Portable Jump Starter

Mine works fine. Can't think of anything keyless start would have to do with it. You might have to go into a little more detail of what you are doing and what you see when you do.

Mine came with clamps that are only electrically connected on one side (even though they have metal jaws on both sides, one of the jaws on each clamp isn't connected). On a Gen 3 or earlier, where the jump point under the hood has metal only on one side, it's necessary to pay attention to which side of the clamp is which. If you're using a Gen 4 and just clamping to a battery terminal, that might be a non-issue.

 

I've used mine twice, but never on one of my own cars. The first one I used it on was a friend's parents' Gen 3 Prius. Worked just fine. Keyless start wouldn't have anything to do with it. It puts 12V+ on your battery like any other jump starter. The other was an old Ford Tempo who asked me to help.

Did you have a green light on the Weego?

 

No, mine's an Antigravity, but nearly identical design.

I just read through the manual on Amazon for the Weego, and it does seem to be missing a feature that a lot of the other similar packs have: a button on the "smart clamp" body that can be pressed to override the voltage detection. Ordinarily, mine will detect battery voltage and go green automatically, confirming that the polarity is right, but in some cases where the car's battery is really, really dead, it won't, and then the override button has to be pressed to force the connection, and it lasts for 30 seconds. The button should not be pressed unthinkingly, because it also overrides the whole anti-reverse-jumping protection built into the unit, and reverse-jumping a Prius can be costly.

I notice the language you quoted about keyless was from some Joe Customer's review, not from Weego. Have you contacted Weego to ask if Joe Customer was right about how their product works? That review does not mesh with my understanding of how these devices work.

It might be better insurance to have one of the devices with an override button, just so you're not without options if you connect it up and the green LED doesn't light. But here you've said you do get the green light, so that doesn't seem to be your issue. Was the Weego fully and recently charged?

If you do replace it with another brand, beware of counterfeits. I bought my Antigravity straight from their web site, because there were reports of people buying through Amazon and getting obvious counterfeits. A counterfeit product with a big lithium battery would seriously not be a thing I want in my car.

 

it might not be the jump starter (although it might not be charging fully, can you test the voltage?)

it might not be your 12v that is the problem (although, a shorted cell might prevent the jump starter from working)
it is definitely not because it is a hybrid. you are simply applying 12 volts, as a good battery would.

 

i'd say the weego isn't providing 12 volts, or is not making good contact

 

I've got the old original dinky one (XP-3?) they were selling on clearance several years back. There's a current XP-3 but mine's the older one.

Your video definitely looks like the car is drawing more power than your Weego is supplying, trying to complete bootup of things, and caught in a cycle of that. Have you made sure to turn off as many electric loads in the car as you can? I've also been known, in dire circumstances, to pull the fuses or relays that power the brake pressure pump, and just put them back after the car is successfully readied.

Sometimes there can just be extra resistance in the contact your clamps are making with the posts; I've got a habit of wiggling them around some to make a better connection.

Two volts on the car's battery is really low. A bunch of power from your Weego is just being slurped into there.

 

I noticed that, too. It's a really dead battery. But with the green light, I'd think it ought to work.

I noticed on the video that even before you hit the start button, @Mattheww, the "Auto" light was blinking on the climate control system as well as all the dash lights. It's like it was doing it as soon as you opened the door, or maybe even before that. Was the car in ignition or accessory mode?

 

disconnect the battery and connect the weego to the terminals

 

is that 12v while it's trying to boot up?

 

I had noticed that myself in another Prius. Drop out the 12 volts abruptly while it's on, and when you restore the power the car's like your desktop computer with the "return to last power state after outage" setting checked.

I've gotta say, I think it's kind of funny to build a car that way.

 

And, while it's disconnected, test the battery voltage.

 

What if you connect the weego and then hit the start button once or twice with your foot off the brake pedal. I wonder if it'll have enough oomph to cycle through the modes to OFF.

 

I've got two of the original Antigravity Xp3's and one Xp1.

All three are six years old. They hold a charge for at lest six months and still work perfectly.

There use the universal EC5 connector, which I still prefer over the new proprietary designs.

For my Prius, I took an EC5 pigtail and attached lugs to it to connect directly to the battery.

In an emergency, there can be no mistake of connecting it wrong.