Jumpstarting my wife's dead Mercury Tracer

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Aug 1 2006, 09:43 AM) [snapback]295707[/snapback]</div>

The prius 12v battery is designed to operate the electronics, not start the ICE. The instructions in the manual are for jump starting the Prius not how to jump start a regular car with the prius.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Aug 1 2006, 09:43 AM) [snapback]295707[/snapback]</div>

You've already heard from others - no you are not suppose to jump start other cars with your Prius.

But what I want to address is when jump start another car, (normal cars!) the proper procedue is to NOT use the black side (negative) of the battery to hook up. Connect the Red (positive) of one battery to the red of the other battery first. Then connect the black (negative) cable to the engine block - pick a bolt any bolt or strut - as far away from the battery as possible. This is for reason of safety. The finally connection made usually produce some sparks - and if done at the terminal battery can result in ignitin hybrogen gas emitting from the battery.

 

I've used my 06 Prius to jump start my wife 01 Honda Accord 6 times (bad battery, alternator going bad...) and every single gime it worked like a regular jump. I connected the red cable to Prius' jump post (in the fuse box), black cable to ANY metal part of the Prius (find a non-coated, not painted bolt), then connect the other ends of the jumper cable: red to + and black to - connectors of the battery in another car; leave Prius in "READY" and go start the other car. Simple procedure.

 

:mellow: There is *ABSOLUTELY NO WAY* I would use my Prius to jump start another car. The very small 12v Prius battery (about the size of a motorcycle battery) does not have enough power to run the starter motor on a 'standard' car. Such jump starts will undoubtedly put excessive strain on the Prins 12v battery shortening its life. I might very reluctantly consider "jumping" another Prius.

The Prius auxiliary (12v) battery is also very expensive to replace... just not a good idea to put unnecessary stress on it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Charles Suitt @ Aug 2 2006, 09:53 AM) [snapback]296358[/snapback]</div>

If you're not comfortable jumping another car with the Prius (totally understandable), the safest way to get the other car started is to connect the jumper cables normally, but just let the Prius slowly recharge the other car's 12v battery (without cranking the other car's engine). This puts no strain on the Prius and is completely safe (it does take 10-15 minutes however, rather than an "instant" jumpstart).

Dave

 

Jumping another car w/Prius is somewhat hazardous, but certainly can be done in an emergency. As already mentioned above, having the Prius in 'Ready' and trickling the power into the dead battery for 10-30 minutes is safe, unless there is a short circuit in the recipient vehicle. Then disconnect cables and try to crank the dead car.

Be extremely certain that you get the cable polarities correct. People have done expensive damage to their Prius by getting this wrong.

If you leave the jumper cables connected and run the other car's starter motor, there is a risk of drawing more than 100 amps and also doing expensive damage to your Prius.

I suuggest that Prius jumper cables should be made with smaller-gauge wire (maybe 18 ga speaker zip cord) and have an inline 20 or 30 amp fuse. It would be hard to do Prius damage with that.

 

i dont see the problem in putting the prius in ready mode and cranking the other car just to get started, its just a 12 volt battery, on my 01 prius i didnt bother installing the "special" 12 volt battery, i just converted it to standard sized lugs, which i will do to my 05 prius when the 12v batt goes bad.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Aug 1 2006, 09:43 AM) [snapback]295707[/snapback]</div>

You got lucky. You did it the right way by accident. Running the Prius does not increase the amps across the terminal. That is what you need to crank a car when you jump. Trying to charge the battery up with the Prius is the only way to go and that takes time. There is just not enough amps to crank a big engine with the Prius. As others have stated the only purpose for the 12 v battery is to power up computers so everything else can happen. Think of it as a uninterruptable power supply for your computer system. It gets it "on line" until the main power comes on!

 

You're not supossed to..... just kidding. do what you wish.

I attempted to jump start a friends van. His was way over death.. but we gave it a try.. turn the prius on fully. connect red to red. connec ground to frame or frame bolt.. no bolt near the red.. big no no. that's probably still positive. Have the prius in Ready if you wish.. you'll get a full boost tot he prius battery. If you want, go to the display. Hit display button. and tap Inner: top Left, Bottom Left, Top Left, Bottom Left, Top Left, Bottom left. It may only be two sets. *Shrug*.. go to vehicle diagnostics.. or.. vehicle status.. not sure what it's called. It will list your 12v power.

