Car cooler for 2010 Prius (putting in trunk)

with the car 'ready', it depends on the draw.

with the car off, yes

 

I saw where someone that camped in their Prius and had a similar cooler. They added a second battery on the drivers side of the car. I would think it would be fine with the car in ready mode. Battery is pretty small to rely on it powering the cooler for a long period while not being charged.

 

with the car off, nothing is recharging the 12v. prius 12v is tiny, and when you draw it down, the inverter/converter doesn't do a good job of recharging it.
also, it does not like being drawn down, that reduces its useful life each time you do it. many people have killed their 12v just by leaving the dome light on,

prius 12v is only used to fire up the computers and relays, not start the engine. when the car is on, it is used minimally, and kept recharged by the hybrid battery through the inverter/converter.

just because it comes with a cigarette lighter plug doesn't mean it will work in a prius.

all cigarette lighter power supplies are not created equal.

 

You have two choices to continually run the cooler:

1) Leave the Prius in ready mode. The engine will only run when it needs to recharge the battery.
2) Use a battery pack big enough to run the cooler for the length of time you want to have the engine off. My suspicion is that a second regular Prius battery will run that cooler for about 2 hours. If you need it to run longer, you'll have to add more batteries.

I'd suggest using some method of keeping the second 12v battery isolated from the regular 12v battery - a battery switch will be your cheapest option. This will keep you from needing a jump start in the morning.

 

Is this really a necessity.....like for keeping medicine in.......or just a convenience ?

A really good cooler and some bags of ice probably would be a better solution, unless you can "run" the cooler just when the car is running.

 

Do try to be practical about this.
A "high efficiency" insulated cooler will hold ice frozen for up to 48 hours.
Even an inexpensive styrofoam one should be good for 12 hours.

If you put your food in one in the morning with some ice packs, it will be more than sufficient to keep it cool/cold all day.

 

Well it looks like it didn't work out as good as you hoped.
Don't try to force that square peg into the round hole.

No need to mess with actual ice cubes.
Get some of the blue ice stuff packaged in thick plastic pouches; no mess, no fuss.
You do have a freezer at home, don't you ?

 

Just use the reuse-able ice packs. They last all day, don't fill your cooler with water, and you toss them in the freezer overnight and they're ready in the morning. Piece of cake. We use them on all our long road trips. Something like this"

Running that electric cooler with the the car off will absolutely for sure kill the 12V battery.

 

deleted

 

Something like this is about the cheapest way to isolate your 2nd battery:

Having the switch in the "both" position should allow the traction battery to charge both batteries. You'd need to figure out how/where to wire things so the cooler doesn't drain both batteries dead by morning.

 

marine battery

 

In stock condition, the Prius has a single, relatively small 12v battery that is recharged from the traction battery as needed - when the car is in ready. Unfortunately, Toyota did not choose to build in circuitry that would leave a small reserve charge in the battery. If the stock battery is discharged overnight, by leaving the lights on, or running a cooler, etc., the Prius will not start without a jump. Discharging the 12v battery completely is not good for it's longevity, either.

Adding a second battery to the car can be complicated, because you both need to charge it and also keep it isolated from the 1st battery. If you don't keep it isolated, you could potentially discharge both batteries at night and be stuck with a dead Prius.

One way to isolate the second battery is with a switch, which could be either manual or automatic. This just adds the second battery to the Prius electrical system, charging it from the onboard charger. If you use a manual switch, you'd have to remember to set the switch correctly every night and morning. Automatic switches/relays are expensive, though. RV's and boats have been doing this kind of switching for years - there's a lot of information on the web if you look.

Another way to isolate it would be to charge the second battery with a 12v to 12v battery charger, or with an AC battery charger plugged into an inverter that is in turn hooked up to the first 12v battery (through the cigarette lighter, etc.) You'd want to make sure that the inverter is only powered when the car is in ready, or you're back to the dead Prius problem.

I think it'd really be much simpler to grab a few ice-packs and some food every morning to re-stock the cooler than it would be to try to rig the cooler for long-term food storage, but if you can't, I hope I've given you some pointers towards a solution.