Hello, I'm replacing the 12 volt auxiliary battery in my wife's 2009 Prius. I read that I can avoid initializing the system if I "Hook up the aux 12v power source" while replacing it. As a "newbie", I don't know what initializing the system means but I'm sure I want to avoid it. Can someone tell me if I can use a 2/6 amp charger while replacing the battery to avoid initializing the system? Thanks!
welcome! you lose a few memories when disconnecting the 12v. some seem to lose more than others for some odd reason, maybe how long you have it disconnected? anyway, it's no big deal, maybe the radio presets, power windows might need a quick up and down. but if you want to avoid it, the charger should be fine, it's minuscule amperage, just voltage. you can hook the charger up under the hood while replacing the battery.
Indeed. I think you should NOT worry about doing that at all because the possible bad outcomes can be WAY worse than re-doing some radio presets. The only time that is a real problem is if you live where there is mandatory emissions testing and you are due to have that done in the next month or so.
I use a jump pack, with a cable that plugs into it's 12 volt outlet and has an OBDII connector at the other end. This connector has the just the power supply pins. I lay the jump pack on the floor in drivers space, and run the cable up to the under dash OBDII port. An indicator light on the cable confirms good connection. Jump pack: (12 volt port circled) Plus Memory Saver Cable: You could probably replace the jump pack with some sort of adapter that plugs into 110 volt AC and outputs 12 volts DC via the typical port.
Old fashioned chargers will have peaks of 17V easily. A battery sucks up those peaks in current and prevents the voltage from rising that high. But if you remove that battery, then all bets are off. Even the capacitors that store the energy for an electrical failure and give you emergency braking, won't help as they don't have the chemical limiter a lead acid battery has.
