Ok to jumpstart another car with prius?

It is not reccomended. The Prius battery is very small compared to a regular car and is used primarily to power up the Prius computers.

 

This has been talked about in other threads, as I recall, and, if memory serves, the only way to "jump" another car with your Prius -- safely -- is to use the Prius simply to charge the other battery. This will not help if the other battery cannot hold a charge, but it will help if the battery simply has drained.

The critical thing: DO NOT let the other person start his or her car while still connected to the Prius. Leave the Prius in Ready mode with the cables attached. You will charge the other car's battery with your 12V, and the Prius will continually charge your 12V.

I don't know how much time it would take to accomplish the charge, but probably long enough to invite the other driver into your nice, warm Prius and offer an explanation of the values of the car. Somehow, though, you need to get around the question of why you have to sit there and wait and wait . . .

 

+1 on the battery buddy. As others have posted, the Prius 12v battery is not cut out to provide jumps to other cars.

 

The physical size of the Prius 12 volt battery really isn't THAT much smaller than a normal sized car battery. If you pull out the hidden storage area under the cargo area and open up the right side, the first black box you see isn't the battery. The battery is hidden further down, and is actually much larger than the impression I was receiving by listening to everyone describe how 'small' it is.

On the other hand, it would make sense if the Prius battery electrical characteristics were different. Unlike a 'regular' battery, ours is never called upon to crank start the Prius ICE. I have never heard a mention of Cold Crank Amps for a Prius battery.

With the job the Prius battery needs to do, I would imagine it would actually be a deep cycle (marine/RV type) battery . . . not the best for crank starting an ICE.

Anyone here know the actual specs? CCA????

 

I'm going to be in the minority here and say "it depends". I've jump started my Audi with the Prius w/o any problems (maybe dumb luck?), hooking up the cables directly to the battery terminals on the Prius. But I knew that the Audi would start right up b/c it was only a battery problem, nothing wrong with the car. If I was trying to start up a car that had problems and required a lot of cranking I'd find another option.

 

If you're talking about auto battery chargers, it sounds like you got a defective dud. Generally, they work fine. The one I have now (nothing special, a Vector 300 amp model, $25 on sale) works like a charm. I try to keep a fully charged one in my Prius at all times, and have used it a few times now to successfully and easily jump other people's cars.

 

You have to have experience in cold climates to know most of the following, so I'm going to let those who haven't had the "pleasure" in on it.

1. Charging another car's battery from the Prius.
While possible, it will take a long time. The reason is the Prius maintains 13.8V on its' system. While this would properly charge a battery, it would do so only with a very low impedance connection, such as heavy cables clamped with proper battery terminal clamps, cleaned of oxide first, such as when you install a new battery. Through jumper cables you will loose at least a volt, giving you 12.8V to drive current into the "dead" battery. It will take hours to charge it enough at that rate!
2. Boosting another car from the Prius jumping terminal.
Beware, beware, beware! There is a 150 Amp fuse in-line from the battery to this terminal. In extreme cold, many vehicles will draw at least this much current, IF you make a good connection. So you -could- blow the fuse. Further, the Prius battery is not designed to start an engine. It supplies a 45 Amp 1/2 second pulse twice to start the Prius (the first is to the brake booster, the second puts the car "on"). It's a small lead acid battery designed for float operation and supply of up to 50 Amps or so. Boosting another car will shorten its' life. Doing so in summer weather would have less of a bad effect.
3. If you do insist on boosting another car, make sure the Prius is off. There is just too much expensive electronics in the car to expose to possible spikes. Some will still be "in circuit" even with the car off, so be careful with the cables. Try to make only one connection and disconnection, not several in a row because you had to move the clip. Absolutely, do not reverse the polarity!!! Ever!!! And don't short the +ve to ground. The flash can generate dangerous spikes in the cars systems.

 

Short answer:

Highly not recommended. The risks are far too great.

 

I concur, and have heard that this is NOT A GOOD IDEA, from a tech who works at the dealership where I purchased the car.

Dave

 

Though everyone says the risks are high, I've jumped cars numerous times from my 2001 and my 2006 Prii by hooking up the cables to the battery terminals of my car and to the positive terminal of the jumping car and a grounding frame rail anywhere else on the other car. I have never experienced any issues in the near term or the far term (put 95 000 miles on the 2001 and never had a problem). Not recommended or otherwise, now that I know it's not recommended I'll still happily jump any car that needs it, without fear.

~ dan ~

 

I haven't run out to my car yet to get the page reference, but I am CERTAIN the Prius manual warns you NOT to jump another car using the Prius. I was going to do just this when early one morning our Sienna (yes, we're one of THOSE families) was dead. I pulled out the Prius manual to make certain I did it the right way. Well, the manual clearly warned against it, so I called on a neighbor for a favor.

It really is a bit embarassing though to have this great hybrid car with a 200+ volt battery, and you can't even jump your own Toyota!

I was going to get one of the jump-starter batteries, but then I heard you have to keep taking it out of the car to charge it, and I just figured I would only need it on the vary rare occasion I had actually taken it from the car, placed it in the basement to charge, and left it there!

 

Pretty funny and so often true! Though in your dead Sienna in the driveway/garage scenario, going to the basement to pick up the fully charged battery charger would have been easy enough.

Seriously though, those battery chargers are a good thing:

1. You don't really have to keep taking it out of the car to charge it. I do about once a month, but that's me (I tend to start each day with all of my rechargeables fully charged). Those battery chargers typically do not have to be fully charged or even halfway charged to have enough juice to jumpstart a car. E.g., typically they leave the factory half charged or less, but still with enough juice to withstand sitting on a store shelf a long time, and have a stranded customer come into the store, buy it and immediately jumpstart his car.

My guess is that a fully charged battery charger will last a full Chicago winter, and still have enough juice to jumpstart a car in the spring. I'm going to try to test my hyopothesis this winter here in NY, and let everyone know my results in the spring.

2. They're a lot easier to use than jumper cables where you frequently have to line up the jumper car and the jumpee car just right so that the jumper cables reach ... not always an easy thing to do in certain situations (e.g., try positioning the cars front to front on the shoulder of a highway).

3. They frequently can be used for other things (e.g., mine has a flashlight and a 12V outlet).

4. They're kind of good looking with their colorful plastic clad bodies.

5. They're cheap enough (around $40-$50 retail; $25 on sale or discounted) for most people to give for Christmas.

6. You can always still keep a set of jumper cables in the car as back up in case the battery charger goes dead.

 

I have jumpstarted 2 cars with my Prius with no damage, using the jump-start posts in the engine compartment. One car was a Porsche that started right up. Another was an old Volvo that required a lot of cranking, but eventually did start. In both cases, the Prius was on and running it's engine as necessary.

Next time I do this, I'll have to put the MFD in the diag screen and see what happens to the voltage on the 12V battery to see if it gets pulled down a lot...

 

I don't see why everyone is freaking out about this. I am not too technical but twice this week I've jump started my wife's V6 highlander, it had been in storage for a few months and at least the first time the battery was completely dead. My prius had enough power to start the highlander. I do admit I was worried since nobody recommends it here on pc, but now I am very convince that the prius can jump most cars. I wouldn't worry too much, if another car needs a quick boost and your prius is around just do it. On another note I think the highlander needs a new battery.

PS I am posting from my new ipod touch this thing is awsome.

 

The manual DOES tell you not to do it.