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2010 - Sudden 12V Battery Failure

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by jdcollins5, Jan 25, 2015.

  1. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    I purchased my 2010 in August of 2009 so my 12V battery is 5.5 years old. I have seen the recommendations to change them if they are older than 5 years. I know now the reason for the recommendation! I have a 52 mile RT commute 5 days a week so I attributed the health of my 12V to getting a full charge every day. I have tested my 12V routinely and it was always been between 12.5 and 13.0V after sitting overnight.

    We had some colder weather last night with temps this morning in the mid-30's and some light ice on the windshields. I drove my car to church this morning, parked it and went to lock it with the sensor on the door and it would not lock. I opened the door and saw the yellow triangle alarm and the CEL. When I put my foot on the brake and got ready to push the Power button I noticed that the light was amber rather than green. The more I tried ACC, etc. I noticed that the dome lights were getting very dim. I also heard either a pump running or a fan running. After a period of time the brakes dropped and bottomed out. So I have to assume that was the brake accumulator trying to maintain accumulator pressure with the voltage getting lower and lower.

    I caught a ride home and came back with a voltmeter and portable battery charger. Testing the battery on the jump point resulted in 5.1V! I put the battery charger on the front jump point and the dome lights immediately were normal brightness.

    After charging the battery for a period of time I removed the charger and the battery was maintaining about 12.3V. I went to start the car and it went to Ready mode and all of the alarm lights cleared. Whew !!!!!!!!!

    I drove the car home and the 12V charge circuit seemed to have trouble maintaining the normal 14.5V and was staying more in the 13.5V range while driving, indicating heavy charging current . Once I got home and stopped it jumped to 14.5V. When I turned the car off and checked, the battery was at 12.2V.

    I have a battery charger on it now to see if the battery will accept a full charge.

    Regardless I will be going to the Toyota dealer tomorrow morning to get a new battery.

    If your battery is older than 5 years, follow the advice on here and save yourself some possible trouble and have it replaced !
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    plus, i think the 2010 had an overabundance of bad batteries.
     
  3. StarCaller

    StarCaller Senior Member

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    or even better & very likely cheaper, get a deep-cycle optima from amazon/

     
  4. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    I have read of too many problems on here with the Optima batteries for the Prius. I will stay with the OEM even if more expensive.
     
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  5. Aaron Vitolins

    Aaron Vitolins Senior Member

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    good choice! Optima batterys are highly over rated. My optima is only a couple years old and it can hardly hold 12.3 volts as best. It also gets driven everyday
     
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  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I've been researching a bit, came across:

    Exide FP-AGM51JIS

    It appears to be dimensionally identical, is AGM. There might actually be some connection between Exide and Yuasa now. It has vent orifice at both long ends of top. (use one, plug one)

    There's some discussion on it here:

    Another 12V Battery Question; When and Which One? | PriusChat

    Up here it's apparently rebadged at Canadian Tire, as:

    MotoMaster Eliminator Ultra model 10-5122

    The OEM battery, just for reference, is:

    YUASA S46B24R-GS
     
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  7. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    Thanks
     
  8. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    I charged the 12V battery for several hours yesterday and this morning the battery was still reading 12.7V! When I started the car my Nav indicated it was loading the DVD. Once loaded the GPS map worked correctly. This is the only item I seemed to have lost with the low voltage. I did not lose any of my radio presets or window auto features ! I have not checked all of the GPS presets yet but will tonight.

    In spite of this I drove to the Toyota dealership and picked up a new battery. $220 (ouch!) for the new battery but the Parts Manager said the increase was due to the new 7 year warranty! See the attached invoice below.

    When I checked the new battery it was reading 12.93V. Even the Parts Manager was surprised at this. The date code on the battery was 240214W so I assume it was manufactured on Feb 24, 2014. There was a sticker with J14. The Parts Manager said this date code goes A...B..C.. so this J would be October 2014. Evidently this is when the dealership received the battery. The Parts Manager was not sure ? I asked how they kept up with the 7 year warranty and he said by the sales invoice which the customer needs to keep, and they also keep the records in their computer.

    I changed out the battery right in the Toyota parking lot so I could return the core. The Parts Manager said that they accept the cores but do not charge a core charge fee!

    I used a portable battery charger connected to the jump post so as not to lose my radio presets, window auto feature, etc. I covered the + and - leads with Zip Lock bags so as not to short the connectors to ground while changing. I swapped out the battery and removed the Portable Charger and the new battery was reading 12.7V.

    Driving to work the battery charging circuit held steady at 14.5V. So all seems well for now and I hope for another 7 years ?!
     

    Attached Files:

  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    what surprised you about 12.93, too low or too high?
     
