I purchased my 2009 Prius a week ago. I noticed that there was a plunger type switch at the kick panel next to my left foot. It didnt seem to do anything. I followed the wires from the kick panel all the back to the positive battery terminal in the trunk. It was pluged into the posistive terminal. I unplugged it, and removed the wire and the switch. There was also a small black wire that had a sticker that said connect to negative terminal.(it was NOT attached) I dont think any of this is factory, but I have no idea what it is. Also, Is the piece with the yellow cap factory? It doesnt seem like it to me. I just want to put everything back to factory. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you
I'm pretty sure that thing is a dealer added "battery saver". There are some threads on this, but I can't find them right now. There is a dealer in So Cal that is famous for adding these things (and causing electrical issues with them). You are on the right track to remove it.
Thats a battery disconnect switch. It disconnects that battery from the system when the car is left unattended for long periods. See the on/off turning knob there? Thats pretty handy at times. I would leave that in. You can reboot the system without unbolting anything if needed. The switch on the kick panel is possibly add on alarm system bypass maybe? Which is worrisome as that might mean there's more crap under the dash. Is there a horn under the hood?
I searched under the dash and there is no add-on alarm equipment that I can see. There is also no horn under the hood. The wires from the kick panel went directly to the "battery disconnect switch". What factory part would I have to replace the battery disconnect with? I am pretty handy, but absolutely no experience with hybrid. Do you think the dealer would put it back to factory specs..If yes, how much to think they would charge. Please forgive any grammar mistakes, I'm not at home and on a mobile device..thank yoy
Was your Prius sold by Toyota of Santa Monica? In case you were wondering, the factory setup has a 120A MAIN fuse inserted between the positive battery terminal and the 12V bus. It also has a 5A SENSE fuse that allows the DC/DC converter to measure voltage at the 12V battery. Those fuses live in the fuse block attached to the positive terminal. Hopefully you can easily unbolt the dealer-added switch from the fuse block. Please take some photos as you disassemble this, in the event that another LA/OC owner has to deal with this problem.
Yes, this Prius was first purchased At Toyota of Santa Monica. I was able to disconnect the negative and positive battery cables and remove the "battery disconnect" from the loop. Everything then bolted back together like factory new. Whoever installed this device cut away some plastic from the red piece of plastic that covers the positive terminal. (Fusible link cover $13.24 from Toyota) Cheap part to replace compared to what the dealer might of charged me to do this. Thanks to everybody for their comments and JimN for sending me the picture (that really helped) Thanks again!!!!!
