[hinalea]

I have a 2004 Prius BC on order.

We travel for 2-4 weeks at a time several times a year on business. After reading some of the posts here, I'm becoming concerned about the Prius' ability to cope with this. In the case of the longer trips, the Prius will remain at home in our garage, and could be hooked up to a maintenance charger (there have been posts re: this, but not in regard to the 2004). We have a conventional car parked in Hawaii that maintains perfectly with a small solar panel charger.

It would be of use to us and others, too, to know proper ways to handle periods of nonuse without having to disconnect the 12v battery and lose memory in devices like the NAV system. I'm not sure if there are any implications for the main propulsion battery.

Forgive me if this is covered in detail in the owners manual--I haven't seen one yet. If not, I'd appreciate any helpful suggestions.

 

[Fredo]

I think there have been suggestions in other threads, both in the tech and gerneral forums. I don't remember there being a simple solution other than having a friend take the car for a spin every week or so.

It sounds like the 12v battery can discharge in as little as 2 weeks, although others have had no problem for longer. A maintenance charger should work, and there are locatons for a jump start under the hood with the fuses. Your Toyota service department should be able to say if this is sugested and how it should be done.

The folks at http://www.coastaletech.com/hitch.htm have a mod for the classic Prius that keeps the power outlet live even with the car shut down. This would allow a charger or solar pannel to be connected though the power outlet. They don't have anything listed for the '04 yet, but I would expect the old mod should still work. It's a mod in the fuse panel, so the locations and numbers of the fuses will be different, the concept shoud still work.

While the Toyots techs won't like the last option, they should be able to suggest a workable and supported option.

Fredo

 

[ammiel]

If you garage is light enough you can get a solar charger like this one
http://www.imperialproductsonline.com/i ... revstart=0

and just clip it to the 12v battery leads in back or to the jumper post and a ground up front, unwind the leads and put it in a lit area. I got this one but have not needed it yet. Most of the info about 2 wks rundown have been on the classic, not as much known about the 04.