Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
Yesterday, my husband and I awoke to find that our other car, a Saturn, had a dead battery due to an accessory being left on. We decided to use the Prius to jump it.
We looked under the hood, then realized, "Oh crap, there's no battery up here!" We got out the book from the glovebox and started reading. We discovered you could use the battery in the trunk. We backed the car in, and opened the trunk. On the left side, we took off the panel covering the battery. We hooked the cables up. The Saturn started immediately when we turned the key over. That was the coolest experience.. We didn't have to get all dirty from under-the-hood grime. We didn't have to rev up the Prius to give the Saturn some juice. In fact, as much battery power as the Prius has, its probably the best car EVER to give someone a jumpstart. Just thought I'd share... :) |
Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
Always be careful about the polarity. The auxillary battery provides power to the expensive control computers. Reverse polarity can be a disaster.
Bob Wilson |
Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
In addition to polarity cautions (above), it is best practice to disconnect the jumper cables before cranking the other car. In other words, use the Prius only to 'trickle charge" the other car. This may require 15 minutes or longer. Then disconnect and try starting the other car to see if enough power has been added to its battery. If not you could try again, the same way.
If you leave the Prius connected there is a possibility that more than 100 amps will be drawn from the Prius, and you are going to wish that had not happened. DAS |
Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
I've had a few "instant jump start" experiences with my HCH. It's great being able to help out a stranger in need and then be able to talk about hybrid technology at the same time!
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Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
Does revving up the engine ever help? I jumped a few cars in my life (trying to work off some automotive bad karma) and each time, jumpee car started right away. Just make sure you know how to connect the cables, ie. negative cable on the jumpee part to ground, not to the negative terminal. Pretty much every time I happened on boost going wrong, that was the issue and each time I changed it, the car started right up.
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Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
I don't no if they did the same thing to the 2001 Prius but the 2006 has a connection under the hood on the right side in the back you remove a cover and there is a conection for the positive side connection for jumping the battery without going to the trunk.
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Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
Originally Posted by gpirkl
I don't no if they did the same thing to the 2001 Prius but the 2006 has a connection under the hood on the right side in the back you remove a cover and there is a conection for the positive side connection for jumping the battery without going to the trunk.
Bob Wilson |
Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
Originally Posted by gpirkl
I don't no if they did the same thing to the 2001 Prius but the 2006 has a connection under the hood on the right side in the back you remove a cover and there is a conection for the positive side connection for jumping the battery without going to the trunk.
Originally Posted by juicius
Does revving up the engine ever help?
Originally Posted by fyrelight74
In fact, as much battery power as the Prius has, its probably the best car EVER to give someone a jumpstart.
I think the owner's manual says NOT to jump other cars though if you just trickle charge another 12V and disconnect before attempting to start the dead car, it should be fine (just make sure the Prius is in Ready mode). |
Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
Originally Posted by fyrelight74
Yesterday, my husband and I awoke to find that our other car, a Saturn, had a dead battery due to an accessory being left on. We decided to use the Prius to jump it.
We looked under the hood, then realized, "Oh crap, there's no battery up here!" We got out the book from the glovebox and started reading. We discovered you could use the battery in the trunk. We backed the car in, and opened the trunk. On the left side, we took off the panel covering the battery. We hooked the cables up. The Saturn started immediately when we turned the key over. That was the coolest experience.. We didn't have to get all dirty from under-the-hood grime. We didn't have to rev up the Prius to give the Saturn some juice. In fact, as much battery power as the Prius has, its probably the best car EVER to give someone a jumpstart. Just thought I'd share... :) Also, there is a battery terminal available (only the +-positive side) under a cover in the front engine compartment on the driver side. Use that to hook up the + side and the - side should be any metal part on the engine. The hook up is actually for another car to jump start the prius. Hooking up a jump cable to the battery directly (+ and - side) is dangerous - very. The last connect always result in some sparks and operating lead acid batteries have HYDROGEN gas emitting (remember the Hindenburg?) So, the last connection should always be made far away from the battery - to the body or the engine and since the Prius body is mostly plastic, it's should be the engine. So, please don't use the battery in the back - use the connection made available to you in the front. |
Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
If you jump another car with the Prius, under no circumstances shoudl the Prius be hooked up to the other vehicle when starting the other vehicle is atempted. You can blow all kinds of fuses in the Prius by doing any kind of conventional jump start with it.
