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How to use a battery charger on Prius?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by twentyone21, Aug 15, 2022.

  1. twentyone21

    twentyone21 New Member

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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Hello!

    I've posted previously that my 2010 Prius won't turn on (or show any sign of life such as interior lights, accessories, etc) and it appears the 12V battery is dead. I've bought the Yonhan Battery Charger and want to try repairing/charging the battery.

    1. Do I need to jumpstart the car and have it in Ready mode before I hook up the battery charger? I tried hooking it up while completely dead and the battery charger display told me the temperature and voltage, but didn't seem to be actively charging. The battery charger has a "Repair" mode that I plan to use for the first four hours and then complete a charge cycle overnight.

    2. Do I connect the negative clamp to the negative terminal of the Prius battery? The charger manual and sites online seem to say so, but other people say the negative clamp of the charger needs to be connected to a grounded spot on the frame, like we do during a normal jumpstart.

    Thank you!
     
    #1 twentyone21, Aug 15, 2022
  2. ForestBeekeeper

    ForestBeekeeper Active Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Premium
    When I have a dead 12vdc battery, I pop the hood and locate the fuse panel. Inside the fuse panel is a tab used for charging the battery. I searched Youtube videos and found a few of them that showed how to do all of this.
     
    #2 ForestBeekeeper, Aug 15, 2022
    bisco likes this.
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
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    Plug-in Base
    connecting to the terminals is fine. the car should be off. if the battery is too far gone, you won't be able to restore it.
    how old is it, and what did the voltage read?
     
    #3 bisco, Aug 15, 2022
  4. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Some battery chargers will not work on a battery that is severely discharged or reads below a certain voltage.

    If your battery is over 4 years old, it will probably be better to buy a new battery. Even if you are able to recover the current battery, it will probably fail again sooner rather than later.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #4 xliderider, Aug 15, 2022
  5. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    One way to try to charge a severely discharged battery is to use jumper cables to hook up the discharged battery to a good battery, that has been placed on the battery charger.

    So the process is:

    1) Connect good battery to the battery charger.

    2) Make sure that charger is charging good battery. Connect good battery to discharged battery with jumper cables.

    This may work if the battery charger needs to "see" a certain minimum voltage before it starts applying a charging voltage.

    After a few hours, you can try to hook up the battery charger to the previously discharged battery, without the good battery, to see if the charger will charge the battery on its own.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #5 xliderider, Aug 16, 2022
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