12v Yellowtop Installation Success!

Glad to hear that it all worked out for you. Pretty sweet that it was cheaper than OEM for a superior product. Please let us know if you have any problems long term in your hostile environment. I've not heard any stories about an Optima sulfating to death, as opposed to the fragile OEM battery.

 

I just ordered a pair of yellow-tops for our 6-year-old Priuses. I've read nothing but great reviews of the product and the installation process, so I can't wait 'till they arrive. I'll try to remember to post the experience.

 

Well, I finally got around to installing the batteries today... quick and easy! It was nice to have two of them so that I could use one for keep-alive voltage while I installed the other, then use the first old battery for keep-alive while I installed the second one. I took my time with the first one and did the second one in around a half-hour.

The hardest part for me was removing the old vent connector from the rubber tube. The best part was the look on our post mistresses face when the flat-rate boxes arrived!

 

I installed the V Power XPC550 55 Ah deep cycle with nearly twice as much reserve capacity as the Optima,
with a few mods, for less...
and have a NEW Toyota battery forsale!
www.batterystoreoneline.com

 

Interesting. What mods? How well does it fit?
The cheapest on line was $215 at Amazon. Your link is inop.

 

I bought the Optima for $165 and it arrived quickly. Not quickly enough (same day) to make it to my appointments, but I guess I would be expecting too much to ask the vendor to be psychic and anticipate my needs! Buying online was preferable because with a dead prius, driving to a dealership would have been difficult and expensive. The instructions were clear, even with poor grammar and lack of proofreading. I struggled heavily to remove the positive terminal from the battery fuse box, but I got it.

I *did not* remove the brake box; I used a 10" socket extender. And thanks to a previous battery replacement by Avondale Toyota, I only had to remove one 10mm bolt from the duct. I should call them in the morning and give them the opportunity to make it right. My only concern was how much sparking occurred trying to connect the ground wire to the chassis.

All in all, it was easy. It took about an hour if you exclude the amount of time I spent trying to wrench off the positive terminal. Started right up with no errors. Tomorrow will be the final test when I take all the tools out of the trunk and road test it. Was just too tired and sore tonight. If I get more than 36 months, I will consider this a success.

Finally, I am glad the elearn aid site exists. I was unable to find batteries at any dealer parts websites. So it was either tow or jump to the dealer, and pay for tow fees plus the bend over fees of battery replacement. Good luck guys.

 

My mechanic (I'm not a DIY guy for this kind of stuff) did it a couple days ago for me in about an hour. Elearnaid shipped the Optima directly to him. He had a little trouble getting the cable out from where it was jammed into the bottom of the battery, but all went well after he finally got it unpacked.

 

They had two battery terminal adapters included, and I had to rebend the metal strap across the battery to fit up and over the battery.

$150+ shipping
their email is [email protected]

They are making some changes to the site:
www.batterystoreonline.com

 

They had two battery terminal adapters included, and I had to rebend the metal strap across the battery to fit up and over the battery.

$150+ shipping
their email is [email protected]

They are making some changes to the site:
www.batterystoreonline.com

 

I prefer this solution to the 'wrong size' battery posts on the D51. As to why Toyota fitted a battery with non-US standard sized posts????
Their Charging alogorithm for the 12V Pb Acid battery sucks ( what charging alogorithm? ) and is probably why we have problems with it and any replacement which may show reduced life.

I was tempted to call Optima to see if they had a battery with posts that were of the size used in countries other than the US of A but never did.

 

Great, thanks.

 

I was just collecting all of the left-overs and debris from the battery installation and realized that I had not used the little bolt that was wrapped in paper, included with the Optima kit. I looked at the instructions again, but couldn't figure out what it was for. Does anyone know?

 

Wish I read that before I did my yellowtop!

 

In my kit, the item wrapped in paper was a brass colored bolt and lock-washer to connect the negative battery cable to the chassis.

 

That's the only thing I could think of, but, since I still had the one I removed in the first place, I couldn't see much point in using it.

 

Well, that is a thoughtful gesture on the part of the vendor. If you had dropped the original bolt into the fender well and not been able to find it, you'd probably be glad that the extra bolt was provided.