I'm not driving much=How are you keeping your HV battery charged during the corona virus?

My wife drives her 2007 Prius several times a week. Virus doesn't mean prison. And it should hold its charge for several months anyway. The 12V can go flat in 2-3 weeks, less if it's old.

 

The HV battery is only minimally impacted by long-term parking, since it is physically disconnected from system drain. The 12-volt battery will remain active. That either needs to be plugged in or you just take a drive once a week to maintain it.

 

These are both wrong and the hybrid will discharge and should not go 30 days without being driven and charged.

 

If true, that would be new information to a whole lot of very long time Prius owners.

 

The OP has an old, tired gen 2 pack and lives in a hot climate so comments should be primarily address to that.

AFAIK, even the most stringent lock down orders in Florida never meant one couldn't drive their vehicles.

 

Just drive a little more. The driving might not have a secondary purpose, but I'd consider "maintenance" to be a good enough reason to go around the block in the first place- and that's all it really needs.

 

In fact, working from home (or worse yet - not working), provides a great opportunity to get out and see the countryside.

 

I make my wife drive it at least 10 miles a day. On the weekend we take it for a nice 20 mile ride Sat & Sunday.

Just recently completed another prolong discharge its second over almost 21/2 years now and it really helped it in fact better than the first one it has alot more power now.

But it must be driven every day I'm afraid. Very old battery that will self discharge.

Expecting my new 2k Toaster battery today. yea!

 

force charge once a week

 

They may not be enough. or force charge every day but that's hard on the car.

It works but nothing beats a good long drive. Or don't and your battery will probably fail. I know mine will.

 

Just jack it up in your garage and run it.

https://media.giphy.com/media/xT8qB7vQWOufgF51sc/giphy.gif

(I'm just kidding of course)

 

It's common knowledge that NiMH batteries have self discharge issues, especially in the first 24 hours of being fully charged. And the issue isn't that your car sitting for a while is going to cause battery to self-discharge to the point of being so low its dead, which takes many months if not years. The problem is if you car sits for a few weeks, especially if its an older pack, some modules in the pack will discharge faster than other modules. So the red triangle and warning lights show up not because the battery pack is drained, but because the differences in voltages in each block are too extreme due to some modules self-discharging faster than others.

 

Park the car in shade, under a tree or something. Switch off Smart Key (button under steering column). Done.

I would probably drive the car at least 30min every 10 days - to preserve the 12V and because I do need groceries anyway.

And back to home office work it is...

 

a recipe for disaster for both battery’s,

 

I'll let you know when disaster has struck me.

 

Cant wait. Should be soon though.....

 

Damnit! Went to the car to pickup food, but car was dead-click-chirping. Licence plate light was synced with clicks. Interior lights dead. Had to use mechanical key to unlock door. Computer screen had strange message about brakes. Started right up with the fancy little 6000mAh jump starter (purchased several years ago...always wondered if it would work)! Now how long do I have to keep it running (in park) in the garage? Tomorrow buying trickle charger...

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About 16 - 20 hours.

In these times that is a very good idea. Keep that new battery charger on the battery whenever the car will not be driven for 3 days or more. Your 12 V battery will appreciate it. Make sure the charger is the type that is fully automatic multi-stage with an AGM setting.

 

Battery Tender vs Tender Plus vs DieHard\Schumaker vs Harbor Freight?

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