Is this really the hybrid battery going bad?

Huh..interesting. I thought that the block would be low all the time, if it was going bad. So, it could still be the battery slowly dying. [I bought one of the Prolong battery conditioners. Guess I can try that & see if the problem goes away.]

On the other hand, maybe the P0A7A code is actually the problem? It's the only code that is anything near consistent. "Generator inverter performance". Or maybe there's some corrosion somewhere -- note the leaky roof and the fact that I live right at the coast.

 

I had always intended to post a follow up -- a conclusion, if you will; an epilogue, a denouement, a post-op, a final chapter. As it were.

So here, at long last, it is:

1. I did try the Prolong charger, and it cleared up the battery problem. I've had to re-do it a couple times, since the original post & discussion. But the hybrid batter seems to be chugging along fine, still. SOLVED.
2. I eventually took a garden hose to the outside roof above the hatchback, to figure out where the rain leak problem originated. Wish I had done it sooner!! Turned out to be exceedingly obvious & pretty simple fix. The gasket around one of the hinges for the hatchback was completely unseated. I just had to finagle the gasket into its proper place, and voila, no more rain leak. Took an hour or more, but cost was $0. SOLVED. [Alas, it seems to have rusted out something in the release mechanism for the hatchback lock -- so now I can only open the hatchback by crawling inside & manually flicking the release lock.]
3. I gather from a cousin who also has a Prius that there is a common problem with the wiring on the steering wheel. I.e., the wires can become damaged over time and lose connection of some of the buttons located on the steering wheel. I should search for that here in PriusChat, but have not done so; just going on what my cousin told me, that this is a common problem. As my car stands, most of the buttons on the right hand side of the steering wheel have stopped working, and did so not terribly long after the one sparking incident. This wearing out of wires down the steering column is, I conjecture, the cause of both the spark incident and the loss of button function. At least, there have been no further electric arcs. EXPLAINED.

 

It is a pain, yes. Though on my model [2006 for the front part of the rebuilt car], the trip meter button is not on the steering wheel, but rather on the dashboard. In my case, the buttons that don't work are: INFO (to display the battery level & current MPG), air recirc, front defrost, & rear defrost. I can get to all those things via the dashboard screen (but obviously not as convenient as when the buttons worked!)

 

BTW, I took some pics of the leak problem. Figured I'd post them, in case anyone's interested.

Note the suspicious gap at the top:


Here's a close-up:


And shoot, while I'm at it... here's my cat, helping me fix it: