I'll be out of town for a couple of weeks. With my TCH parked in the garage for that duration, is there anything specific/particular that I need to keep in mind? I'd like to just make sure that my TCH starts up without any issues upon my return. (I ask this because I've read something about dead battery in other Hybrid forums here, after car is being parked at the airport for some days/weeks, etc.)

- I'll make sure that my TCH is "OFF" in the garage, and not to leave the Smart Key fob inside the car, of course.
- I have a key hanger in the garage, but should I keep my Smart Key fobs away from there, so that the fob & the car don't constantly keep communicating with each other to drain the battery (YES/NO)? The hanger is about 5~6 feet away from the car. How far should they be apart so that they don't keep talking to each other, by the way?
- Anything else?

Thanks for the info in advance,
- PiroChu

 

My wife's 07 TCH has sat in the garage for more than 2 weeks at a time before without any problems, the FOB was nowhere near the car during these times.

 

You could let us know where you live and when you'll be gone in case we want to joyride or need some parts.

 

Make sure you don't leave any cabin lights on.

We went on a 1-week cruise and came back to a totally dead 12V battery. My wife had accidentally left a light on (can't remember if it was the dome, or the visor makeup mirror) and the battery totally drained.

It was so dead that one of those portable battery jumper packs wouldn't even turn on (no voltage to sense whether the leads were correctly attached).

We had to find a kind soul on the hotel staff to jump us.

Of course, you don't need a lot of juice, like a traditional battery, just enough to boot up the ECU. Traction battery was just fine.

I find it odd that Toyota didn't put in a relay on all internal "non-essential" uses that would turn off when the battery reached some critical level.

If it would have been dark when we left, we could have seen it, but it was during the day, and we missed it.

 

I've parked mine for 3 weeks without problems. The Smart Key System (SKS) will enter "sleep mode" after 5 days and disable itself after 14 days inactivity, reducing the drain on the battery as long as the key fobs not are near the car. I would not trust 5 or 6 feet to be enough distance. The SKS can be manually disabled by following this proceedure.

The worst that happens is the 12V battery runs down too low to "boot" the TCH computers (needs about 10amps during booting). The traction battery should hold its charge for at least 3 months.

Some folks use a battery maintainer to keep the battery from running down. Harbor Freight sells one that keeps the battery at 13.2V. Don't use a "trickle charger" as they are normally 14V or higher, and will damage the battery if left on too long.

 

Thanks for this info. Does it matter whether the car is left unlocked/unarmed vs locked/armed, in order for it to enter "sleep mode"? And I'll be sure to keep the Smart Key fobs in the house, away from the garage.


Yeah, that slide-mirror visor light is a tricky/silly one (my wife forgets to close the slide after using the mirror) - I'll double check before leaving.

 

And if you have the rear dome lights, check them too. My grand-daughter is constantly leaving those on. They're hard to see when you're sitting in the front.

 

On my '07 TCH, the visor light will turn off IF the visor is either pushed all the way forward (toward the windshield) OR all the way up (in the "normal" position), no matter if the slide is open or closed.


I can't remember if the rear ceiling lights are on the automatic 20 minute timer. I want to say that they are NOT.

 

Due to more cars than I can drive mine sat last winter in my aircraft hanger for 5.5 months and lit rite up on April 1.

 

My kids have proven to me that the rear reading lights will stay lit until you turn them off.