Locking and leaving Prius on with heat on?

In my Gen 3 anyway, the lowest available setting is 65. (The one notch below that is "LO", where the unit keeps trying to cool the car no matter what.) But it might not be that expensive to hold at 65 either. Except at night, there's still sun on your side, even in cold weather.

A Gen 3 can be locked from outside the driver's door using the mechanical key while it is READY. It has to be unlocked the same way (fob signals are ignored when it's READY). If the Gen 4 is the same way, you won't have a problem locking the car. But of course the theft alarm won't be armed in case someone forces the door.

-Chap

 

Yes, all lights on. The engine will start from time to time as well. I've done it a few times for short periods wanting to keep the A/C running, never an extended time. The other thing to check, I'm not sure, but my DRLs light up when POWER is ON - unless of course I turn on parkers/side lights or headlights - but I think that is one of the oddities TOYOTA did in just some regions.

In my Gen4, I think I can wind the temp down to 17C which is about 62F I think - the next step is "LO TEMP" - I haven't tried it, but I was told that's how you turn the heater/a/c OFF altogether on GEN 4. Give it a go some time to make sure.

As Chap says, lock it up with the mechanical key, and unlock it with it when you return - and take the risk with NO Alarm.

 

Um, he is posting from Seattle. Are you unfamiliar with Seattle?

 

It's another of those extremely rare auto-corection bloopers, I suspect.

 

If you have trouble turning off the DRLs (some markets have them non-owner adjustable, like Canada), turn off the car. Apply the parking brake, start the car. The DRLs will remain off until the parking brake is released. You can't have the DRLs turn off in a Prius (in Canada) by just applying the parking brake, it must have been applied when the car was off.

Leaving the car in "ready" is perfectly fine for the car, though may have security people frowning at you.

 

Please note, the original poster, like many people here, is in the US.

In the US, that light says PARK

The US cars let you turn off the DRLs.

 

How big is the "equipment"; could it fit in some sort of insulated cooler? And how critical/absolute is this temperature requirement?

I think even just shutting the car down and sitting, the interior is going to stay significantly higher than ambient temp, for a protracted time. Leave a sensitive thermometer with a large display in there and verify.

I'm never a fan of using cars as "personal environments" when parked, and protracted idling is actually illegal in a lot of areas.

Not to mention what it does to your Fuelly stats.

 

I just got back from a drive-in. Turned off DRL. Set dimmer to low. Turn off infotainment display. Most of the interior lights can be turned off but there will be a few annoying ones that need to be covered by a blanket. And even then they were bright enough that I needed a second blanket. But if the ICE wasn't on, no one would know the car is on.

There's nothing complicated about leaving the car on. Just walk away with the fob and lock the doors mechanically either by key or by pulling out the handle. The car will beep and a message will pop up saying key not found. However, anyone can just smash the windows and drive off with the car without the fob.

Maybe install that infomercial thing that looks like the club but goes on underneath the brakes instead so a thief cannot shift out of park because they can't press on the brakes.

 

What's your definition of protracted idling. AFAIK, it only runs for less than a minute every half hour or so. Therefore, in my mind protracted means idling for a good 5 to 10 mins or more and that won't happen in a warm Gen 4 except maybe in an extreme climates.

 

Would depend on how cool the ambient temp is, and what you've set cabin temp at?

I really think this is one of those threads, where the OP has a somewhat "tilting at windmills" mission, and responders eagerly help him out, lol.

I'd suspect the temp requirement for his equipment is overblown, and just the car's greenhouse/shelter nature would do the trick. He's just down the road from us, it's practically summer now.

 

Sorry, my mind-melding is not is not firing on all four, as usual, I've no idea what anybody means...
.. ever!

 

Does this help? Tilting at windmills - Wikipedia

 

do not know! I originally meant Mr Spock's ability in Star Trek....

 

It won't work that way for his Prius application. In this car model, the brake pedal lockout applies only when pressing the Power button to bring the car up to Ready. He is leaving it in Ready, so the thief is already free to shift the car out of Park and into gear.

 

Really? I'll have to try that out later. Regardless, pretty difficult to drive without brakes.

 

That won't stop joyriders from trying, at which point the damage is already done.