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Use cheap power bank jump starter

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by mathewjg, Mar 9, 2024.

  1. mathewjg

    mathewjg Member

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    I usually go away in the winter for a month or two and when I come back, the 12v battery is dead. A neighbour has a very decent jump starter that cost about £120 so I was thinking about getting one but first I asked the question on Windows Co-pilot "How many amps are required to jump 2nd gen prius" and it came back with the answer 10 Amps - which of course is nothing compared to a standard car with starter motor. Typical jump starters give out 2000A or more so complete overkill for a Prius and after considering the options it seems that a motorcycle jump starter with about 1300A will still be more than enough and can be purchased for about £40 and can also charge a phone and be charged from the car accessory socket. Has anyone used this option or perhaps found a cheaper or better in some way option - maybe use a normal phone power bank with an invertor to bump the voltage up to 12v? Or perhaps co-pilot is wrong the Prius needs much more than 10 Amps to start.
     
  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Jump starters are more for emergency use. It'd be better to preserve your battery's charge, with either an appropriate amperage smart charger, connected before you go, or if that's not practical, just disconnect it, to avoid "phantom loads" the car imposes.
     
    bisco likes this.
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    the 12v only closes relays and boots up computers to make he hybrid system 'ready'.
    then the hybrid battery starts the engine as needed. the cheapest jump pack you can find will work, but every time you let the battery die, you reduce the life and run the risk of killing it altogether.
     
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  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    A few people have measured the current while starting a Prius using a 'scope—here's one—kinda showing a startup lasting 2½ seconds or so, with a current draw that kind of bounces around 20 amps, with a couple very brief spikes to 40 or 50 and one as high as 100. That's all still well within what any jump pack can give you.

    [​IMG]

    It's good also to consider the total energy needed, as the smallest jump packs don't hold a whole lot. The taller spikes are so narrow I'm still going to say that curve just bounces around 20 amps for the most part, and 2½ seconds of that at 12 volts comes to 600 watt seconds, or 10 watt minutes. Or a sixth of a watt hour.

    The last little jump pack I had would hold 29.6 watt hours. So even that tiny jump pack would be enough in theory to start a Prius over and over.

    Except ...

    What happens if you've forgotten you had the lights and heater and wipers on the last time you turned the car off? They'll use a bunch more of the juice from the jump pack than gets used just to start the hybrid system. Same for the brake pressure pump.

    Moreover ...

    Usually the reason you're trying to jump a Prius is because there's a severely discharged 12 volt battery in it. A severely discharged car battery can suck all the juice out of a 30 watt hour jump pack in the seconds it takes you to try pushing the start button and not even burp, and there you are seeing zero segments lit up on your jump pack and thinking "funny, I thought that was fully charged" and the car still isn't started.

    There are ways to try to skate around all those things and successfully jump the car with a small pack, but they're easy to forget in the moment.
     
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  5. mathewjg

    mathewjg Member

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    Thanks for the great replies. This is the second (possibly 3rd) time that I have left the car for a month or more while I go on holiday plus a time when I left it at the airport with the interior light left on for 10 days. Thankfully the battery still keeps working although each time I need to call out the rescue service (AA) they tell me I need a new battery (£395!). Last year I took it to the Toyota dealer and they reported the battery OK. The current battery was supplied and fitted by the Toyota dealer and cost about £130 a few years back.
     
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  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    I would consider preparing the car at home for easy access to the 12v, and applying the jump pack under the hood for access to the hatch upon return
     
  7. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    I would consider leaving the car at home connected to a battery charger and catching a train, bus, or Uber to the airport.
     
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  8. mathewjg

    mathewjg Member

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    Yes - this is what I have been doing. Its not cheap though at £95 each way to Gatwick for a local taxi and about £130 Uber (no longer the cheapest option). Parking costs at the airports have gone through the roof - I paid over £200 for 10 days parking at Luton - but that was in the car park next to the terminal.
     
    dolj likes this.