I have just searched and found in the owners manual the attached description of how to jumpstart a TCH. It still does not seem very clear as to whether the TCH will start immediately the booster battery is connected or whether I have to wait around until it has time to charge up the 12v battery. It also seems that all the precautions described to prevent the booster battery exploding would be more applicable to starting a regular car which would require a much higher amp draw and I have never heard that it was necessary to take such precautions.

 

You don't have to wait.

The small battery in the trunk is only used to power up the computer systems. it is not used for "starting" the car. The traction batteries do all the real work of starting the engine when needed and powering the motor/generators.

So in theory, a small pack of AA batteries that are put in series to give 12 volts should be enough to start the car. Once the computers are booted the traction battery "back feeds" the small battery and it will then have enough voltage to power the computers without the AA pack.

 

Okay thanks for the reassurance so here's my next question. Can the HV battery in an emergency be recharged by anybody other than a Toyota hybrid service centre? The reason for my question is that I will be driving my TCH in Mexico shortly, (that's a definite!).

Toyota sell and service regular vehicles in Mexico but not hybrid cars. Honda however do sell and service the the Civic Hybrid so I am wondering if special Toyota equipment is needed or Honda could recharge the TCH HV battery.

I believe it is extremely unlikely that I will have this problem but would like to go armed with as much information as possible just in case.

 

1 - if you discharge the traction battery, you've got other problems. It is well protected against discharge. In normal use you can't kill it. Leaving the lights on won't do it.

2 - The answer on charging is no. Only the dealers have access to the HV chargers. And they don't even have them in stock. I've heard they fly a guy around with a charger. They evidently don't trust the charger and/or the mechanics. If you know what you are doing around HV DC, people have built chargers and charged batteries on their own.

3 - Go drink a few margaritas and don't worry... You can jump the 12 volt battery easily with any car (OK, perhaps not a model T) and the HV battery won't need charging.

 

Gracius Marc y salud. I feel better even before the margarita!



Paul

 

I left the rear dome lights on while cleaning and treating the leather this past Sunday afternoon. When I saw the car again, about 40 hours later, the battery was dead. I agree with the prior posts expressing surprise that there is no built-in battery protection for such mistakes on the car, but ultimately that's my fault.

The reason for my post, though, is just to laugh about the look on the AAA guy's face when I started the engine. I hopped out of the car to thank him and tell him it was running before the ICE fired up. He was utterly amazed that the car was running and not making a single sound. Quite funny, really. I figured he would have jumped a hybrid by now, but I guess not.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

 

I have a similar truck -- drive it once or twice a month. It has an alarm system that will drain a battery in just a few days. I got tired of jumping the thing. So I got one of those little tiny trickle chargers, and ran the DC leads from the battery into the cab of the truck. (The cigarette lighters on that truck are disconnected when the truck is turned off.) An AC extension cord runs from the house to the cab of the truck. I just have to make sure I unplug it before I start the motor and drive away.

 

Steve,

There are some solar panels marketed as battery maintainers. This could give you a "wireless" solution.

Or simply disconnect the alarm - get a trunk monkey instead. (search YouTube for "trunk monkey" - an absolutely hilarious set of commercials).

 

Maybe someone can confirm the hint given below as a required step to jumpstart a TCH? Just went through this; left my car (2008 TCH) at the airport for a week with a rear dome light on. On return the only access to the car was with the manual key, not enough power in the 12V battery to even open the door. A police cruiser was generous enough to follow the instruction manual guidance with me: connect jumper cables and charge for about 5 minutes, then start the TCH. No joy even after 20 minutes of connect time. Went back with another car late yesterday evening and was able to get the TCH started a couple of times but no restart on its own because the 12V battery is toast. Now today a AAA technician shares a secret: the TCH computer has a safety "feature" where you must have the key out of range when connecting the jumper cables, and then bring the key back in range to start the car. It worked flawlessly. What do you think?

 

Have not heard the trick about keeping the key out of range. However I found these two notes in the 2012 manual:

"The hybrid system may not start on the first attempt after the 12-volt battery

has recharged but will start normally after the second attempt. This is
not a malfunction.

volt battery."