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Is My '05 Toast?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by DenToyPri05, Jan 8, 2015.

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  1. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    My mother drives her car every other day for only about 10 miles. Never needed a tender........
     
    #21 JC91006, Jan 9, 2015
  2. CrazyLee

    CrazyLee Member

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    Yeah! But you may well get back home. If the battery is toast, then remove the battery cover, disconnect the 12V ground connector and clamp on the pack correctly, Red to the battery + connector and the black to chassis ground. Then you get home. If the battery is just low just jumper the pack. Besides, I wasn't saying I wasn't going to save the battery. I would replace it ASAP.
     
    #22 CrazyLee, Jan 9, 2015
  3. DenToyPri05

    DenToyPri05 Junior Member

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    if i could hermetically seal off my garage and leave the prius in there while charging up a storm, i'd feel safer. i'm in an apartment and the garage is not connected to my unit, but i think i need to read up more on this and talk to my mechanic.
     
    #23 DenToyPri05, Jan 9, 2015
  4. GregP507

    GregP507 Senior Member

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    That's definitely overkill as far as I'm concerned. Mine is about the size of a hoagie, and it will start a regular vehicle. I don't want to give up that much storage space in my car.
     
    #24 GregP507, Jan 9, 2015
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    it's also bad for the battery health to let it constantly run down below starting voltage.

    o/p, how old was the old battery?

    yes, a few people carry these, including one of the mods. great in an emergency.
     
    #25 bisco, Jan 9, 2015
  6. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    If you live in the middle of no-where, sure. Or just carry jumper-cables and attach to someone else's good starting battery. The Prius doesn't need much power.

    I think this is where you aren't understanding it. The Prius is not like a normal vehicle. In a normal vehicle a large starter motor cranks the engine and that draws off the 12v battery. You can hear it chugging away in the cold, or when the battery is "low" as you call it. The Prius is a completely different beast. After the brakes are primed which is a short 30A burst nothing more than a couple hundred milliamps is required to "boot". I say boot and not start, since once the 12v flips the HV traction pack into the system, the inverter comes online and everything is fed now by the big bertha pack under your rear seats. It then uses the HV pack to spin up MG1 and start the engine that way. The 12v battery is long out of the equation.

    A "low" battery that barely starts a normal car, may be 12.2v or higher. On the Prius, you would never even know. By the time you need a jump, the battery has discharged down into the 8v to 9v range. That is DEAD DEAD DEAD, not just "low". So if you need a jump in a Prius, the battery is toast. That's why you then need to charge it way up. Very different than your normal gasser.
     
    #26 2k1Toaster, Jan 9, 2015
  7. GregP507

    GregP507 Senior Member

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    That's the truth, and that's why a battery-tender is a good idea. Trickle-chargers are also great if they have an automatic shutoff. Trickle-charging a long time is a guaranteed way to ruin a battery. I speak from experience.
     
    #27 GregP507, Jan 9, 2015
  8. DenToyPri05

    DenToyPri05 Junior Member

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    original. i'd say that at 120k, i should've been more diligent about checking it's status.
     
    #28 DenToyPri05, Jan 9, 2015
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    if that's the case, you definitely don't need a battery tender. it's not going to make the new one last any longer than that! the only thing that killed the original battery is age.:p
     
    #29 bisco, Jan 9, 2015
  10. DenToyPri05

    DenToyPri05 Junior Member

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    Installed the new battery, drove around town for three errands (one errand was to turn in old battery), and all is well again. Made sure all interior lights are set to OFF and checked the status of the new battery: over 12v before starting and over 14v when READY. No error codes, xmas lights, or loss of power. I also installed a replacement head unit today. Now it's ready for the 120k service. Next I'll install some Clazzio leather seat covers and get it detailed. Maybe I'll practice claying techniques...
     
    #30 DenToyPri05, Jan 10, 2015
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2015
    PriusGuy32 likes this.
  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    congrats.(y)
     
    #31 bisco, Jan 11, 2015
  12. DenToyPri05

    DenToyPri05 Junior Member

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    Ouch. Just when it seems like we're doing a good thing, it bites us back.
     
    #32 DenToyPri05, Jan 13, 2015
  13. DenToyPri05

    DenToyPri05 Junior Member

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    120k service just completed.

    Filters were in great shape and spark plugs changed. Filters were clean clean clean. Oil was dirty, so it was replaced. Tire pressures were off, so they were adjusted after rotation.

    Took her on a 100-mile round-trip drive from Denver to one of my favorite mountain restaurants and tracked SOC and MPG averages.

    :( State-of-charge (SOC) had so many fast changes on flat stretches as well as climbs (from ten green bars to one pink bar), that I began to suspect that I may need to, sooner rather than later, replace a module, purchase a grid-charger, or get an entirely new hv batter. Heading back to Denver, we saw 10 green bars, but MPGs remained around 40, decreasing slightly, but not going much higher. After coming off the freeway and using streets to get back home, we saw five blue bars, and that's where she stayed.

    Looking over notes I've taken, the MPGs have gone down significantly over the last 9 months. Significant to me is a change from about 55 to 40.

    I'll be taking it in on Monday and having a local hybrid shop test the hv battery.

    I want to take her on a road trip in March, so I'll be happy when she's road-trip ready for that. Maybe some new LRR tires, too.

    Now, I'm reading up on how to set up a grid charger, (if I go in that direction).
     
    #33 DenToyPri05, Jan 24, 2015
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