"JimK6VRY" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm picking up my new Prius this week and am curious about running
radios in the car. The techs at the dealer stare at me blankly when I
bring it up. I plan to operate an Icom IC-706 on HF and 2m. My
assumption is that the radio would run off the small 12v battery used
for accessories and engine starting. Since it's impossible to idle the
motor while standing still, the battry would seemingly run down pretty
quickly.

Any suggestion or comments?


I don't know about the Prius in particular, but several years ago I owned a
pure electric car. At that time the up-and-coming technology was a DC-to-DC
converter that would maintain charge on a 12 volt battery by getting power
from the traction batteries, which were commonly 50 to 100 volts. Without
the converter the 12 volt accessory battery would be drained by lights and
radios until the car was plugged in for a recharge. The biggest problem was
trying to keep the headlights bright.

I've no idea how easy it would be to make a connection to the Prius traction
batteries. Probably not recommended by the service department. But if you
find a simple way to do it, you might be able to keep the 12 volt battery
charged.

There is a group called CalCars (http://calcars.org/) which advocates
modifications to hybrids to let them run more on electric power. They might
have more information.
--
Gerry