The guy who sold us our Prius said we should never use it to jump-start another vehicle, as the Prius electrical system just wouldn't be able to handle it. Anybody else heard this? Is this the "official" Toyota line?
Also got us wondering, my wife usually leaves her cell phone plugged into the car's "power port" (what us old folks call the cigarette lighter), but now we're wondering if that would be a bad idea ...
Thoughts?
Thanks! Chris
The Prius has a small 12V battery. It's in the back on the curb side. Probably not adequate for jumping a big V6 or V8.
Won't drain the battery if that is your concern. These outlets are turned off when the car is shut down.
Pretty much, yes; the 12 volt battery is not as powerful as in a regular car because it doesn't have to be. For one thing, it doesn't start the engine.
No problem there; the port is disconnected when the power is off. The phone doesn't use that much electricity, so there's no problem when the car is running.
It's true, the Prius uses a 12V battery with a lower capacity than normal cars since it's not used to crank the engine.
Not a problem, since the ports are turned off when the car is turned off. I also leave my cell phone, as well as an MP3 player, plugged in all the time.
But the Battery doesn't provide total power for jumping another car - the entire 12v power system does. I've used my Prius to jump start another car, with the Prius in Ready mode, with no problem at all.
You can sometimes use the Prius to jump-start another vehicle, but you should do it somewhat differently than the normal way. The Prius 12-volt system is protected by a 100-ampere fuse. Starter current through heavy-gauge jumper cables can exceed this, blowing the fuse and rendering the Prius 12-volt system inoperative. You can safely use the Prius
12-volt battery and inverter system to charge the other car's battery but not to crank the starter motor.The recommended way is to connect the cables with the Prius in READY mode, but do NOT crank the starter of the other car. Allow the Prius to charge the dead battery for a few minutes, then disconnect the cables and crank the other vehicle with the cables disconnected. This may not always work if the battery of the other car is in very poor condition or deeply discharged.
Going the other way, if you drain the 12-volt Prius battery, you can jump-start it with very little current. Even a 12-volt lantern battery or a pack of eight D-cells will do it. You don't need to "crank" the Prius to get it up and running. You just need eneough electricity to boot the computers and energize the high voltage relay (the double-click you hear when the car goes READY).
No problem, but the phone won't charge when the car is off.
It's not ? Does that mean the big battery cranks the engine?
The owners' manual tells us **not** to use the Prius to jump-start a conventional engine. The reverse is not true. It is OK to jump-start a Prius from another car.
earle
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That's right, and it does it directly; there's no separate starter.
The owners' manual says don't do it.
earle
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It does indeed! One of the tech wizards in the Yahoo Prius group has jump-started his Prius with a portable drill battery and a pair of clip leads. Once the brake booster gets pumped up, all the 12V battery does is boot the system and let the hybrid system spin the engine up. Pretty slick!
Mike
Sure, however the fact that the other car needs to be jump-started is indicative of a problem. If it simply has a low battery then jumping it with a Prius could work. If it's battery has a shorted cell, or if it has bad starting motor, inverter or extremely cold lubricants; anything that results in an extra-ordinary load, then you could blow the Prius 100 amp fuse or, worse yet, it's regulator. I wouldn't take the chance.
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