Anyways.. hook up the jumpers and let he other car sit for a good 10 mins. Dont' every try to start the other car. Now that's stupid. don't want 10 to 15k in damage. It will be completly your fault too. Your voltage will reflect, in a way, what the other car is doing. My buddies car had a volt meter, so we were able to turn to accessory mode to see where he was at.. disconnect battery.. check.. re connect.. or a volt meter *Shrug*.

only try starting the car while solely on his battery.

that's all for now.. live long and prosperious.... or.. pious

Little after note: having the prius fully on.. only re plenishes the 12v battery. unless i'm remembering wrong.. the hybrid battery keeps the 12v charged. it would take a prius tech to convince me otherwise. Even then.. i've met a few dumb ones at my local dealer.. *cough*... i should work there <bitter>

 

You lucked out, so better not bitch and moan about the Prius not being able to boost a conventional car. First of all, take out the rear floor cover and tray, the way you would to get to the donut spare. You have to remove the spare to check the pressure anyway, as the valve stem points down, and this would be a good time to do so.

To the passenger side you can barely see the tiny 12 vdc battery. Careful prying of the trim pieces and you can expose the battery. Looks like a lawn tractor or snowmobile battery, doesn't it? All it has to do is run the HVAC cabin fan, computers, lighting, radio, and brake boost pump. Everything else on the Prius, including starting the ICE, is done with the high voltage NiMH battery.

I would never offer a boost to another car, no matter if a Prius or a "normal" car. When you consider the huge load, especially if the dead car driver attempts to crank, and the potential damage done to the inverter/converter, ECU, etc, it simply is NOT worth it.

However, to CYA and to be a Good Samaratin, I bought one of those Canadian Tire booster packs, which claims 700 amps of cranking power. I take it out of the car once a month to top off the charge, and immediately whenever I have to use it.

I've used it several times in winter, boosting a Dodge minivan, an older Chevy fullsize pickup, and a Ford Taurus. It easily fired up the dead vehicles. If worse comes to worse, and I happen to fry the Canadian Tire booster pack, I'm only out $70.

I had a Canadian Tire 500 pack for my 2000 GMC Sierra that I agreed to let go with the truck. I would never have attempted boosting anybody with my truck either. Just not worth the potential damage to the good vehicle, espeically a cooked ECU or alternator.

Ever see a doofus "test" the jumper cables by touching the clamps together to make a spark? It should be a legal requirement to hook the clamps to his genitals. Can you imagine the voltage spikes that introduces to the ECU/PCM and alternator??

 

There's no reason you can't jump another car with the Prius. I've had the same positive experience as CrazyRussian. I jumpstarted a coworker's Porsche with no problems. The key is to use the terminals provided in the engine compartment for jumping and having the car in Ready mode when the car with the dead battery attempts to start.

While I don't doubt that there is a 100A fuse between the inverter and the 12-volt battery, the fact that I was successfully able to jump start a Porsche, which will draw 150 amps or more when cranking, seems to indicate that positive terminal in the fuse box is fused at something siginificantly higher than 100A and that the inverter is capable of providing a lot of amps...

Jayman said:
"To the passenger side you can barely see the tiny 12 vdc battery. Careful prying of the trim pieces and you can expose the battery. Looks like a lawn tractor or snowmobile battery, doesn't it? All it has to do is run the HVAC cabin fan, computers, lighting, radio, and brake boost pump. Everything else on the Prius, including starting the ICE, is done with the high voltage NiMH battery."

This isn't entirely accurate. While those items do all run off of 12vdc, the power for them is actually via the inverter which of course is hooked up to the HV battery pack. And the 12 volt battery is [re]charged via the inverter. The main purpose of the 12 volt battery is mostly to boot the computers and activate the HV system in the car. While the car is off, there is some draw off of the 12 volt battery for things like the Smart Key System, door locks, alarm, coolant pump, etc. But those are all minimal draw. When the car is in Ready mode, it doesn't touch the 12 volt battery other than to keep it charged.