Prius jumping a Prius

I have no direct experience with your situation, so this is just a logical answer.

Power is power. A + to + and metal - to - will mean the cars are electrically parallel, and since you don't need amps to crank, connecting under the hood should work fine. Since the + terminals under the hood are connected directly to the + side of the 12V batteries and the - side is always connected to the chassis, as soon as you make the connection the battery with the greater charge will start filling the battery with the lower charge. To avoid depleting the good battery, you could put that car in Ready so its 12V battery will be automatically filled as power is drained by the other car. Now the "dead" car can be started to Ready and it's HV battery can start charging its 12V battery and you can disconnect the cars.

I think the prohibition against using a Prius to start another car assumes the other car is a conventional one needing lots of amps to crank and start, which could damage the wiring and 12V battery of a Prius. I can't imagine much danger in one Prius jumping another.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Jul 10 2007, 10:44 PM) [snapback]476632[/snapback]</div>

I can't imagine much danger in one Prius jumping another.


The only thing I can see happening is with all the prii jumping each other is an abundant supply of prii ( like the saying goes f&*#ing like rabbits) But no problem should be from that.

 

There should be no problem. I would personally leave the doner Prius off to avoid any charging system arguments, but other than that:

1. Connect cable +ve on dead car (fusebox).
2. Connect cable +ve on doner car (fusebox).
3. Connect cable -ve on dead car (bolt above fusebox).
4. Connect cable -ve on doner car (bolt above fusebox).

Press brake and "On" on dead car. Allow to sit for 10 seconds to a minute to allow the system to stabilize (HSD system will charge both batteries and eventually engine will start).

Disconnect in reverse order, ie 4, 3, 2, 1. Leave "dead" car on for a few hours to fully charge the battery. There will be no effect on the doner car (ie battery will not be drained).

DO NOT short jumper cables. DO NOT reverse connect jumper cables.

 

When I saw the title I was thinking that someone was asking how to "jump" a Prius Evil Kinevil style.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tadashi @ Jul 11 2007, 12:33 PM) [snapback]476937[/snapback]</div>

Just once probably no damage, but it wouldn't hurt to hook up an automatic battery charger right at the battery. There is a lot of hand-wringing here about only using a trickle charger, but even Toyota recommends their fancy-schmancy 10 amp automatic charger, made by Associated.

I'll attach the tsb and also a couple of photos of my Prius battery that I took awhile back for the thread on battery tenders. That red plastic cover is a bear to get off, at least mine was. I leave the VDC Battery Minder plugged in whenever the car is parked at the condo, and have had no issues

 

I've followed the manual's steps as listed by David Beale close to 10 times to jump other cars (mostly my daughter's '01 and my wife's old Saturn) with no problems. The recommended posts under the hood are much more convenient than digging out the battery terminals.

The '01 has gone completely dead 4-5 times and keeps testing out fine in the shop once it's charged. I think they use their Prius Charger on it before they test, to avoid unnecessarily replacing batteries that are still ok.

The Saturn had a big ol' V6 engine with all the fixin's, it was enough to strain the '01 a little but the 'o5 & '06 have never seemed to have any trouble.

Cheers,
Bob

 

I cannot see what advantage there is to connecting to the battery in the rear instead of the front when you are talking about a small trickle charge.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AlphaTeam @ Jul 11 2007, 12:41 PM) [snapback]476882[/snapback]</div>

Me too! Was looking forward to a youtube address showing maby a firey hoop and hay bales

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hill @ Jul 12 2007, 10:27 AM) [snapback]477488[/snapback]</div>

I thought he was taking his Prius obsession to a new, unhealthy level. :blink: Well, as long as it's an adult, consenting Prius...

Tom