I have a 2015 Prius 4 that I have at a secondary residence. Sometimes I am gone as long as two months. I was told I could remove a fuse, maybe called the dome fuse that disables the battery thus saving the 12-V battery. What is the downside to this? Will a dealer have to reset things or will I be able to re-enter lost information? In public garage so cannot use battery tender or trickler as there is no available electricity. Any solutions if the fuse is not a solution?
i would have a 12v disconnect installed. but you will lose your settings. maybe you could connect a lithium battery under the hood.
Any significant amount of light in this public garage, or is it underground? You can get small solar panels that can help maintain the 12V system. On a Prius, it'd have to be directly wired to the battery, not to the cigarette lighter port, though. Most of the time, it'll probably be fine. Maybe get one of those jump start pack things and keep it in your car - if your battery dies while you're away, you can jump yourself. You'll lose a few settings, but you would anyway if you do anything else to disconnect the 12V battery. And if your battery doesn't die, you won't have lost any settings.
Yes, you could remove the DOME fuse. I suggest you fully-charge the 12V battery prior to vehicle storage, if at all possible. Since you don't have power at the garage this implies that you would remove the battery from the car and bring it to your residence so that a battery charger suitable for 12V AGM batteries can be connected. You could leave the battery in your residence during the period of your absence which would serve as a theft-deterrent measure for your car. There isn't much downside to disconnecting the battery - you may lose your trip odometer and radio settings, the driver's side window auto function may need to be reset. None of this is the end of the world. If you are not able to fully-charge the 12V battery, do not be surprised that the service life will be relatively short, and be ready to replace the ~$200 battery periodically. With the battery disconnected, the electric hatch opening switch will not function, so the hatch will need to be opened using the mechanical release. This requires you to crawl into the hatch via the rear seat to find the latch release after removing the hatch floor.
On the off chance that you are not ready to completely charge the 12V battery, don't be shocked that the administration life will be generally short, and be prepared to supplant the ~$200 battery intermittently.
The 12v battery does NOT need to be replaced every 2 or 3 years. Unless it's a really cheap one, or there is an excessive drain on the system that kills the battery. They should last at the least 5 years. The average seems to be 7 years.
Yeah it doesn’t. Mine lasted 7.5 years and I replaced it proactively before a long road trip. If I didn’t take that trip, I would’ve kept going.
