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Car Forum / Toyota / Prius / January 2008Prius Electrical System
Here's a thought... I have a gadget that is supposed to help jumpstart regular cars. You plug one end into your cigarette lighter and the other into the outlet of the "dead" vehicle. It is supposed to supply current to the battery like jumper cables would. Then after some time, you are supposed to be able to start the "dead" vehicle after the battery gets some amount of charge. IF this would work on a Prius, what if I were to take my solar charger that plugs into the lighter? Would that charge the batteries in the Prius? I'm thinking the answer would be no or they would be advertising this already and selling the $10 solar charger for $150 with some hot-shot super cool name. Any thoughts? Rosscoe When I first received my '04 (in October '03, days after they became available), it seemed to make sense to prepare for the eventuality of a dead 12V battery. It's the high-voltage battery that starts the engine, but the electronics have to be running from a little power provided by a modest 12V source. I already had an adequate solar panel with the correct output, and made up a small battery pack using NiMH cells. With a switchable isolation circuit, the car keeps that battery pack charged, and at the airport the solar panel went on the dash to keep it charged. The idea was that if the car's 12V lead-acid battery were to die, I could use the little battery pack to kick off the electronics and get the car started. I felt very smart. Well, more than four years have passed. There's never been a problem, even with the car remaining dormant for many weeks, things left on overnight, etc. In fact, there's never been any problem of any sort, other than an odd beeping when the door is open, ignition OFF and lights OFF. > Here's a thought... > I have a gadget that is supposed to help jumpstart regular cars. You [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Rosscoe > Here's a thought... > I have a gadget that is supposed to help jumpstart regular cars. You [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > to take my solar charger that plugs into the lighter? Would that > charge the batteries in the Prius? I believe the 12v aux outlet on the Prius is not even connected to the electrical system until the car is "on", so this would not work unless the outlet is rewired. Coastaletech.com sells a kit to do this for the 1G Prius. > Here's a thought... > I have a gadget that is supposed to help jumpstart regular cars. You [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Rosscoe This won't work for one simple reason - the lighter power sockets aren't 'live' unless the car is on. Walt Morris When the Prius is off, the high-voltage battery is physically disconnected from the rest of the system by a relay, so you'd have to connect the charging point between the battery and that solenoid. Also, since the HV system runs close to 300V, connecting a charger like that directly to it would probably cause some interesting results. > Here's a thought... > I have a gadget that is supposed to help jumpstart regular cars. You plug [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Rosscoe Hey, Ali-G. How'd that abuse thing work out for ya? ROFLMAO >When the Prius is off, the high-voltage battery is physically >disconnected from the rest of the system by a relay, so you'd have to [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >> >> Rosscoe > I have a gadget that is supposed to help jumpstart regular cars. You plug > one end into your cigarette lighter and the other into the outlet of the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > would work on a Prius, what if I were to take my solar charger that plugs > into the lighter? Would that charge the batteries in the Prius? It would charge the small 12v battery that "starts" the car, that's all. There is no pathway to the traction batteries until and unless the car has been started and is in Ready mode. Along with the Prius, AFAIK most cars now have accessory outlets which are dead when the car is off. Such cars would need to be modified before they could accept a charge through their outlets. >Along with the Prius, AFAIK most cars now have accessory outlets which >are dead when the car is off. Such cars would need to be modified >before they could accept a charge through their outlets. Don't tell Brokeback McNasty that. He thinks he's a Dr. Einstein! > Along with the Prius, AFAIK most cars now have accessory outlets which > are dead when the car is off. Such cars would need to be modified > before they could accept a charge through their outlets. The Prius mod is trivial (one wire, 10 minutes). It's also easy to hard-wire to the 12V system. > > Along with the Prius, AFAIK most cars now have accessory outlets which > > are dead when the car is off. Such cars would need to be modified > > before they could accept a charge through their outlets. > > The Prius mod is trivial (one wire, 10 minutes). It's > also easy to hard-wire to the 12V system. Understood. It's just that no one should think they can buy a plug-in charger and be able to use it with *no* mods. |
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