Will park at LAX for 13 days. Dead battery for sure?

My guess is that your 12 volt battery will live for 13 days in LA temperatures.

In any event, as to jump starting the Prius, it's different from other cars in that you don't attach a jumper clamp directly to the Prius' 12 volt battery. Instead, inside the main fusebox under the hood there's a positive (red) jump terminal. It's tiny so you may have a little trouble attaching a jumper clamp to it, but it's doable.

See pages 643 - 645 of the Owner's Manual for complete instructions and illustrations for jump starting your Prius.

 

Check your owner's manual for instructions on how to disable your smart key (push-button under the dash by the steering column). I've had my 2006 parked for 25 days with no problem starting, providing you disable the smart-key function.

 

Not the same in the 2010...

 

That's true. But it stinks. Instead of continuing with the Gen II's easy button that allows the owner to deactivate and activate the SKS at will, Toyota tells the 2010 owner in the Owner's Manual to see your dealer. How inconvenient is that? It'd be easier for the 2010 owner to crawl into the back and disconnect the battery.

 

This was posted in this forum and supposedly works. I'll be trying it later this week...

 

WOW what a PIA. This is another reason I'm glad I just hanged on to my 08.

 

This does stink. How un-user friendly is that? The Prius should be designed to be idle for a couple weeks with no worry. And, if it's due to the Smartkey drain -c'mon... there should be a simple disable function for the driver. How simple could it be - I see the other post regarding programming girations --- who designed THAT - Microsoft? My car is in the airport parking lot right now for 10 days...better not have an issue.

 

The Prius *is* designed to sit for a couple of weeks without trouble. As for the SKS disable, it is now automatic. Actually it's been automatic for awhile, but for 2010 Toyota shortened the turn-off interval. There is no routine reason to ever go through the programming steps to turn off SKS. SKS turn off is provided for those who fear EMF issues from the SKS radio beacon (pacemaker, tinfoil hat, etc.)

Two weeks shouldn't be an issue. The problem is that the Prius has a small battery and a lot of electronics. The battery will not survive long if lights are left on or anything else of this nature. Enough PC members have killed batteries to make all of us paranoid. Even so, two weeks with a new Prius is a non-issue.

Evan makes an excellent suggestion: get a jumper box and air pump. It's cheap insurance for anyone that parks their car away from home.

Tom

 

Can you let us know what unit you have as I have been looking for something similar and wondered if you had a reccomendation on brand/model that has served you well. Thanks!

 

Great question for my dealer at the get together on Wednesday evening.

Then there is Amazon.com you can get a Battery Disconect switch for $13.25

 

Tom,

Thanks so much. Great info and reminds me I saw this a couple months ago here; possibly from you. Didn't make sense that Toyota would allow an engineering hole as that. So bottom line if the '10 Prius automatically disables SKS at some time, use the mechanical key for entry and all's the same from there.

 

I don't recall the details for the 2010, but I believe it's easier than that. I think grabbing the door handle reactivates the SKS, so the car will open as expected, only it takes a split second longer. Many remote systems work like this, since the natural human reaction is to try a second time when something doesn't work as expected.

Tom

 

Ok I take back my PIA remark......just when I was feeling better about not being able to get a 2010 LOL...:Cry:

 

Let it surprise you, but be sure to have a AAA card handy just in case.

 

You can't leave a Prius for two weeks without the battery draining? Something doesn't sound correct. If you disconnect the battery for an extended period of time won't that reset all the computers and stored information or is that written to some kind of memory. It screws up some cars to disconnect the battery for extended periods of time.

 

If I remember correctly from Hobbit's write up on replacing the 12V battery, the "dark current" was rather low, in the line of a good battery should be able to handle for a couple of months.
I don't think you have a thing to worry about, unless you reverse polarity trying to jump start it, then I think something bad could happen.
I wouldn't disconnect it, you will lose all your radio presets, mileage history etc.