  10. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    What's with date codes, I mean, couldn't they just say Feb 24, 2014 on the battery? I guess not...

    The before tax cost was $206? I got a similar quote from a dealership up, I think $215 (Can, and this was while back, when our dollars were closer).

    To isolate loose battery leads I like to tuck them into heavy insulated rubber gloves, more solid.

    If your jump start pack has a 12 volt outlet, and you want a new toy: this is kinda cool, around $20~25. You can lay the pack on the floor inside the car, plug into the pack and the obd port. There's an indicator light on it, so if you plug into the obd first, if it lights you know you've tapped into the 12 volt pin:

    Capture.JPG

    Model MS6209 | Associated Equipment Corp.

    When you've got everything disconnected it's a good opportunity to brighten up the metal on the posts and clamps. These still work, even though the posts are pretty small diameter:

    Capture.JPG
     
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  11. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    jdcollins5,
    thanks for sharing. I'll make a point to load test the battery soon and replace it at the 5 years mark, as my wife has a long commute and I would hate for her to get stranded far from home.
    My understanding is toyotas made in japan for export use some chity battery suppliers, probably to save some pennies. The RAV4 used to have made in japan batteries that lasted only a couple of years (considering the engine heat). A quality battery in trunk should last near 10 years.

    PS.
    Never ever buy a battery at Advance Auto Parts. Once they tried to sell me one measuring exactly 12V. It was more than one year old. The guy was arguing with me 12V was fine because they were "12V" batteries. They arranged for a new one to be delivered to the store. I came back day later and it was 12.2V and slightly under a year old. Obviously I walked away.
     
    #11 Former Member 68813, Jan 26, 2015
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2015
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  12. GregP507

    GregP507 Senior Member

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    This post might get moved to FHOP, but the lead-acid battery has been in use for well over a century, and it was known for it's longevity until relatively recently. Such batteries often remained in use for over 20 years, with minimal maintenance, consisting mostly of replacing water lost to evaporation.

    My aunt bought a compact fluorescent bulb about 20 years ago (when they were $25) and it was still working 15 years later. That's not the longevity we can expect from them nowadays. I don't think you have to be a conspiracy nut to understand that the business model for a manufactured product is heavily dependent on the engineered lifespan for that product. Like all other things in life, our expectations can be gradually shaped over time, like the boiling frog anecdote. We would reject a sudden change, but when introduced gradually, we eventually accept it in it's entirety.

    My father never accepted that a car battery should be replaced every few years, but then again, he wasn't raised in a pot of water, being slowly brought to a boil.
     
    #12 GregP507, Jan 26, 2015
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2015
  13. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    My surprise was that with a shelf life of close to one year it was still close to 13.0V, which is close to the 13.0 to 13.5V range they need to be for install. I could put it directly in the car without having to fully charge it first !

    There have been many posts on here with non-OEM batteries, Optima's especially, that were tested and discovered to be low on voltage when purchased.
     
  14. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Ours has smallish white sticker saying "240210W". So, the same as yours except for the underlined portion. The battery was installed at time of purchase, November, 2010. Puzzling, maybe by design?

    Yuasa battery date.jpg
     
  15. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    My 2010 is a work car, and I never abused the OEM 12v (aux) battery.
    It lasted until early 2013.


    The OEM aux batteries are crap, IMHO.


    Good Luck!
     
  16. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Very interesting and thorough video on troubleshooting phantom amp draw:



    And were Eric leaves off:

     
    #16 Mendel Leisk, Jan 26, 2015
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2015
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  17. ursle

    ursle Gas miser

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    Sad, al the mpgs wasted charging up a deficient 12v.
     
  18. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    I was very fortunate to have been close to home and at a place where I could easily catch a ride home to get my other car and my tools. Like you, I was most concerned about my wife driving the car and getting stranded, even though she does not drive this car regularly.

    I was most surprised at how suddenly this happened. When I started the car yesterday morning I had no clue that the battery had an issue. It did not show up until I powered the car down.

    When I took the original back to the Parts Manager he looked at the stickers and commented that this was the original battery from Japan and only has an expected life of about 4 years in his experience !
     
    #18 jdcollins5, Jan 26, 2015
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2015
  19. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    there was never much fuss until gen III, then there was a sudden run on 2010 batteries because they sat on the lot drained for a long time due to poor sales. dealers don't understand these batteries are different than gassers.
     
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  20. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I think I can see the reason for Yuasa's obscure coding method: they don't want people to be able to readily read the date code, cherrypick from batteries in stock. Reading a bit here, several people contacted Yuasa with a code, and they responded, told them the date, but there doesn't seem to be a readily apparent correlation. Shades of "The Imitation Game"...

    Yuasa date of manufacture?
     
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