WHY NO 12V Battery Charging Instructions in Owners manual ?

I have a Dead Prius in the garage ! The 12V Battery is dead. I left the Prius for 3 days without using it, otherwise simply shut it and locked it as always.

Now though the Owners Manual tells you how to use Jumper Cables from another car to "Jump Start" the car, that instruction has No Value or help for me. Since the car is a barn that prevents me from getting another vehicle anywhere near it, the "Jumper Cable" option is not a possibility.

I have a battery charger, 2 AMP and 10 Amp auto settings, and a manual setting. I'd love to use it to charge the 12 volt battery so I can get the new Prius running , and take it to the dealer (20 minute ride) so they can tell me why the battery went south on me.

The 5 pounds of detailed Owners Manuals that came with the car say this on the subject of me charging the battery . . NOTHING !

So I am toying with the idea of using the jump start connections and charging the 12V battery over a few hours to see if the 2 AMP deep cycle charge setting can resurrect the battery. Anyone ever try to do this ? Any idea why Toyota does NOT even mention the subject in the various Owners books ?

 

OK . . . .You good people should all write this into your owners manual in case you end up some time where I am. Just called my Toyota Dealer's Service Department. They said that if I apply a low amp charge to the eaxct same terminals used to Jump Start the 2010 Prius it will RE-CHARGE THE 12 Volt Battery just like every other car I've ever owned, and then, providing the 12 Volt battery is still viable, the car should start.

When I asked why it should be discharged after leaving it for 3 days, they suggested the door was left ajar, so a dome light stayed on after I locked the car. I found no such door ajar, but the battery is so dead I could not tell even if a light was on. We'll see once the battery charges up, if I can learn anything more.

I am still curious why the genius's at Toyota failed to write this battery charging instruction in the Owners manual under" 'Battery', 12 Volt, In Need of Re-Charging !"

Dead or low batteries has always been a common affliction of cars and trucks, evidently having a hybrid changes that NOT AT ALL, so why Toyota did not inform we who own these cars, of this vital instruction is worth asking.

 

The Prius is in a barn surrounded on all sides with many other things like a tool bench, a tractor that can't be moved till the car is out, etc. The back of the car is the closest another car can get to the terminals in the front of the Prius, and my jumper cables are only about 10 feet long. When the battery is dead you can unlock the door manually with the 'key', but without electricity you cannot open the trunk, to directly access the 12 V battery. I drove the Prius into the gargae 3 days ago when their was no indication of any problem, I locked the car as I have done everytime I put it away.

Jump Starting a dead battery IS in the owners manual, so Toyota does recognize a dead battery is a common enough occurance to tell us that 'Fix'. Hardly the same as changing the oil in the engine. The proper use of a battery charger is the 'Other' common 'Fix' for a Dead Battery, so why would it not be mentioned at all by Toyota ?

WHO KNOWS ?

 

Suggestions appreciated.

 

that's a site peddling it membership, I already have the owners manual, and the charging of the 12 v battery is not in it.

 

Trunk full of cartons, heavy ones. I'm too substantial to go crawling into the trunk. Charging the battery much simpler.

Thanks anyway.

 

Now, although the Toyota 2010 Prius Owners Manual Index does NOT mention Re-Charging the 12 Volt Battery, it is explained on pages 436 through 440, I discovered. It is not relevant if you can't get to the battery through the trunk, so it fails to mention the remedy I am now employing after being given the OK BY MY Toyota Dealers service department, but everyone should add those pages to the index of their manual, and add Re-Charging to the index as well. It mentions that 4.2 amps is the maximum safe recharging level. I am using just 2 amps.

 

I did all that twice, it just kept playing music on a new window, and went back to the original download screen when I " X 'd" the music and New Member junk. I found the information that you are sending me to in the manula, but it doesn't mention the remedy either, justv how to charge the battery if you can disconnect the ground wire from it. Since I can't get into the trunk, it wouldn't help anyway, but I added the pages to the Owners Manula index where Toyota failed to enter them and I wrote in the 'Fix' given me by the dealer, which everyone else should add in case they end up with a dead battery in the garage.

Thank anyway.

 

The solar trickle charger sounds like an excellent idea, and you wouldn't need a solar panel the size of the one that powers the elect fan in the IV model. FOLLOWING THE DEALERS SERVICE DEPARTMENTS INSTRUCTIONS, Which Are NOT in your 2010 OWNERS MANUAL, I managed to get the Prius started and drive it using only a 2 AMP trickle charge for about 3 hours. I connected it using the connectors under the hood indicated in the Jump Start procedure. Remember that the battery was so dead it would NOT unlock the doors or even turn on a light. If a 2 amp charge could repower the battery that quickly just imagine what a small trickle charge from a solar panel could do if the engine were shut off and the car parked in the sunlight.

So my ordeal is over, and the simple instructions I needed are now written in the Owners Manual and the index amended to include Battery, 12 Volt Recharging Instructions.

I thank everyone for their constructive comments.

 

Thanks ! Didn't Know That. I will give that a try once I feel the 12 volt battery has recovered sufficiently to allow me to 'fiddle' with things electronic. The clock needs to be reset as well. That battery was so dead it couldn't even power the clock.

How DEAD was that Battery you ask . . . .? ? ?

That Battery was as Dead as the slogan "DRILL BABY, DRILL" now that the Gulf of Mexico is one big oil slick.:rockon:

Everybody have a great day, and thanks to all !