Not Using Car for Three Months

Have it saved in my "Documents", but can't find it right now. When the Prii are shipped, there is a fuse or dummy fuse under the hood that is pulled so the vehicles can not go dead during shipping prior to delivery at port, and is the first task mentioned on their PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection sheet). Will post when I do find it, but that will give you direction on your search in the mean time.

While this info applies to Gen III models, I "believe" the Gen II's have a similar set up.

 

My third gen (no smart key switch) measured around 16~20 milliamperes with sporadic spikes to around 40. The spikes didn't seem to be in sync with the security icon, maybe smart key scanning? Not sure.

 

Sorry about that. For some reason I thought you meant the back of the car, not under the hood. That would work quite well.

 

Maybe a manually operated breaker switch on that under-the-hood positive lead.

So the 12 volt positive cable makes a beeline from the battery to the under-the-hood fuse box, no stops along the way? I wonder would third gen be the same.

The one sand-pounder, if you're considering installing such a switch for regular use: all the trip meters, radio presets, window auto-up parameters, are volatile, will be lost.

 

This isn't meant as a reply, but rather to bump this idea back up into circulation.

Guys, I really think this is the best advice I've read in this thread. Modern transceiver keys are really rough on auto batteries. The same problems are now being reported on rough & ready Subarus. Why? Because they also adopted radio keys with pushbutton starters in recent years.

Those radio systems represent a significant and continuous drain on the vehicle 12v system- way more than the previous generation of receivers for simple lock/unlock/panic horn.

I wasn't aware that Toyota put a switch in the cockpit to disable the system, but if they did it right that's a very obvious solution to this problem.

One of the reasons my wife and I specifically picked the "two" trim of the c we just bought was to avoid smart keys and low battery situations. She is frequently parking the car at airports for 4+ days in all weather. So far so good.

In combination with even a basic low-cost jump pack I think you've got a solid 90-day solution there @ajayre

 

The idea of turning off SKS in a Gen2 to preserve 12v was something stressed by eLearnAid.com, whereas eLearnAid.com was the common supplier of the Optima Yellow Top 12v back in the days when Gen2 owners needed an adapter kit to fit the larger terminals of the Optima 12v's.

Gen3+ is designed to automatically turn off SKS after a few days (no button needed). And Optima later designed a version of the 12v with the thinner-style terminals used on the Prius. Though I still use the fatter terminal version. I can go either way on it.

 

i have never had an issue with the sks draining the battery to unacceptable levels in a 2004, 8 or 12.

what i do see a lot of here is people who have degraded their battery by leaving a light on, then having problems on a regular basis because the battery needs replacement and they cannot affair/don't want to replace it

 

All this....OR...
The OP could just buy a Toyota Corolla and call it even.

Hey, I love the Prius, but sometimes you have to factor in lifestyle and convenience. 3 weeks to 3 months routine absences, maybe would make me think Hybrid Ownership just isn't copacetic with my life at the moment.

 

I had a late-model Toyota Corolla loaner within the last year. Not sure why but I hated it; drove it all of one km, from the bodyshop, to home, and back the next day. Everything felt heavy/clunky on it. Maybe just Prius chauvinism, not sure.

 

Leave the car at home with a trickle charger and use an Uber.

 

Doesn't help: in post 3 he says car's "home" is on the street.

 

That's all well and good but..................
IF your battery is old and weak to start with and/or it is not fully charged to start with............
That switch might not do much good anyway if the "down time" is long enough.

 

well done, all the best!

 

Maybe just leave the switch in there? Or for sure somewhere in the car, say the glove box.

 

Agreed, don’t take that key with you. Murphy’s law says you will lose it somehow.
My vote is to put it in the “secret compartment”. Practally nobody knows about that one.

 

I'm kinda interested in this too. The big negative: all the memories are lost, trip meters, radio presets, possibly the windows' ability to do one touch close. And subtle things: I've noticed an odd engine rev-up at start-up, for the next 2~3 start-ups, after doing a battery disconnect. I wouldn't want to use this on a regular basis, but for a protracted parking at airport, yeah.

The mechanic who put in your switch is probably right, that the connection from positive terminal to the under-hood fuse box is "express", not side trips. Hopefully.

You could test by hooking up a multimeter in series, between the neg battery post and ground. With the installed switch "closed" (normal condition) you'll likely be seeing around 20 milliamps (phantom drain) on the meter. Then turn the installed switch to "open", and the millamps should drop to zero.