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Why leaving the key fob on a Toyota Hybrid with smart key drains the battery.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by bernie3015, Nov 7, 2014.

  1. bernie3015

    bernie3015 Member

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    In comparing the battery drains on a Camry hybrid versus a Prius Gen II hybrid I discovered both have three stages of battery drains after a door open incident.

    On a Gen II Right after the door is open the drain was 1.37 amps.

    Then it went to another stage unfortunately I did not document this on the Prius. On the Camry hybrid
    the drain goes to .09. If the key fob is around it never drops further.

    Then it drops to 00 with some readings of .01 on the Gen II Prius.

    Unfortunately the meter I was using is not that accurate but the three stages of drain are accurate. I did it many times on both the Prius and the Camry hybrid.

    Also this is what happens with the doors unlocked. In that state the security system should have little to do (less drain). I did not measure with the doors locked.

    Why did I do this? I wanted to compare the drains between the Toyota Prius and the Camry Hybrid. What I found was that were very close and so the Optima Yellow Top group 51 size battery that eLearnAid sells for the Prius will work on a Camry Hybrid. We been selling them for at least 10 months now. No complaints in fact a lot of happy customers because Toyota dealers are selling the OEM battery for from $350 to $923
     
    #1 bernie3015, Nov 7, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2014
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    what dealers sell the batteries for $350 - $923? I'm more curious about the $923
     
    #2 JC91006, Nov 7, 2014
  3. bernie3015

    bernie3015 Member

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    The $923 was the Toyota dealer in Guam.
     
    #3 bernie3015, Nov 7, 2014
  4. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    For anyone that wants to buy an Optima, Amazon.com regularly sells the correct Prius battery for $147.xx. Easy DIY job. Dealerships normally charge around $200 for the Yuasa battery, at the parts counter.
     
    #4 JC91006, Nov 7, 2014
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Selling batteries in Los Angeles, I think it's unfair to use Guam dealerships as a price comparison.
     
    #5 JC91006, Nov 7, 2014
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    actually, there have been a lot of complaints about the yellow top since optima was purchased by megalopolis corp.
     
    #6 bisco, Nov 7, 2014
  7. Cadenza

    Cadenza Member

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    I thought that Optima was gobbled up by JC (not the hippie dude from Nazareth) who in turn closed the US factory and moved production to south of the border.

    OPTIMA | Johnson Controls Inc.
    About Johnson Controls | OPTIMABATTERIES

    Some have said JC is cashing in on Optima's brand equity while lowering the quality.

    Optima Batteries.... who makes them? | Automotive General Topics | Bob Is The Oil Guy
     
    #7 Cadenza, Nov 7, 2014
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    exactly.
     
    #8 bisco, Nov 7, 2014
  9. bernie3015

    bernie3015 Member

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    I keeping hearing this story about Johnson Control making an inferior battery than the prior owners of the brand name but frankly I have not seen this in warranty claims. Mine are very low. It is true they shut down the plant in the Denver area and the batteries are all now produced in Mexico.

    Guam unfair price comparison. Sorry I do sell and ship batteries there as part of my free shipping. It is to all US and territories: including Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico etc. Plus they get them in three days.

    My customer in Guam was so happy that I saved him so much money over the dealer that he sent me two boxes of cookies.
    He appreciated that I spent a day comparing drains between the Camry and the Prius and communicated this on my website.
    12 volt battery for the Toyota Camry Hybrid
     
    #9 bernie3015, Nov 8, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2014
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    was that guamkelly? i remember him.
     
    #10 bisco, Nov 8, 2014
  11. bernie3015

    bernie3015 Member

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    No Guam kelly got a battery from me for his Prius and his Prius V. This is a battery for a Camry Hybrid.

    When Guam Kelly called he got an assistant who was a little confused because she had no idea where Guam was.
    But she knew that eLearnAid shipped to US Territories so was able to reassure Kelly that we did. He got the battery
    in three days he wrote about his experience on Prius chat. Recently he ordered another for his Prius V.

    Guam Kelly was the first person we shipped a battery to on Guam though!
     
    #11 bernie3015, Nov 9, 2014
    KK6PD likes this.
  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i did read his posts, he has been very pleased. please don't take my posts the wrong way, it seems that a lot of recently purchased yellow tops from places like auto zone have come with a low charge, are 6 months old or more and some have been defective. but i certainly can't give you any percentages. when we started promoting elearnaid a few years ago, there weren't any complaints, except for the early post adapter kit.
     
    #12 bisco, Nov 9, 2014
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