Listening To The Radio

[oakridge]

From time to time one or other of us find ourselves waiting in the car so it would be nice to listen to the radio. In the Rover this was fine, turn the key and the radio can start, in the Prius you press the button, turn on the radio and every so often the engine starts. Is it not possible to have the radio on in stationary car without the engine dediding it absolutely must charge the batteries.

Malcolm

[Grumpy Cabbie]

You can listen to the radio without the engine switching on and off. Press the Power button WITHOUT putting your foot on the brake pedal. You might have to press it twice - I can't remember, but the warning lights come on and allows the radio and windows (I think) to operate.

Give it a go.

p.s. I would say that the 12v on the Prius isn't that powerful, so don't leave the radio on for too long. If you do run the 12v flat, be VERY careful when jump starting the Prius!! You have been warned.

[johalareewi]

Yup. Just press it the once without your foot on the brake. Radio will come on.

The second press will power up the stuff like windows and aircon.

Third press turns it all off.

[oakridge]

Thank you both for your replies. I suppose the info must be in the manual but there can be quite a distance between knowing it is there and finding it.

Malcolm

[BlueValour]

p.s. I would say that the 12v on the Prius isn't that powerful, so don't leave the radio on for too long. If you do run the 12v flat, be VERY careful when jump starting the Prius!! You have been warned.

On my previous cars I have generally replaced the supplied Battery with a heavy-duty Battery. Is that a good idea on a Prius 2?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

p.s. I would say that the 12v on the Prius isn't that powerful, so don't leave the radio on for too long. If you do run the 12v flat, be VERY careful when jump starting the Prius!! You have been warned.

On my previous cars I have generally replaced the supplied Battery with a heavy-duty Battery. Is that a good idea on a Prius 2?

Good luck finding one.

The Prius 12v isn't like a traditional car Battery in as much as it doesn't need to be strong and powerful with loads of amps to start a car at -15c. The 12v in the Prius is purely to power up the computers before the engine is started by the big HV battery. The 12v can allow you to operate the electric windows and the side lights etc when the car isn't running but you really don't want to leave it like that for long.

Apparantly if you do run the 12v flat you can sometimes trick the car into starting by holding the Power button for about 10 or 15 seconds. If that doesn't work you MUST be very careful jump starting the Prius. I have never tried it but there have been stories of owners frying the computers when jump starting - if they get the polarity the wrong way round or even revving the engine on the jumper/other car (which is what you would normally do).

[techi]

Thanks for that, Grumpy, it's amazing what you learn on this forum. What about sitting in the car with the windsceen heater blowing and the rear window heater on waiting for a glimmer through the frost in the morning? That's a little bizzare as the engine in mine keeps starting and stopping, I just assumed it was 1. keeping the Battery up, and 2, heating the water.

[johalareewi]

On my previous cars I have generally replaced the supplied battery with a heavy-duty battery. Is that a good idea on a Prius 2?

Can be done.

Google for Prius compatible Optima yellow top batteries and fitting kits.

[DrCez]

Thanks for that, Grumpy, it's amazing what you learn on this forum. What about sitting in the car with the windsceen heater blowing and the rear window heater on waiting for a glimmer through the frost in the morning? That's a little bizzare as the engine in mine keeps starting and stopping, I just assumed it was 1. keeping the battery up, and 2, heating the water.

If the engine is periodically starting and stopping, you're in full "Ready" mode so the HV Battery is doing all the work and getting recharged by the engine when necessary - this should not have any negative impact on the 12V Battery.

You're only in danger of running the 12V Battery down if you put the car in "auxiliary power mode" (I don't have the manual to hand so I don't know if that is the correct term) - as mentioned by johalareewi you are in this mode if you press Start once without your foot on the brake. On the Gen 3 the light on the Power button stays orange (instead of green) and many of the dash lights remain unlit. In this mode the engine cannot start but as others have said you can operate some systems (from memory the radio, mirror adjustment, sidelights and possibly the electric windows, but I don't think the front/rear demist will function).

If you want to run some systems without starting the (petrol) engine an alternative option (on the Gen 3) is to Power up in Ready mode and quickly press EV (within about 10 seconds or so of Power On) - if there is enough charge in the HV battery the car will allow you to go straight to EV mode and keep the petrol engine off, even if it is cold. This would avoid draining the 12V battery, plus the car will still recharge the HV battery if it becomes necessary (by kicking you out of EV mode and starting up the petrol engine).