Newbie with questions re: Gen 1

You must be one of those rare people that never make a mistake like leaving the lights on or a door or tailgate ajar or simply not using the car for an extended period.
I did state that the charger only needs to output 4 amps, but for little or no more money the charge I suggested would be capable of more. If you have a recommendation make it!

John (Britprius)

 

Yes, for the purpose you describe, the Schumacher SEM-1562a is more than adequate. For maintaining a battery that can drain itself when it's left idle for long periods of time, the battery-maintainer is the best solution. As for cold weather, it's irrelevant in the Prius, because it doesn't use the 12V battery for cranking the engine.

 

I don't know about any other models, but my Prius shuts off the lights if you leave them on. The only way I've drained the battery is by leaving it in acc-mode. I never do that anymore, because ready-mode does the same thing, but it keeps the battery topped up, and it shuts itself off after a period if time.

 

P.S. When using ready-mode, engage the parking brake, because it prevents someone from knocking the shifter into gear.

 

Yes as stated in my post (33) your "charger maintainer" will maintain your battery, but it is unlikely to fully charge it. A subtle difference. If you go to page (4) of the manual you will find they only recommend that charger for up t0 20 AH capacity batteries, and list the charging time for such a 20 AH battery as 25 hours. From that you can see that my calculation for the Prius battery of 60 hours is accurate. The maximum charge rate for the Optima battery "from memory" is 50 amps against the 4.5 amps of the Prius battery.
I also totally agree that if all you wish to do is maintain your battery the equipment you have will do.

John (Britprius)

 

I don't believe the cold is relevant to your battery-drain. It's most likely due to internal shorting, or phantom-drain by accessories. My own battery will slowly drain due to the remote/security system installed. In any case, starting the car simply involves turning on the computer in ready-mode. The battery capacity, cold-cranking-amps or amp-hour capacity is fairly irrelevant to that purpose.

 

The lighting on the European models is very different even with vehicles that have auto headlamps the side lights remain on if turned on. This is because under certain conditions when a vehicle is parked on the road at night or in poor visibility the side lamps must be on. The headlamps go out when the car is turned off but the side lamps remain on until they are turned off. I believe the same applies to Australia, New Zeland, and Japan.

John (Britprius)

 

A simple headlight warning buzzer can be installed yourself if the car doesn't have it (which I find hard to believe). A small piezo-buzzer can be wired between the ignition-circuit and the headlight circuit. Because it contains a diode, current can only flow in one direction, therefore the buzzer will only sound if current flows from the headlight circuit, through the buzzer, and back to ground through the ignition circuit, when the ignition is turned off. The rest of the time, the buzzer is silent because either the ignition-voltage balances the headlights-voltage, causing no current-flow. The other silent-state is when no power is being supplied to either the ignition-circuit or the headlights-circuit.

 

The headlamps are not a problem as they go off as the ignition is turned off so do not need a warning. The European Prius although mechanically similar to the US Prius in other respects is very different. Large differences can be seen in the areas of, brakes, cooling system, fuel system, security, wheels, and electrical systems.
The Prius is the first car I have had out of approximately 60 in my life that has any audible warning device, and must admit I find the Prius buzzer annoying to say the least. I did have a Chevrolet as a loan car last year that bonged at me every time I opened the door or sat on the seat without a seat belt. I felt it obtrusive and annoying, and not wishing to sound anti American, but telling the truth the car although brand new was a piece of junk as bad as some of the cars we produced in the UK in the 60's and 70's.

John (Britprius)

 

I'd rather be annoyed by a buzzer than be annoyed by a dead battery, any day of the week.

 

The UK Prius is, I think, unique in the world, in that the side lights stay on. In NZ, Australia (and I think Japan), all the lights go off once you remove the key and then open the door.

 

Thanks for the info even if I am proved wrong with my assumption with the NZ Prius. I have still learned something.
I have a friend that has a Japanese import G2 and the lighting is the same as the UK version.

John (Britprius)

 

My interpretation of the big battery, is that it's a cartoon, put there to keep us amused. I find it contains very little useful information.

 

Is this with a new battery or the old one? A battery in poor condition will show as fully charged when it has little capacity. The capacity it has gets charged to full voltage, but it looses this charge rapidly through self discharge and the Prius security system still running.

John (Britprius)