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Uh oh! I left the light on in my car overnight!!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by StarBrite310, Jan 30, 2006.

  1. StarBrite310

    StarBrite310 ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

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    I left my little reading light closest to the driver side on overnight. From about 9:30pm till 8:45 am. It's not a very bright light to begin with which is why I didn't notice I left it lit. The car started and seems to be fine this morning, but do you think I hurt the battery? I am so upset :(
     
    #1 StarBrite310, Jan 30, 2006
  2. SomervillePrius

    SomervillePrius New Member

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    no.
     
    #2 SomervillePrius, Jan 30, 2006
  3. aaf709

    aaf709 Ravenpaw of ThunderClan

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    I don't think you've ruined anything. It was a small drain and it only happened once.
     
    #3 aaf709, Jan 30, 2006
  4. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Trust me on this one: if you'd have done anything to harm the car it would have let you know. Perhaps as a warning at first, but it certainly goes bizerk before it dies. Mine did. And even after that whole incident, a quick jump and he was right back to his fun-loving self again.
     
    #4 TonyPSchaefer, Jan 30, 2006
  5. StarBrite310

    StarBrite310 ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

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    Why did yours die!? What happened?
     
    #5 StarBrite310, Jan 30, 2006
  6. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    I hvae played it back in my head and here's what I think happened.

    My wife and I were taking a bike ride. I wanted to check the tire pressure so I pulled my air pump out of Priapus and used the power outlet to touch up the tires. After putting the pump back, I opened the passenger door, reached over and punched the (POWER) button. I might have punched it twice. This might have cycled it to off and then into 'accessory' mode. The funny thing is that I would not have been able to lock the doors with the fob in my pocket and the car on. So that part's still fuzzy.

    In the evening, my neighbor knocked on my door indicating that my car was freaking out. It was regularly giving two beeps - one high and one low. I couldn't power up to shut it off. Lights were blinking, even the [Park] button was blinking amber rather than green. There was nothing I could do. I tried to jump it with my wife's car but couldn't do it. By this time it was very dark outside.

    In the morning I called AAA. The guy showed up, hit it with the jumper box and the alarm immediately went off. It's supposed to do that but is scared the bajeebus out of me and the jumper guy. Once I was in, I powered him up, shut him down, powered him up and drove it around to make sure the littler battery was recharged.

    The hybrid battery is just fine. I drained the little battery. As for what the precise chain-of-events were that led to it, I simply wasn't paying attention and was merely going through the motions without thinking. That's why I can't precisely remember exactly how many times I hit the (POWER) button or whether I tried to lock the doors. But in a nutshell, that's what happened.
     
    #6 TonyPSchaefer, Jan 30, 2006
  7. Oxo

    Oxo New Member

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    I left one of the doors slightly ajar all night and in the morning the 12V battery was flat. As far as I know it did not give any warning about this but then I might not have heard or seen an alarm if it was in the depth of the night as my car is in a garage at night.
    It was an important lesson for me for two reasons:

    I'd made only very short journeys in cold weather for a few days beforehand. If you make only short journeys turn off you door lights!

    I now make sure I lock the car each night because if it won't lock itself you know you've left one of the doors slightly open. If you don't slam the back door fairly hard it will sometimes remain slightly open. I haven't got SKS so I don't know how you check whether you're locked on a car with SKS.
     
    #7 Oxo, Jan 30, 2006
  8. StarBrite310

    StarBrite310 ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

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    So basically does everyone who is reading this agree that my battery is most likely fine? I am just so concerned because the car is only a week old! :unsure:
     
    #8 StarBrite310, Jan 30, 2006
  9. Jack 06

    Jack 06 New Member

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    Grandma, what big nutshells you have! :)
     
    #9 Jack 06, Jan 30, 2006
  10. bnlfanmatt

    bnlfanmatt Member

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    I've left the overhead light on for an entire night without a problem. Like most of the others, I agree that you won't have a problem, b/c the drain will come from your 12v battery.
     
    #10 bnlfanmatt, Jan 30, 2006
  11. StarBrite310

    StarBrite310 ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

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    What's the 12v battery? Hehe. And how do I charge it up again?
     
    #11 StarBrite310, Jan 30, 2006
  12. Jack 06

    Jack 06 New Member

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    If the car started, you have proof that you didn't even run the 12V battery down far enough to damage it.

    I've run the battery down twice by leaving lights on all night, so that it wouldn't start. This is on an '04. It still run fine.

    Relax.
     
    #12 Jack 06, Jan 30, 2006
  13. San_Carlos_Jeff

    San_Carlos_Jeff Active Member

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    It's fine. Enjoy the new car.
     
    #13 San_Carlos_Jeff, Jan 30, 2006
  14. SomervillePrius

    SomervillePrius New Member

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    what he said and also the small 12V battery is not expensive to replace (it's a normal car battery) the batteires that are expensive to replace are very well protected by layers and layers and will not get hurt by forgetting the lights on, so you have not damaged them! So don't worry and enjoy the ride
     
    #14 SomervillePrius, Jan 30, 2006
  15. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    It won't die. My dad left the hatch ajar overnight with the cargo area light on (I assume dome lights too?) and my battery was fine the next day. I've also left the maplight on by accident. It's waay to dim for its own good and it doesn't focus. The Camry's one is waaay better. Anyway, my 12V battery died on 21st January 2005 for no apparent reason.
     
    #15 Tideland Prius, Jan 30, 2006
  16. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    Works for me too! :D :p
     
    #16 hyo silver, Jan 30, 2006
  17. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    It's the 12 volt lead acid battery that is the back on the right side of the trunk area behind an easily removable panel and is black colored. It's equivalent to the 12 volt battery on a regular car (usually found under the hood).

    From what I've heard about lead acid battery chemistry, it's bad to deep discharge them.

    It's really too bad that Toyota didn't put in a feature to keep from draining the battery due to leaving map lights on (I've griped about this in another thread) and other scenarios. Both my Nissans (02 Maxima I no longer have) and my 04 350Z have features to automatially turn off the interior lights, map lights and vanity lights after 30 minutes if you accidentally leave them on or leave a door open. It's documented in their manuals it's helped me many times.
     
    #17 cwerdna, Jan 31, 2006
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