Wife left IG-ON! grrrrrrrrr

No need to take it to the dealer.

Discharging the battery shortens the life. If your battery were a cat, it would be down to seven lives.

A slow charger is okay.

Tom

 

You might spank the wife too.

could be fun.

 

Strange! I thought if a Prius was left in IG-ON the ICE would keep cycling on to charge battery until the it ran out of gas.

 

ooh. I for one would like to know if that is indeed the fact.

 

Clearly she did not lock the car when she left it, or if she did she ignored the warning beeps. Not only did this drain the battery, it was also a security breach.

 

There are many posts on this site of people with SKS that have parked their car and walked away without pushing the start button only to come back hours later and found the ICE running.

As far as I know the only way to get into IG-ON mode is to press the start button.

 

well then I guess her husband will have to shoot her eh Richard?

I'm in the security feild but you are much tougher on people than I ever was!

 

NO. If the Prius is in the IG-ON mode, the ICE is not engaged, you must be in Ready mode for the ICE to have engaged (or be ready to go to recharge the battery).

The 2004 and later models have four modes Off, ACC, IG-ON & Ready. Two modes are reached with a foot on the brake pedal, the other two are reached without touching the brake. If you get in your Prius and -- without touching the brake pedal -- press the Start button, you'll notice the light on the Start button turns green and the MFD screen turns on (so will the radio if you've left it on when you had last turned off the car). Press the Start button again, the light turns to amber, and you've entered IG-ON mode. If you press a third time without touching the brake pedal, you'll cycle back to off. If you now press the brake pedal and touch the Start button, you'll see the "Ready" light come on and the ICD will engage after a few seconds.

I think I have an idea what happened here. It isn't too far fetched.

I believe this person, while pushing on the brake pedal or in Park pressed the Start button to turn off the car. Unfortunately, she likely "double punched" the Start button. The same effect, whether she was in Park or not. If not in Park, then she got the second punch in just as she took her foot off of the brake pedal, otherwise, the placement of the foot doesn't matter.

In any event, she probably noticed that the lights were coming back on again, and she pushed the button once more to turn the car off again. Not have her foot on the brake pedal at this point, she just followed the sequence of modes. The first hit of the "double punch" turned off the car. The second hit of the "double punch" put the car in ACC. The following press of the Start button (intended to turn the car off) moved from ACC to IG-ON. The sweet state when the car's electrical systems are fullly engaged, but no one has told the ICE to be ready to do anything.

It is an understandable mistake.

This is one reason I prefer to go through a routine wherein I put the car in Park before turning it off. This routine won't save me if I have a "double punch" and don't catch it, but the fact that I have a routine means that if anything out of the ordinary happens, I am alerted.

The other thing: I am in the habit of locking the car. The Prius will not lock (with the key fob or pressing the button on the door handle) if the car is left in any mode other than Off.

Hope this helps explain what may have happened!

a priori

 

Yes. That could be enough. I don't know that 4 hours would do it without having something other than the MFD engaged. Perhaps it was running the DVD Nav system or the radio was on (with the volume turned down)?

 

ACC mode shuts down automatically after an hour, turning off the radio and dome lights. Ig-On doesn't. The dome lights turn off automatically after a while. The cargo light does not turn off automatically. The headlights turn off when the driver's door is opened after the car is shut down. The headlights do not turn off if the driver's door is not opened or the lights are turned on in Ig-On.

 

Don't feel bad, I did the same thing TWICE in 3 days. Killed the battery for sure.
Note: We are talking about the wimpy 12v battery that powers the computer, MFD, windows, stereo, not the BIG driving battery.

1st time: Was detailing the car for more than 4 hours with stereo going and doors open. I thought I was safe by having the ignition on. I thought the BIG battery was charging the little battery. NOT. Had to put it on a overnight 2amp charger while it was still in the car. I used the convienent under hood charging points. (If you use a charger, ensure the car is completely off before charging and don't turn it on while it's charging).

2nd time: I went for window tint and since the battery had not completely charged up, the tinters killed the battery again by leaving the doors open for a few hours. This time I called the dealership who said just jump it, it should be okay. At the tint place, we put it on a 2amp charger for 25 minutes.

Eventually, I will replace the battery with an Optima, but until then, I see no adverse effects on the battery (although I haven't performed a cell check) and I routinely leave the car in READY with all brakes ON for hours while I detail it.

Hope this helps.

ZC1

 

I still think you should spank her. Does she have one of those cute little French Maid outfits? :evil:

Tom

 

Glad to have helped out.

You now know that one of the great things about PC is that you can always learn more. I thought I had a decent handle on this issue, and then I learned even more because you posted your question:

So: Thanks you Bill Merchant and to you, too!