Dead 12v battery

yes, make sure you use a smart trickle charger of the right sort. and you're better off, driving it around isn't that effective. now that you've killed it, you're going to have to keep a closer eye on it in the future.

 

I installed low current draw led bulbs in the doors, map & dome lights to make up for the small 12v battery we have in the Prius.
I paid less than $10 for all of them on Ebay .
Hopefully interior led lighting will be standard in the next generation.

 

^^ With the other car, LEAVE THE ENGINE OFF!!!

Does your manual battery charger have several settings, such as a 2 Amp setting? Such low current should be OK.

Or crawl into the trunk area and use the mechanical hatch release inside. This is awkward, but do-able. Then you can remove the battery and safely charge it outside the car.

I changed all my interior lights to low current LED versions, allowing 5X to 10X more time to discover such a problem before the battery goes dead. This doesn't eliminate dead batteries, but should allow errors to go overnight without killing it.

 

If the capacity of the "old" charger is 6 amps or less, it will be just fine for a short term charge.
About 10 minutes will probably be enough to get it to start.

If, just as an example, the battery is rated at 12 Amp/hours, connecting a 6 amp charger for two or 3 hours should give it near to a full charge and there will be no real danger involved. The current the charger delivers goes down as the battery charge goes up.

 

6 Amp is too high !!! maybe the 10 minutes is OK but NO way to put it on for 3 hours !!! I think the manual says less then 4.2Amp

 

Get yourself some sort of smart charger with capacity 4 amp or a bit less, hook it up at the engine bay fuse box (follow hookup instructions carefully), leave it on till it indicates it's done and the battery is ok.

If it never gets there it's time for a new battery.

 

windows okay?

 

this timer thing is a brilliant idea.

 

In mine, the clock went to midnight, the A & B trips reset to zero, and the auto temp had to be reset.

 

Glad you got it started again fine.

Keep in mind, that having the battery go flat can damage it, more damage the more often it happens.

You can get a little smart charger like a Ctek which they say is smart enough to safely charge the battery back up, and desulfate it.

You can connect to the charge points under the hood or the battery terminals themselves in the back of the car. The way the Prius charges the 12 volt battery is such that this little charger is something that you might want to hook up every month or so depending on how often and for how long your drive the car to keep the 12 volt in good health over the years.

Roland

 

When you get a new charger, hook it up and fully charge your battery. Just to make sure it is fully charged!

 

Not sure. Just a quick glance at it's spec, max amperage is 7, which is more than the 4 amp you want. Not sure if it could be run at lower amperage? Also, seems kind of pricey at suggested retail $149.

I'm using CTEK 3300, which may be a bit out of date now, but it's the one that's still commonly available locally. Was $60 something when I bought, on sale. There might be a similar model, same 4 amp range, with a bit more bells-and-whistles, now.

Yeah, looking locally, I see now CTEK 3300 for $69, or CTEK multi us 4.3 for $79. Assume the latter is 4.3 amp. The 3300 is tried-and-true.

 

What model Prius and what page in the manual.
I don't believe that I have EVER seen the capacity of a battery charger specified in TENTHS of an amp.

 

Pages 434 and 567 of my 2012 Prius Three manual list a maximum charge rate of 5 amps.

I remember seeing the 4.2 amp limit in print. But because of Toyota's wonderfully concise Index, I can't find it now. It might have been in the manual for my previous 2010 Prius-II instead.

 

Found this on page 563 of my pdf of the 2010 Owners Manual: