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No Power, No Start

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by ThomasHurst, Mar 21, 2010.

  1. ThomasHurst

    ThomasHurst New Member

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    Alright, so I'm in the middle of a power failure of some sort with my 2004 Prius.
    This morning I started up fine and drove the car down the block to load up for a big trip. The car operated perfectly. I then attempted to provide some power to a laptop (well under the 140W rating) through a DC/DC converter and my 12V console socket. I went through the following procedure:

    1. Pressed power button twice without break to provide power to the 12V socket

    2. Switched my DC converter to 12V and plugged in laptop

    3. Saw no indication of power draw, so (very idiotically) switched polarity of the DC converter.

    I then observed:
    -The DC converter loose power
    -My screen show the power-down screen
    -All dashboard lights turn off
    -The green I/O power LED die

    I then removed the DC converter and tried to start up the car, but got no response of any kind.

    I've inspected all of the fuses and have tried to start the car both with and without the brake depressed, but have gotten no response of any kind. My power locks and even trunk latch will not open, and I can only access the car manually using the physical key. None of the electronic systems appear to be powering up in any regard.

    Is it possible there is a fuse or relay I am missing? Could I have instantly discharged my 12V battery? Any advice from people much smarter than me?

    Thanks so much for any advice you can offer!
     
    #1 ThomasHurst, Mar 21, 2010
  2. Bob64

    Bob64 Sapphire of the Blue Sky

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    did you check the fuse panel that is located under the drivers side dash?
     
    #2 Bob64, Mar 21, 2010
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  3. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    it sounds like the car wasn't "on" when you tried your test.

    if the car was on and the polarity was switched, the car would black out... and continually re-boot till a main fuse blew.. since you only had it on ign-on, you may have possibly blown the fuse located on top of the 12v battery.

    i'd try jumping the car under the hood (without your converter plugged in) there is a positive jump under the fuse box (top.. marked in red)... put the negative to any chassis bolt. if this doesn't work, you blew a main fuse. if you want to manually get to the 12v battery, you need to crawl in back of the car, pull up the rear floor, pop the manual access cover off of the rear black bin (center of the car, against the rear hatch.. it's a 2 x 3 inch piece.. about two inches under the floor, put a finger in there and pull up till the rear hatch un-latches)

    if you have a stock battery, you should never run accessories without ign-on as your 12v is probably near death anyway...

    if you're near south san francisco bay area, and i have time, i could possibly take a look for you... (send me a pm as i'll get an email instead of having to follow up on post....i have a lot of follow up post)
     
    #3 V8Cobrakid, Mar 21, 2010
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  4. Bob64

    Bob64 Sapphire of the Blue Sky

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    Worst case: you may have fried your inverter. (see jumping car backwards threads)
     
    #4 Bob64, Mar 21, 2010
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  5. ThomasHurst

    ThomasHurst New Member

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    Thank you so much for the quick and helpful responses!

    I've definitely checked all three fuse boxes, and the fuses in them, but more importantly, I got ahold of a voltmeter and tested my 12V battery.

    As expected it is really low, at roughly 4.6V.

    I'm now on the quest to replace it, hopefully as quickly and cheaply as possible. I've found a few of the threads here, but are there any sources for these specialized batteries other than the dealership?

    I'm completely prepared to do the install myself, but would be very appreciative if anyone could point me in the direction of a favorite install instruction set as well.

    Thanks again! This forum is awesome!
     
    #5 ThomasHurst, Mar 21, 2010
  6. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    #6 dogfriend, Mar 21, 2010
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  7. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    With IG-ON you will be draining the traction battery. If that is drained the car will have to be towed to a dealer. The battery-safe way to run an inverter is with the car ON ("Ready") and in Park, so that the engine can start to charge the battery as needed.
     
    #7 richard schumacher, Mar 21, 2010
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  8. ThomasHurst

    ThomasHurst New Member

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    Just as an update, I picked up a battery from the dealership today, replaced it with the help of those awesome suggestions, and was up and running in no time at all!

    That morning my dead stock battery read 1.5V, but my brand new replacement was a solid 13.0V. Everything booted great and all I had to do was fix my clock and radio presets! Thanks so much everyone for the advice!
     
    #8 ThomasHurst, Mar 23, 2010
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