Jump Start CT200

dyemme said:

All the information helps to jump start CT 200 but other way to jump start other car using CT 200 ??? I am not sure..

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The procedure to jumpstarting another car using the CT is similar to a conventional car, BUT because of the electronics involved in the CT and the expensive inverter in the CT that converts AC current to DC current to charge both traction and 12 V batteries, please proceed with caution. As long as these steps are done safely, I don't foresee any problems or residual damage to your CT, but proceed at your own risk as always.

You would connect the jumper cables the same way, but you would actually connect the cables directly to the 12V battery in the rear of the CT vs. the front terminal because there is no (-) terminal in the front engine compartment that is directly connected to the (-) terminal on the CT's 12 V battery. For some reason, just connecting to ground doesn't seem to work. You need all the juice you can get from the CT's tiny battery! On the other person's car, the black jumper should be connected to any metal part of the chassis that is grounded, rather than directly to the dead battery's (-) terminal.

Take the other person's keys. You don't want them attempting to crank their car while your CT is connected; the CT's 12 V battery is very small (it technically doesn't actually start the car per se; it provides only enough juice to power up relays and the ECU, which activate the traction battery, and then powers up the inverter and starts the ICE). The max draw on the 12V battery is 100 amps. Any draw above that MAY blow your 100A fuse, relays, and possibly damage your inverter (which is REALLY expensive!!!).

Once everything is connected, just start your CT and wait. There is no need to accelerate or anything like that. The hybrid system is smart! Once it sees the 12V battery is draining, the ECU will call on the traction battery to automatically replenish the 12V battery. And that's when you'll see the traction battery bars start to go down on your energy monitor. Once the traction battery starts to drain lower, the ECU will start the ICE which powers up the inverter to charge the traction battery as it continues to charge the 12V battery, which in turn is charging the dead car's battery. Follow so far?

After about 5-10 minutes of waiting or so, depending on how big the dead car's engine is (the larger the engine, the longer you'll have to wait), turn off the CT, disconnect ALL jumper cables. Some cars equipped with V8s may take up to 20 minutes of waiting! Bring a coloring book.

The reason for disconnecting all jumper cables is because when the person attempts to crank his/her car, it won't be able to draw additional current from your CT's battery and potentially fry the relay, fuses, inverter, etc.

If everything works, their car should start!

Okay, bad thing happened last night when I came back to my CT in the hospital parking lot from visiting someone...headlights were still turned on and they were dim. Got into the car pressed the start button, all warning lights came on on the dash and then all went dark. Pressing the start button (with foot on brake of course) did nothing. Even the dome light was dim. Called Lexus road side assistance and within 20 minutes a tow truck came with a portable booster pack. He hooked the positive to the battery in the front of the car and the negative to a small nib near the battery that was marked in black (i.e. negative). Pressed the start button and voila car came back to life. I don't know know why the lights stayed on originally as my car is set for them to go off after 60 sec. I am really surprised and annoyed that the 12v starter battery would die after about 1 hour and the weather was not very cold 3C. May need some investigation....