Dead Battery Help please.
 

I left my car with a light on for an entire week, the battery is dead. How can I restart the car? do I need to contact the dealer? or I am not sure If I can use cables to jump stat the 12 V battery on the trunk?

Thanks

Re: Dead Battery Help please.
 

Re: Dead Battery Help please.
 

About a year ago I ran my 12 volt battery down. I put a $39 charger I bought at Walmart on it. I set it to a 2 amp charge. My wife and I drove her pickup to town to eat and do some shopping. Once we got back I tried, and the TCH started right up.

Word of caution, be careful with the polarity of any battery when using a charger.

Everything in the car that uses 12 volts runs from this deep cycle battery. That includes the ECU and is why the car won't boot up when the battery is dead.

I found little things like if the ignition is not off, the door locks seem to refuse to lock. Somebody, maybe haroldo said to make sure the digital clock on the dash is off before getting out of the car. I have caught myself many times getting out and the ignition not being off. I glance at the clock every time I get out of the car.

Re: Dead Battery Help please.
 

You should have no problem jump-starting it. The instructions should be found in the user manual. Let me guess - was it one of the rear-seat reading lights that was left on?

Re: Dead Battery Help please.
 

I would suggest that a battery charger on a lower setting (2 amp) be used, if at all possible. While the manual gives the procedure for jump starting, the monitoring circuitry in the battery, or the battery itself, might be damaged with the high current involved in a jump.

Thoretically, there sould be no problem with jumping, but I'm a little paranoid with all the computers involved in as 'technologically advanced' a car as this. I'm not saying 'no jumps', just make it a second or third option, after trickle charge or high current charge. I would say this of any vehicle, due to the possibility of free hydrogen gas plus sparks equals boom!

When charging a battery with a high current as in a jump, the heat involved and the chmical reaction involved can release a sizable amount of H2. The higher the current, the more gas released. Lower charge rates still release gas, but in slower, lower concentrations. The heat produced can also cause warping of the plates in some circumstances.

I've been around batteries way too much, probably, and am in all likelihood too cautious by far. I've seen some BAD THINGS happen, so I tend to err on the side of safety.

OF COURSE, THE FIRST RULE IS TO TRIPLE CHECK YOUR POLARITIES (don't ask how I know this :embarass: )

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Remember: Paranoia is a survival tactic.

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I'm sorry if this sounds patronizing, but I have a fault in that I tend to just 'dump' information in hope that someone may be able to use the info.

Re: Dead Battery Help please.
 

I saw somewhere about a year ago, where you can jump start the 12 volt trunk battery using a 12 volt lantern battery. Everything would have to be turned off. Then the 12 volts would boot the ecu when you pressed the power button.

It's the large traction battery that actually starts the engine.

Re: Dead Battery Help please.
 

Jimmy,

You are correct. You only need enough power to boot the computer and then the main traction battery will start the engine. I have seen one guy boost an older Prius off by using two 6 volt lantern batteries wired in series (to get to 12 volts). He had to make sure that everything else was off, but it got him started.