Leaving Prius For 5 Weeks

[barrycoll]

great stuff folks, and the thought of a no starting Prius has obviously sharpened a lot of minds....

not too sure about Ohms Law, Ian, as it is usually Sods Law that I have to contend with, but nevertheless, the distillation of all the many and varied views seems to be that

1. the car will 'probably/possibly' be OK, as the Battery is only 9 months old (as long as it hasn't sat on a dock side for yonks, beforehand)....and AA will always be on hand

2. but.... better not to allow the Battery to drain down, as there could be long term consequences

3. do not leave a un-powered charger connected to the terminals as it will just be and additional drain...

4 use a recognised brand of smart charger (eg not Halfords), and use the under bonnet terminals ....what is RTFN Ian???

5...disconnecting terminals will work, but cause some small hassle with radio etc

6 leave on trickle charge in driveway, a la Valmiki, and, as we have a fire station only 3 houses away ..........................all should be well

7...if all else fails, buy a !Removed! big Battery....size matters

[beachlife]

A number of people have said do not trickle charge car in boot but use the points under the bonnet. Any reason why the advice for under the bonnet?

With the Ctek you get a cable which can be left permanently on the Battery, this connection has a clip on connection to the Ctek so when you want to disconnect you leave the supplied connection but just unclick the Ctek. So no mess and very easy to do, as my car is in garage I can lock car as cable is thin enough to not cause a problem in closing tailgate.

Only thing I can think of is that there could be hydrogen gas being given off during charging, but as the Battery is only being trickle charge not sure if this is much , but isn`t there a vent on the original Battery?

So is it recommended I don`t use a Ctek on maintenance charge over 2/3 months in the boot?

[timberwolf]

I was surprised at that statement as well. If you are using the eyelet(?) connectors then connecting directly to the Battery would be preferred as it avoids the extra wiring and a large fuse. Also if a breakdown service attends to jump start and charge the 12V Battery, they prefer direct access to the Battery and they would rather not use the Jump start point.

For the record, I use the Jump Start point on a temporary basis because of where I park my car, but I wouldn't be happy to leave the fuse lid off for a month. I can't see how the Croc clips with one connected to part of the body would be preferred over a more permanent connection intended for long use?

The mains lead on the charger is also not very long, so I imagine that the mains plug would be exposed to the elements, even if under a car, and that would give me some concern especially given the current stormy weather.

RTFM = Read The Friendly Manual. The F usually stands for another word.

[kithmo]

well that is a left field approach dear Grumpy....if I disconnect one of the terminals, can I lock the car (??)....and then re -open it later??

in the meantime, I have ordered a Ctek 5.0 from my mate Mr Amazon, as per Timberwolfs advice.....seemingly I can give the car a 24 hit before leaving, then leave the charger connected but unplugged fro the mains, and then another 24 hours later on...

Yes, you can lock the car by manually going round each door. Open each door, the hold the door handle out, and lock from inside and close the door.

Or an easier method is:

1. open the tailgate

2. lower the rear seat backs for easy access to the Battery upon return

3. open the access to the Battery

4. then before disconnecting the 12v Battery, lock the car with the manual key, the central locking still locks all the doors even when the tailgate is open

5. disconnect the battery -ve, tuck it away so it won't accidentally reconnect and close the tailgate.

On return:

1. open the drivers door with the manual key

2. open the rear drivers side door from inside

3. climb through and reconnect the 12v battery then check the lock/unlock functions.

4. reset the auto close function on the electric windows by fully opening and holding the open switch down for 2 seconds after the window has bottomed out, then closing fully and holding the close switch up for 2 seconds after the window has closed.

5. finally you may have to go through the sequence of starting the car a couple of times to restore the normal ready mode routine.

This should maintain the 12v close to the state of charge it was in when disconnected, it's up to you whether you want to charge it up before all this or not.

[barrycoll]

must now print off your instructions Keith....very good

love the the RTFM interpretation Timberwolf, specially the friendly bit......reminds me of Sandra Bullock in the film Gravity, starting a deserted Russian space platform, by finding the right instruction manual, thumbing through the Cyrilliac text to the right page , and then with one finger on the text, pressing the right buttons....ha-ha

maybe the text was written by Toyota

...Ctek have there own extension leads to make life a bit easier, dont they?

[barrycoll]

maybe one of these permanently attached to the Battery terminals would be a good idea

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-CTE-56382-Comfort-Indicator-Adaptors/dp/B002MT8S7E/ref=pd_sim_auto_3

..

[Sagitar]

Yep, that's what I do. And secure the other end of the connector to the inside of an access cover inside the boot, so it is not dangling about normally, but is easy to get at.

On the other hand it works perfectly well using the crocodile clips to connect under the bonnet; just remember to make and break the connections with the charger turned off and connect the negative side last and disconnect it first.

Apologies if I am teaching granny to suck eggs.

[Joseph D]

I required a battery charger that was flexible enough to also revive/recover unhealthy batteries, I thought it was more likely that I would need that, shrugs. My CTEK wins on ease of use, as all the charging modes (bulk, trickle, etc) appear to work with the battery still connected to the car.

From my own experience, my car usage, just at the weekends, is insufficient to keep my 12V battery fully charged.

The Ctek MXS-5 manual was a little unclear on this point and I just wanted to confirm with the knowledgable and experienced Ctek users here, if I was to use the recondition cycle, do you or do you not need to disconnect the Battery from the car? The manual implies you don't need to although doesn't specifically say one way or the other, and one or two here seem to say you don't need to and one or two seem to say you do need to. So what do people who use this charger do?

[cviclark]

The CTEK in maintenance mode can be connected to the Battery without disconnecting it. As with any " Battery conditioner" Draper Airflow etc.

[Joseph D]

The CTEK in maintenance mode can be connected to the battery without disconnecting it. As with any " battery conditioner" Draper Airflow etc.

Thanks Ian :)

[kithmo]

It would be a bit pointless buying and connecting an expensive Battery charger AND disconnecting the Battery, when just disconnecting the Battery would suffice in this instance.