DTCs P0C3A, P0A94, P0A94, P0A7A, runs on ICE only

If you've read anything on Prius chat about codes.... then you've already checked the 12 volt battery voltage, right?

 

Where are you getting your information about what the codes mean? The right place is the Repair Manual (more info). The section devoted to each code will start off with a box showing the "detection condition" for that code, which is the starting point for understanding why the code was set and what might have caused it.

It's important not to fall into the "hmm, name of part X is in the fortune cookie for code Y, so it must mean I have to replace part X" trap.

 

Right, that's why the trap's so easy to fall into. There are so many forum posters who, like you, choose not to have the repair manual, and guess at what codes mean from the six-word fortune cookies they print on the code reader. Then their guesses go into forum posts that other people read.

In the actual workup procedures for those codes, it is certainly one possible outcome that the inverter needs replacement. Another is that, for example, a wiring connection has become poor, but the connectors get unplugged and reconnected in the process of needlessly replacing the inverter, which makes the connection better and solves the problem. (Other possible outcomes are that the problem isn't the inverter and replacing the inverter doesn't fix it, or that the problem isn't the inverter and replacing the inverter creates an additional one.)

 

The voltage for the Prius is very touchy. For a non hybrid car, if the voltage is a little low,
but enough to start the car, the higher amperage alternator will charge it back up pretty quickly.
That's not the case for the Prius. Toyota says 4 amps or less, so the battery is not getting that
higher amperage to top off the battery. Unless you drive for a few hours right after you put it in.

Seems to do is either have the place you buy it from charge it overnight for you, or at least for
a few hours and the correct amperage, or after it's installed, the owner, charge it over night.

Because you know the places that sell the batteries, are not going to keep charging the batteries!

 

Only 12 volts? That's not good. I believe it should be 12.5 or 6...

 

I guess I misread your original post then:
So this morning as I started up my Prius, I noticed a message saying "check hybrid system" on my dash, along with other warning lights. I read the codes with my OBD scan tool and found the following, as listed in the title: P0C3A, P0A94, P0A94, P0A7A. Most of these are related to the DC-DC converter, with one for the generator inverter (P0A7A). It starts up and runs fine, but seems like it's using the internal combustion engine only, since it's much louder and less powerful. Has my inverter really gone bad? How costly could the repair be, seeing as the car is 8 years old and most definitely out of warranty on the HSD?

The car has ran fine with 11.5 or so volts.
Apparently not.

Have you charged the battery yet? If you have read Prius chat, you'll realize that a low 12 volt battery WILL give you
several different codes.
You want a "simple" answer, you've gotten it, but for some reason, you don't want to except it. And doesn't even
seem you want to try it. How hard is it to charge the battery? Take it back to the place you bought it and ask them
to charge it up for you. Certainly it won't cost you anything. Have them test it, it may be defective.

I purchased my Haynes Prius repair manual off of ebay for $15 I think it was. Do you not have ebay, or amazon?

You can type in those codes in whatever browser you have and it will tell you what they are related too.

Before you get all upset at the people trying to help you, you should at the very least consider what they are telling you.

 

Google tells me Estonia is in the EU. Does toyota-tech.eu not work there?

 

If only more threads like this would come more quickly to the point "I won't spend €3.00 to look something up that would assist my decision about spending €xxxx on repairs to an €xxxxx car, but will ask unpaid people across multiple continents to second-guess what I found on google."

 

Exactly. There’s was one fella who posted in here about a brake issue, he refused to get the CEL codes pulled to pin point what could be the problem. When I told him to do that, so it would help places to begin troubleshooting, he said I was nagging him. And guess what he did later when he didn’t accept our potiental fixes, he got the codes pulled haha.

 

I think here are some differences between US and EU Prius. I meassured my battery with the car shut down and the multimeter showed 12V. It happened around a year ago, no issue ever happened. Car self test also shows 12V.
I have seen on local forum failure generated when the voltage of the battery was down to 10V.

 

Here's a version I found while browsing here on Prius chat. I believe @Mendel Leisk also has a version. I haven't been able to check yet if this one and his are the same version.