... help?

Dear PriusChat.com,

... cheers, greeting and salutations, fellow Prius nerds! Humblemost apologies for the stupid question, here. The hybrid battery-pack on my '04 Pruis just quit, this morning. Pretty cool: Toyota's replacing it free, under warranty. But, they tossed me the keys, on a plug-in Prius loaner; no documentation. And, I haven't yet been properly checked-out on recharging procedure, on the plug-in variant.

I found the recharging gear, in back. I've got it plugged in, correctly (e.g., 110 outlet, to the workbench in my garage). But, I don't know whether it's charging. Shouldn't I be seeing a progress indicator, popping up on the dash, or the HUD, that it's charging?

If you please, apologies thousandfold for having to ask a question that's probably been asked, several times over. Could anybody out there point me to a quick and dirty on-line guide, to a plug-in recharging procedure, so I can get this rental recharged, without burning down my house?

If I burn down the house one more time, my wife's really going to let me have it.


Much Appreciated,
-- Samuel, '04


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...

... is there a progress indicator I can call up?

 

... very good! I'll go outside and give it a try! Is there an indicator, anywhere, which states a "fully charged" disposition?

 

... okay! I'll try this, instead!

 

... Eureka! Just turned up Toyota's charging procedure, under the floormat, next to a spent candy wrapper. The salesmen must have stuffed it under the passenger side floor mat, with the wrapper from his Payday bar.

This ought to do it. Charging procedure, Prius Plug-in:

 

... yup. Think I'll keep what I've got; wait for the next-Gen. I hear it's going to get, 61 MPG?

 

... I'm not sure what I did. I have no idea what I might have done wrong. No rhyme or reason, during recharging, the thing just up and died. The Toyota dealership had to send a guy over, to restart it. Some reason, while plugged in to the electrical outlet, the charging system inexplicably discharged. Brand spanking new Plug-in Prius, dead-dead-dead. As a doornail.

Moment the Toyota tech got a charger on it, it inexplicably restarted. But, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, all the charging levels were higher than they were, before the system failure.

Samuel, '04

 

... just rolled over, to 130 thousand. And, poof, my battery pack failed.

It's being replaced, under warranty. Free. Dealership gave me a plug in Prius loaner, until repair is affected, on mine. Replacing the hybrid battery pack analogous to a kidney transplant, from what I'm told, it's going to be a while.


Best,
~ Samuel, '04

 

... whomever it was driving this loaner Prius plug-in, must have really liked Payday bars. Maybe there was a special at one of the department stores, on Payday bars. There was Payday bar candy-wrappers, all over this Prius.

The spurious correlation of the day: sudden catastrophic high intensity battery discharge, an inverse function of Payday bar consumption, of Toyota car salesmen?


Best,
~ Samuel, '04