How to jump start the Prius C

You should have received an OWNERS MANUAL with your fine little new car.

In it should be a page that tells you how to locate the jumper points that are located in the engine compartment and are (more or less) plainly visible and easy to access.

AND if you haven't been in Fairbanks long enough to know this already.........almost NO VEHICLE will start at -50 F without taking some effort to plan ahead and do things like connecting a battery maintainer AND some kind of block heater.

P.S. Your local Toyota dealer would be happy to show you those connection points AND recommend what others do to ensure that their hybrids will run in the winter time.

 

so much for the pretty trolls.

 

Easy Rider:
"You should have received an OWNERS MANUAL with your fine little new car. In it should be a page that tells you how to locate the jumper points that are located in the engine compartment and are (more or less) plainly visible and easy to access. "

Re-read the OP's first paragraph, in which she tells you she has a 2012 model; like mine it does NOT have engine compartment jumper points.

GT-I9300 ?

 

WOW.....so much for Toyota's superior engineering expertise.

Does that mean that there is no "designated" point to make a (+) connection .........or that there really is not one that can be accessed reasonably ??

 

No flashlight in -50 Alaska at night amongst several people = Operator Error.

New car, new battery, but dead? From the cold?

 

the jumper point on a 2014 is a flat spade connector buried in plastic next to a 100AMP wire. did i mention it is ONE HUNDRED AMP !?! i hope the upgrade fix Toyota for 2012 has better safety for you. the 12v jump point 2014 on my c1 seems unacceptable already. and PLUS you have to GUESS where to connect the negative wire on the engine. or motor. or ICE. ? good luck

 

I don't understand your concern over 100 amps.
The spade "connector" probably is connected directly TO that 100 amp wire.

A normal car battery is capable of delivering 300 amps or more at the battery terminals.

 

good point and that makes good sense. too bad the connection itself seems to be inaccessable. maybe it needs special jumper cables.

 

If you see my avatar - it's 100 miles from the North Pole. Cars up North require a different set of procedures to keep them going. Battery tenders, engine block heaters and knowing where to do a jump start. This is standard knowledge unless you are a recent transplant….Cheechako.

 

Found jumpstart instruction, from 2012 Prius C Owners Manual, here:

http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM52B58U/pdf/sec_5-2.pdf

The jumpstart page:

 

Regarding step 4 above: they say to make the last cable to the negative battery post. I've always heard it should be to grounded bare metal on the engine or frame, ie: away from the battery, since it tends to spark. There might not be any decent bare metal in the vicinity, though.

 

All valid points. I stupidly left something on and next morning the bat was DEAD. After 3Prii I should know better right. Anyway, the design of that bat compartment is a disaster, totally annoying and just a bitch to do in the dark with a wrench in one hand and a flashlight in the other. it's almost as if Toyota is challenging you to remove the Battery. Anyway, I got it out, recharged it with a low current charger overnite and got it to 13 V plus. Reinstalling was even more difficult as the battery must be placed in one location that is only marked by a slight indentation in the metal floor. Also, Toyota thought it brilliant to partially enclose the whole bat with a clear plastic . It is a bit heavy duty, but still wants to slide. Fun,fun Toyota could have done much better. My VW Bug battery access was a vast improvement over this design. Why didn't I just call Toyota? Frankly I did not want to listen to their BS. From now on I keep the C locked also.


iPad ?

 

As with any Prius, I recommend a jump start pack, rather than a jump start from another car. Getting the cables wrong will do $4000 worth of damage, with a start pack, you have half as many ends.

www.amazon.com/Schumacher-XP400-Instant-Portable-Source/dp/B004EIDD2Q/

 

I don't think you need to remove the battery to charge it, I've never bothered, when doing a trickle charge on ours. The manual says to remove for charging, but maybe unneeded?

 

We have owned three Prius autos since 1999 and now have a V and I pick up my new C in two days. On the first three we owned we ended up replacing the factory 12V battery with a larger 12V battery with more cold cranking amps and more capacity. Not due to cold, we live in Texas, but because the cars would not crank after we came back from vacation or we accidently caused a power drain.

We are not even sure that the 2014 C or our 2012 V still need that mod, or can accept that mod, but I will check. If so we will do it again. I do not want my wife, or myself, stranded.

I must say that if I lived anywhere that got anywhere near zero degrees at anytime I would carry flashlights, glow sticks, blankets, gloves, hats, two way ham radios and/or cell phones, personal emergency locator beacons (that are usually supplied free for the asking to people in Alaska) and more flashlights. It is unfair to blame the engineers for such an event. They have to design and build these cars for people all over the world and not just for one person in one environment, at night, who does not carry a working flashlight. It is the owner's job to have familiarity with the the one machine that could save your life if you got caught out on the road somewhere all alone. God may make the wind but we must set the sails.

 

That's always a good idea.

You DO know that the battery doesn't HAVE to be removed to be charged......right ??
And if there are "connection points" under the hood, you don't even have to SEE the actual battery.
Unless of course you don't have an extension cord long enough to reach the car.

 

On my Gen2 I only have to pop a small plastic cover off under the hood and apply a 12V supply that is enough to power the computer. Then the HV battery starts the engine and begins to charge the main 12V battery. I kinda thought the C was the same, but never checked into it.

Maybe a Battery Tender with permanent connection rings installed would help you guys up North?

 

There is a thread on here that shows how to upgrade the 2012 fuse panel to include the jumper terminal. That's my next project.

 

Any updates on that project?