Mechanical Key

You have to press the ". PUSH" end of the button in. The button "tilts" and the key slides out. Press on the bump.

 

The battery will be fine. I have parked for 12 days without any issues. Other people for longer. The keyless system will shutdown so you will need to open the car with the remote.

 

Do note that -if- the 12V battery dies you won't be going anywhere until you boost it. Even if you -do- manage to get in the car.
In this case, use the boost terminal under the hood (once you get in the car).

 

When I had my Gen II, we were away for over 2 weeks, came back to the airport parking place (Philly too), and had no problems at all. Haven't had the opportunity yet on my 2010 Prius, but I guess I find it hard to believe that this would be any problem at all too.

Not something you need to worry about.

 

There have been 2010 Prius threads about manually disabling the car from using up the battery to search for a fob via a button under the steering column, near the TPMS reset button. I agree that the car is supposed to stop looking after 3 days, but some have reported problems. Sorry, no first-hand experience to report here.

 

I parked for 3 weeks at the airport. I had only intended to be gone two, but the Icelandic volcano trapped me in europe for an extra week. Battery was fine, and the SKS worked too, i.e. I didn't need the fob to open the door, it just beeped as usual and unlocked the door. If the SKS was supposed to shut down, it didn't. I parked in the garage but amazingly the car was covered in a thick layer of pollen! Made me sneeze just to look at it...

 

The SKS shuts down, but pulling on the door handle starts it again. Generally you don't realize that it had been shut down.

Tom

 

Yup, just to clear up a couple of misunderstandings:
1. The GIII has no SKS off button.

2. The redesign or upgrade to the SKS system included a shorter wait till it "turns off" ("off" in this case means it doesn't look constantly for the FOB unless it gets woken up, such as by seeing the door switch - ie you pulled on it), and deleting the SKS off button, which was no longer needed due to the shorter "on" period.

3. There are now two SKS systems, one that works only on the drivers door, and one that works on both front doors and the hatch. GII had the second type only.

4. The lock switch has been "hidden" on the door handle (no longer a black rubber "button").

5. A healthy 12V battery WILL last for a month with the car not used, as long as you don't have an interior light(s) on, and haven't left the headlamps on by not opening the drivers door when you exit. The interior lamps will drain the battery after an extended overnight "rest", the headlamps will drain it in about 5-7 hours.
If you or the dealer have let the battery go dead and sit for a few days, it will NOT in my opinion, be "healthy". In other words, it will have less capacity once fully charged.

6. If you do fully discharge or nearly fully discharge the 12 V battery, do note it takes 3-4 hours of "ready" state to charge it back up, and to get it to "full" charge, probably closer to 10 hours. The 12V system voltage is set to about 13.8V, and that won't drive a lot of current into the battery, which is at the end of a rather long (for a car) cable. So it's gentle on the battery and it will take some time to fully charge it. Most cars run the 12V system at 14V or higher when they are running, and the battery is a few feet from the alternator output.

7. While the Prius doesn't use the 12V battery to crank the ICE, it does need it to power up the systems so it can use the traction battery to start the ICE. So a dead 12V battery means you are going nowhere! The good news is a "low current" boost at the underhood boost terminal will get you going and will start the 12V battery recharging from the traction battery (via the inverter/converter which has the 12V system charger built in). I say "low current" as it takes a short pulse of about 50 Amps. Most auto starters draw 100 to 200 Amps for 3-5 seconds. The Prius 12V battery can't supply that without danger of damage to it.

 

I wouldn't worry about it too much; I left mine for a month with no issues. (And then I installed a ScanGauge, which I think stayed powered on while the car was parked for a week, which drained the battery...)

 

I set my scanguage on "Hybrid" so it turns on and off with the car.

 

Mine's set to Hybrid too; it does indeed turn off and on with the car. My guess, however, is that it turned back on when I returned to the car after it had turned off, and perhaps didn't turn off again.

 

Anyone know what the smallest jump starter is needed for this car? I don't want to risk it for the next trip when my car will be sitting for 3 weeks without attention and was planning on getting one of those emergency jump starter batteries. I was planning on just getting a cheap one such as this one:

Black and Decker VEC010BD Start It 300 amp jump starter

It is only $50 and was wondering if that will that be enough? I figure it should be due to only having to charge the 12v enough to get the computers on. Right?

 

The Prius requires about 40 amps for a very short duration. That 300 amp booster is more than enough.

Tom

 

Thanks. Little piece of mind for the time when my car will sit around.