I am not sure how or why I killed my battery.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoMoShocks @ Jul 8 2007, 01:11 AM) [snapback]474972[/snapback]</div>

I get the three beeps when I leave mine on (usually on purpose). You do not need the pedal
to turn it off. If you turned the lights off at the same time, I cannot see where you went wrong.

Maybe a door wasn't shut all the way? I'm not sure what kind of beep pattern you would get
in that case.

 

You left an interior light on, or did not completely close the rear hatch, or pushed the power button more than once and left it in IG-ON or ACC instead of OFF.

Always lock the car: anything other than one short beep means you've made some mistake somewhere, and a dead battery is in your future if you don't correct it.

 

Dear Folks

I have installed some window tinting on my new Prius T-Spirit (see photo before and after). Anyhow, after three hours of the doors being opened my less-than-a-week-old Prius was dead, battery completely flat. I had to read the manual and jump start the car. Thank goodness there is a jump point under the fuse box.

BTW, I will take the wheel covers off when the dealer has supplied the grey alloy hub centers!

Regards

ANDREW (UK)



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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoMoShocks @ Jul 8 2007, 12:07 PM) [snapback]475114[/snapback]</div>

I agree with the reg. size car battery, maybe even a deep cycle battery would be nice to have since you actually don't spin a starter , but I guess that would not charge properly.
maybe the prius gurus could shed more light on the battery issue

 

You can put in a larger battery, but you will have to deal with putting in new battery cable terminals and re-doing the mounting hardware. You will want a sealed battery as well, either an AGM or Gel type. The AGM is "absorptive glass mat". An Optima yellow top in size 51 would be fine. It's larger than the Prius one but still fairly small, and is a spiral wound sealed AGM type. The yellow top indicates it's not for engine starting applications, but rather float applications, which is what the Prius use is. The Optima red top ones are the engine starter types. Some will tell you a vent tube is necessary, but the Prius runs the battery at 13.8 V so I doubt you would run into a problem with it venting.

You do not want either a sealed or unsealed lead acid battery with uncontrolled liquid electrolyte. In an accident they can be cracked and will leak acid into the car interior. AGM batteries will not drip anything if they are broken open and neither will gel batteries.

There will be no problem with charging from the Prius charging system.

 

Regarding the Prius 12 v battery, it is NOT a gel or AGM battery. I've had the 12 v battery out of my Prius and you can clearly see - and hear - the electrolyte sloshing around inside. The little vent tube is the only special thing about the battery.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoMoShocks @ Jul 7 2007, 11:11 PM) [snapback]474972[/snapback]</div>

I don't think that pressing the start button while reaching in through the window will turn the car off since the sks fob will be detected as outside the car; (my car is not available right now so I can't test that). I think that you would have to hold the button down for several seconds (emergency shutdown) in the situation you describe.

On the other hand, leaving the car on should not deplete either battery (unless its is also in neutral and doesnt run out of gas). The ICE will start as necessary to maintain SOC in the traction battery, which will charge the aux battery. The ICE will not start if in neutral.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(adchesney @ Jul 8 2007, 11:56 AM) [snapback]475108[/snapback]</div>

My father use to purchase Volvos in Europe, while working for 3 months, and then ship them back to the US. We went to pick up the car after the ship delivery to Chicago. The battery was dead and the car had nearly no gasoline (removed for safety during shippping? There is no gas at a shipping terminal. So we got a jump and drove to the nearest gas station and filled up. Of course we needed another jump and the gas attendant charged us for the jump while sitting at his station, nice touch.

But it occurs to me that a smallish battery might suffer the same fate during shipment. If sufficiently drained, the battery actually loses the ability to hold a charge. So it might be you had a small amount of battery capacity that ran down completely during your tinting. I guess I would suggest a new battery or at least a fully load test of the battery. Toyota should deliver a "good" battery with the new car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(adchesney @ Jul 8 2007, 10:56 AM) [snapback]475108[/snapback]</div>

is ur prius from out of town(USA) because it has that european turn signal on the side. and other things that are not standard here. such you dont have reflective yellow strips on your headlights... ACtually why is that standard here in the states?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jaqueh2 @ Jul 8 2007, 10:01 PM) [snapback]475299[/snapback]</div>

The poster with the red Prius and unusually long license plate info has this in his info box:

Group: Members
Posts: 8
Joined: 29-May 07
Member No.: 25,500
My Car: 2007 Prius
Package: T Spirit
From: London

Yeah, I'd say that's from out of town. lol

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BexarWolf @ Jul 8 2007, 08:25 PM) [snapback]475308[/snapback]</div>

You forgot to add that his steering wheel is on the right side of the car.

 

The heck with the car .......Nice summer house.

 

I think you left the car running and took the smart key with you.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(adchesney @ Jul 8 2007, 12:56 PM) [snapback]475108[/snapback]</div>

Andrew, your car looks great. Very sharp. Maybe you have heard this already but if you did end up draining your 12V battery it would be wise to give it a full charge with a home charger. From what I have read, the Prius is not the best at keeping the little 12V battery charged. If you just gave it a 'jump' it might have enough power to start the car, but not much else. Would be smart to make sure that little battery is at full charge so you don't have any trouble in the future.

-Peter B

 

Dear Peter B, et al,

Thanks for the advice - I will be driving some 900 miles down to Spain next week, I would imagine that this run will be sufficient to fully charge the 12v battery.

I will have roof bars and a top-box - so the MPG will be interesting to see - Ouch!

Regards to all

ANDREW (United Kingdom, that's in Europe )