two.
     
    #2 David Beale, Jan 3, 2008
  3. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    I agree with David. You must have left a door ajar or a light on. If it was simply a matter of leaving your Prius in park, it would have kept the battery charged until it ran out of gas, and then it would have shut down. Obviously your HV battery was still charged, as all you needed was a 12V jump.

    Tom
     
    #3 qbee42, Jan 3, 2008
  4. tomy2green

    tomy2green Junior Member

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    Thanks Dave,
    That's good info...I had no Idea how many batteries make the car function...It won't happen again though!! Thanks, Tommy G
     
    #4 tomy2green, Jan 3, 2008
  5. Danny Hamilton

    Danny Hamilton Active Member

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    You'll also want to be aware that there are jump points under the hood if the car can only be accessed from the front, or you can access the battery directly in the back if the car can only be accessed from the back.

    Therefore, extra long jumper cables were probably not necessary.
     
    #5 Danny Hamilton, Jan 3, 2008
  6. JHSmith

    JHSmith 2020 Avalon Hybrid Owner

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    Danny,

    Please forgive this obvious question/answer. Even though I'm "only" a Camry Hybrid owner, I try to understand the differences between the TCH & Prius.

    I have a question:

    Does the Prius have a mechanical key lock on the rear hatch (like on driver's door)?

    If I remember correctly, I believe that I was once told the Prius has only the Driver's Door external lock. If so, don't you need the aux (12v) battery to open the hatch?

    (On TCH, we have key slots in driver's door and trunk lid.)

    Again, not trying to raise any hackles or trying to upset anyone, I'm just trying to get info for my own knowledge.
     
    #6 JHSmith, Jan 3, 2008
  7. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    No, but there is a mechanical release that can be accessed, with difficulty, from inside the hatch area.
     
    #7 efusco, Jan 3, 2008
  8. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    *Always* lock the car. If you have accidentally left it ON or a door ajar it will then give a long warning beep.
     
    #8 richard schumacher, Jan 4, 2008
  9. eestlane

    eestlane Member

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    I have not seen this feature mentioned here regarding running the 12v battery down, but my 07 Prius will automatically turn off power to the dome lights after about 40 minutes if a door has been left ajar, thus saving the battery charge unless it was already very low or defective. I tested it twice just to make sure, being a retired electro-mechanical testing engineer.

    Please note that this automatic turn-off does not apply if you have left on the manually switched reading lights in the front, or the manually switched trunk light. :)
     
    #9 eestlane, Jan 4, 2008
  10. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    That's the catch. If the hatch isn't firmly slammed shut, the hatch area light will remain on, and it does *not* turn on the interior lights. So the Auto Off doesn't work

    Especially with the tonneau cover closed, it's easy to miss the rear hatch being slightly ajar.
     
    #10 jayman, Jan 4, 2008
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