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HELP! 155ma Parasitic Draw on 12v battery isolated to OBD2

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by BJJ, Mar 26, 2024.

  1. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    According to that manual yours is hooked up as just a tracker. The green wire can be used for "starter disable", where the wire from a car's ignition to its starter is cut and a relay controlled by that green, is inserted. Lets whoever installed that thing disable a vehicle's start remotely. The MEID for that access is shown on the sticker in one of the pictures. That exact wiring wouldn't have worked on a Prius as no starter, but they could have done something very similar by cutting into the start button wires. I don't think they ever tried to do that in your car since all but the 12V and ground wires are cut at the same point on that ribbon cable.
     
  2. BJJ

    BJJ Junior Member

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    As to where the car came from…I bought it about 8 years ago from a used car dealer in Colorado that was unable to fix it. I fixed it in 1/2 day, it was a broken wire inside the transmission. I spent two weeks doing a MAJOR cleaning, and found that a red popsical was dropped behind the rear seat and candy was found all over the inside. Hence its nickname “Candy”. I also found papers inside that showed it had come from New Mexico.
     
  3. BJJ

    BJJ Junior Member

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    I wonder if I can read the GPS coordinates from this device and if I can hook it up to my ham radio APRS. Another project….

    This tracker may have cost me 3 batteries. With very cold temperatures and with a not fully charged battery from short trips, I suspect the battery froze. AGM batteries, or at least the ones I purchased, don’t seem to recover very well once frozen. A fully charged battery is not supposed to freeze down to negative temperatures, about -20 to -80 F. My temperature in January was in single digits. The battery I have now is brand new, plus I have a high quality solar panel and solar battery charger designed for AGM batteries which I may no longer need. (I may post info on this in another thread) I also have a battery blanket/heater which I can plug into AC, or perhaps even get almost a watt of DC heating during the day from the solar panel itself.

    I measured the static draw (quiescent) at 10-20 ma with everthing connected electrically. I didn’t try to measure it more accurately. I am SO HAPPY!

    Thank you for all your suggestions and information Prius Team!
     
    #23 BJJ, Mar 29, 2024
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2024
  4. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Pry the case open, there may be an unused header to allow serial communications.

    Probably not worth spending much time on that project though as there are USB GPS dongles for under $20 on Amazon. (No idea if they work.)