Go out and get one of those dedicated jumping packages from an auto supply store or Costco. Keep it in the Saturn or the Prius or in the garage and use it to jump a dead car, but never use the Prius. Just because you were successful this time, doesn't mean you will be the next time. |
Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
JeromeP, I call BS on the fuse blowing comment. If the prius is off you cannot blow ANY fuses jumping another car because there are no fuses between the prius batt and the dead batt. and that is the only place current is flowing.
The only part I don't know is if you jump with the prius on or ready will the 12v converter between the big batt and the 12v batt current limit to protect the wiring to the 12v batt in the prius or is there a fuse? |
Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
Originally Posted by mg48
JeromeP, I call BS on the fuse blowing comment. If the prius is off you cannot blow ANY fuses jumping another car because there are no fuses between the prius batt and the dead batt. and that is the only place current is flowing.
Originally Posted by mg48
The only part I don't know is if you jump with the prius on or ready will the 12v converter between the big batt and the 12v batt current limit to protect the wiring to the 12v batt in the prius or is there a fuse?
http://hiwaay.net/%7Ebzwilson/prius/priups_01.jpg I suspect the NHW20 has a simular fusing arrangement. CLARIFICATION AND CORRECTION: 1) If the other vehicle has a weak, partially dead battery, recharging from the Prius is safe. Use this time to turn off all lights, fans and other auxillary loads in the target vehicle. 2) If you can, avoid having them try to 'turn over' while the Prius is connected and running because if their car draws over 100 A from the Prius, the voltage drop risks the fusable link. 3) It is OK, if the Prius is OFF, to have them try to start with auxillary battery connected. As a general rule, lead-acid batteries are fairly forgiving of abuse. There is likly to be some safety margin for the 100A fusible link. I have put a fairly substantial load, 89A, on the 12 VDC system but the voltage drop, 11.48 V, means you're pretty much at the limit: http://hiwaay.net/%7Ebzwilson/prius/priups_37.jpg The senario I would follow: 1) Make sure target vehicle has some charge, cabin lights at a minimum. If it is completely dead, the risks increase. A dead short target vehicle or fully discharged battery is a different problem that should be handled by heavy duty or specialty equipment. 2) Connect jumper cables - CHECKING AND DOUBLE CHECKING POLARITY - with Prius running to recharge the target vehicle battery and say, "We need to give it a couple of minutes to put a charge on your battery." 3) Survey target vehicle to get all 12 V auxillary loads turned off "to help the battery recharge." 4) If you can, open the battery caps of the target vehicle. If one cell has a substantially different level, that cell is probably bad. They'll be able to get to a parts store for a replacement or otherwise off the street. 5) Say, "Let me get the engine ready, wait for me to call out TRY IT" and then turn OFF your Prius and yell, "TRY IT!" Their vehicle starts - disconnect cables and have a happy. Don't be afraid to jump start another vehicle, just be deliberate and cautious and everyone will be happy. BTW, simular risks exists for alternator equipped vehicles. If the charging vehicle is idling, the alternator can't generate enough current to risk the alternator electronics but if the charging car reves the engine, it might. Bob Wilson |
Re: Jumpstarting a car with a Prius!
Originally Posted by mg48
JeromeP, I call BS on the fuse blowing comment. If the prius is off you cannot blow ANY fuses jumping another car because there are no fuses between the prius batt and the dead batt. and that is the only place current is flowing.
The only part I don't know is if you jump with the prius on or ready will the 12v converter between the big batt and the 12v batt current limit to protect the wiring to the 12v batt in the prius or is there a fuse? I am not an electrical engineer, however I understand that if you leave the Prius connected to car B when it starts there is potential for a power spike to travel back to the Prius. That would be where damage could occur to the Prius. Now, I ws searching for the terminology which bwilson provided, but what he described is what I was thinking of when I wrote my first post on this. But also, trying to start a vehicle with the aux battery of the Prius is a point of concern also. As bwilson points out, there aren't that many amphrs in the aux battery of the Prius. To dry start another car off the aux battery in the Prius may cause significant damage to the Prius battery. And frankly, that is one expensive little battery to be replacing. However, a 12v car starting pack costs about $50. That is a whole lot cheeper than trying to use the Prius to jump another vehicle and not coming out of the operation unscathed. |
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