Looking for battery booster for 12V

welcome!

checking the car while it is on only tests the inverter, not the battery.
after the car has been off for a good few hours, check the battery at the terminals, or the jump point under the hood.

booster pack is a great idea, i'm not familiar with any particular model, but others here will be along with reviews.
all the best!

 

Without opening any of the doors and not having the FOB nearby.
That means unlatching the hood well in advance.

The "jump box" you listed should be fine.....as would a lot of other similar ones.
If you use it correctly, there is little to no danger.
If you hook it up backwards, all bets are off.
Some of the better ones have automatic polarity protection and will "save" you from a stupid mistake.

 

I had a Clore JNC660 for a number of years, the older model without built-in "auto" charger, meaning you had to guesstimate how long to plug it in for recharging. That was hit-or-miss and likely contributed to it's battery going. I took advantage of a refurb offer ($50 plus shipping), and when it got back passed it onto my son with a clearer charging mandate.

I also picked up another for myself, the same model, but updated with the built-in auto charger, which basically means you can plug it in and leave it on a day or two, without fear of overcharging. Anyway, it's always worked for me, is fairly high cranking capacity, and while fairly heavy/bulky, is quite flat: fits nicely the hatch under-floor tray.

Jump Starters - 1700 Peak Amp Volt JNC660 | Call us at 1-800-328-2921 |Clore Automotive

It might be overkill for your application, but it's a good bang-for-the-buck charger.

Addendum: Looked it up on Amazon: yikes the prices have been climbing; you might be better to stick with your pick.

 

Can't resist saying:

You should concentrate on "helping yourself" change the behavior that kills the battery in the first place.

Then.....owning a small automatic battery charger to fully recharge it after one of these episodes would be a good thing too......as the system in the car really wasn't designed to recover the battery from a full discharge.

 

15A is WAY too big......and expensive.

Fully automatic small battery maintainers/chargers usually come in 2 amp and 4 amp capacities.......and are perfectly safe to leave connected for LONG periods of time, like indefinite storage.

They can be connected at the same points where you jump without disconnecting or removing anything.

P.S. From the prices quoted, I think you are looking at jump boxes with MUCH more capacity than you need for a hybrid vehicle.
Even one designed to be used on a large motorcycle should be plenty.

 

I'd have to admit, when I was shopping chargers, some macho stirring probably moved me up the levels a bit...

 

You don’t have to open the hood way before checking the battery.
Open it in the am to check.

First thing in the am before starting the car open the hood and on the right side is a black plastic fuse box. Take that cover off inside is a red plastic cover.
That cover flips open to the right it has tiny little latch on it. Don’t force it. Flip it up.
Under the red cover is a little vertical metal tab. That the positive (red)
Battery connection. That’s connected directly to the positive battery post in the trunk. That’s where you put the test leads to your voltmeter and your red lead on the jump pack, there’s a bare nut on the metal chassis right above that black box. That’s chassis ground the black side of the battery. That’s where you Attach the volt meter black lead or jump pack black lead.

You have the same behavior as most people who have consistent battery failure on this site and that’s they do not lock the car with fob every time you get out. Especially in the garage.
And you do not peek at the car before going to bed.
If you attempt to lock the car and any door is ajar it will not let you arm the car.

Also the Prius throws an alarm when the battery is going to fail. It throws a big red exclamation point on the dash during boot up. Its very noticeable as it is not part of the bulb check boot up routine. It’s only onfor a second it flashes at you during boot up. That means your battery is less that 10.5 volts and will soon leave you.

 

Do not all models require you to open a door to get to the hood release INSIDE THE PASSENGER COMPARTMENT ??
If not all, a lot of them do.

That door opening "wakes up" some of the computer systems and presents a fair load to the battery.
During that period you are NOT measuring the battery with no load.

And your description of where the jump point connections are and what they look like certainly does not match my C.

 

+1. I've got the earliest, puniest "Micro-Start" that Antigravity Batteries made, bit bigger than a deck of cards, works fine. Used it to start somebody else's big decrepit full-size van once in a parking lot, too.

Because the Micro-Start kinds of things are lithium, I do make an effort to buy them somewhere (like Antigravity Batteries' own site) I don't think I'll be getting a cheap knockoff....

-Chap

 

I'm still not convinced that is a good thing to advertise that they are capable of.
Did you by any chance feel the wires right after that jump to see how HOT they were ?
If it takes more than a few seconds for the "dead" vehicle to start, I suspect that those tiny little leads might go up in smoke.

 

That's good it puts a little load on the battery that removes the surface charge.

And yeah I don't doubt the jump point area is different than your C. This is a Gen2 forum. The OP has a 2008. You should go back to the C forum I'm sure there all missing you over there.

 

I did, in fact, as I was unhooking right away after the engine started, as directed (they don't want the car's charging system to pump into the lithium battery directly through the jump port for very long; there's a different port you're supposed to use for charging).

The puny model I have ("only" 200 amps, peak of 400) is advertised (by Antigravity, not by me) for starting engines up to a 5.7 liter V8. (I don't know if they mean on a night like this!)

Nope, they're a bit hardier than you think, and they do have protective components of some sort built in (I haven't pried them open to see exactly what). That could be one area where corners might be cut in the lower-cost knockoffs and counterfeits (somebody did report ordering an Antigravity model from Amazon and getting an obvious counterfeit; I went straight to Antigravity's site to buy mine).

They also offer "smart" leads as an upgrade, with additional protective features, such as reverse-polarity detection.

Hmm, I might even buy those. I remember it took me a long time to find the + and - on that van battery.

The looks on that family's faces were pretty funny as I plucked this card-deck-sized thing out of my glove box and walked toward their van with it. They were even funnier when the van started.

-Chap

 

There’s no later. I would replace that battery. Stop exposing the car to jump starts it’s so easy to
Cause extreme damage to a prius with a bad jump start.

You can try charging it. Use those front jump points to charge it. Then do your volt test on it after a full charge. Then with the car turned off turn on Headlights and make them high beam bright and measure again. That load test will test the batteries ability to provide proper voltage under load. Post both the tests.

 

ya, that's a problem. best thing would be to not kill it in the first place.