Does it take a special connector for jumper cables, as I have been told, to use jumper cables on a Prius? What are the details? If so, where can I get them? thanks
nothing special in the cables per se...but be careful in jumping other cars. Getting a jump from another car is easy. Use the 12 V (connector?) jump point under the hood, over far right under the red tab/cover. for negative use the bolt that holds the front strut, very near the red 12 V tab/cover. I've successfully jumped a mini-cooper: make sure the Prius is in Ready mode and connect jumper cables like normal. Press the gas pedal in the Prius and get the engine to run, maybe 5 minutes. disconnect all cables, THEN try to start other car. Under no circumstances should you attempt to start the dead car with the Prius connected! Repeat if the car won't start. I did this twice and then enough juice went into the mini-cooper to get them on their way. YMMV, of course.
Your safest bet would be to purchase a portable jumpstart device (which is plugged into 120VAC house current for recharging). Then you can carry that around in the hatch, and use that if needed on the Prius. If called upon to be a Good Samaritan, you can use the portable device without any concern about damaging the Prius.
It is not necessarily the case that pressing the gas pedal, in Park, will charge the HV battery, if that is what you are indicating. A force charge is done by going into D, with the brake pedal pressed, and then pressing the accelerator pedal. Running the engine up on a donor car is the usual practice, as that gets the alternator up to speed. There is no alternator in the Prius as in a conventional car, so it does not need to have the engine running. The 12V system is charged from the HV system, and will send charge into another 12V battery connected in parallel. If the HV battery gets too low in the process, the Prius will automatically run the engine as required to keep the HV battery sufficiently charged, without any intervention from the driver.
Gen 3 demo. OP has a Gen 2. The Gen 2 positive terminal under the red cover is a little smaller and somewhat more of a challenge to attach the positive clamp for some jumper cables (the clamp can be too big for the terminal).
Never jump start another vehicle with your Prius. Use a jump pak as mentioned. (Jumping wrong will cost you about $4000) Use the jump pak you have to start others to start you Prius. (Or get 'smart' cables that can never be wrong, but they are not cheaper than a jump pak) Amazon.com: Michelin 5100 Smart Jumper Cables with Surge Protection: Automotive Schumacher IP-55 Instant Power 5-Ah Portable Jump Starter : Amazon.com : Automotive
