Portable 12V battery pack for Gen II PRius?

Set of jumper cables is all that is needed. Portable power packs are just to heavy to pack around. FE suffers with added junk! Hal

 

And hope that someone is willing to jump you and that there are no errors that cause a meltdown of your electrical system?

The power packs are pretty light. Even my large pack is only about 15lbs or so. That is not going to have a noticeable affect on mpg.

 

i used to carry a power back when my 12v started to die... i eventually disconnected the battery and connected it straight to the jump pack.. not supposed to.. but.. meh.. shrug

you can start a prius with a 12v battery... or 8 AA batteries ran to make 12v... or a power tool battery... it requires less than 100 watts for a few seconds.. then the hybrid battery takes over....

the jump procedure is in the owners manual. you'll find the jump terminal inside your fuse box under the hood on right hand side. pull off the cover and you'll see a rubber/plastic red piece that covers a jump point (this is why you need thin jumper clamps)... connect the positive to the piece that's flat and sticks up (you clan't get the bolt end.... you'll see)

connect the ground to a bolt on the cars frame. i've heard horror stories about people thinking both connects are in that small area...

if you ever need a jump from someone else (the 12v has a crappy unpredictable way of dying) make sure their car stays off... simply connect up, turn on your prius, disconnect. there is never any reason to leave the cars connected.

if you're brave and you want to give someone a jump, power on your car fully... connect both cars and wait a few mins (i'd say 5)... then have the other person try cranking it over for only a second or two. watch your MFD as it may clip out if they pull too much power. the 12v line resets a second later... if they didn't start they need a new battery.

iv'e powered up busses & tractors with this method (3 deep cell batteries)... jump packs & other cars can't touch the power the prius puts out of it's hybrid system. most cars rely on a car revving it's engine... a prius simply puts out a perfect voltage/amperage all the time.

 

That's essentially what this one is:

Costco - Universal Porta-Jump

I believe it is just rechargeable AA batteries in series and might work fine in the Prius and is also compact and light. It also has mini clamps that may work as well, though I've not yet tried them on the Prius.

There's another thread on it, but it has gone off topic a bit.

 

the owner's manual is your friend