Hi all, I've been told that my 12V battery was low in another thread (it is also very cold outside). Anyway, I stumbled on this ATV/ motorcycle battery companion in the garage, can I use it to charge my prius? Says 1.5A 6v/12v
The model number of the charger cannot be seen in the picture you have posted so the charging details cannot be validated. However the charger will be safe to use on your Prius battery, but it "may"or "may" not be capable of fully charging it or may take a long time (many days) depending on the level of charge of your battery. Any extra details of the charger from either the box or the manual would help:- model number, maximum charging voltage, ect. The charging current on it's own (1.5 amp with nominal voltages of 6 and 12 volts) does not help. By all means charge your battery with this charger it can only help, but as said before it "may" or "may" not be capable of fully charging the Prius AGM battery. Schumacher chargers are generally considered good products. If your battery is the original it is now 6 years old, will be at the end of it's life, and have substantially reduced capacity. Work on changing it soon. Bear in mind just because the charger may say the battery is fully charged. An old battery with little working capacity left can show as being fully charged in a short space of time. Only a load test can tell how much capacity the battery actually has. John (Britprius)
What he said.....mostly. Alas, most places don't do the load test right and often it proves nothing. That charger should be fine for both your old battery and your new one.......but it will not extend the useful life of the old battery.
The key is the device is a "maintainer". Most maintainers won't charge at all unless the battery is at a minimum and will charge slowly from there until the battery is fully charged. By all means, try it and see if it helps. I've kept cars alive for months with a maintainer but they started with a battery that was good to begin with, all the maintainer had to do was wake up every few days and overcome the small current drains that had resulted from things like remote key locks and push to start systems. Given where you live, I wouldn't hesitate to get the battery load tested and replace it even if it was just marginal as I would always want to start and systems to work in the worst conditions.
Sure. I think it will be OK, and the price is right. Make sure that the 6/12v switch is set correctly and that you observe polarity. For my motorcycles I install a quick disconnect plug for these type of maintainers, which yours may have included. Good Luck!
While that is true, that low threshold is REALLY low. If the battery will do anything at all it should work. IIRC the cutoff is something like 9 volts or less.