Question re: 12-volt battery, please?

5+years of service with the factory battery in a Prius is not only heard of, many have lasted much longer. My original GS Yuasa battery in my '01 lasted 10+years and my '06 still has the original battery in it (going strong). The life cycle of your 12V battery depends on many factors (the biggest being degree of discharge or DOD). If you don't accidentally leave the dome light or discharge it fully in some other manner, your battery (or any battery) will last beyond expectations.

Julia,
Don't second guess yourself on installing a new battery. Even though your new battery reads slightly less than your old one, it is a better battery and you now have peace of mind knowing you won't have battery problems this winter. Don't worry about bringing it up to a "full" charge. It is fine right where it is.

 

I've said it before, and I don't mind a repeat, because it's worth the repeat. Get one of these:

Amazon.com: Pulse Tech XC100-P Xtreme Charge 12V Battery Maintenance Charger Desulfator: Automotive



You'll easily get an extra couple years out of the cheesy OEM aux battery. After you eek the extra couple of years out of the OEM, and the aux is mortally wounded change over the the Optima Yellow Top. You'll never look back.

 

mmmmmmm cheesy battery aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhhh.

You folks make me laugh!

 

Patrick,

What do you think of this charger? I have been looking online for a while and keep coming back to this one. What is your honest opinion?

BatteryMINDer Battery Charger / Maintainer with Desulphator — 12 Volt 2/4/8 Amp, Model# 12248 | Battery Maintainers| Northern Tool + Equipment

Ron

 

Hi Ron,

This seems fine. If you have an Optima battery; since the Optima website recommends that up to an 10A charging current can be used, I would be inclined to select a charger that can produce that output.

Also note that the original equipment GS Yuasa battery recommends a charging current of 4A.

 

Thanks Patrick!

I do appreciate your advice. Presently I am using the OEM "GS Yuasa" battery. It is at 50 to 75 % charge with readings of 12.4/12.1/14.0 when running jdenenberg's test. I haven't checked it with a multimeter yet, but rather utilizing the MFD. The unit seems to be pricy, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

When the OEM battery goes, I will probably replace it with the yellow top, but for now I am going to simply keep it charged up. I drive about 10K @ year, but the car does sit occasionally. It is not used for daily commuting, but rather parked outside in the heat and sun. Therefore it is suffering the brutal effects on the Pri systems in more one than one way.

Ron

 

Thank you hill!

I have seen this one along with another desulfate/charge unit. Do you use this one regularly? How long has it lasted? I don't mind spending my money if I get quality and something that lasts along with doing what it claims to do. If I understand correctly, there are no adjustments on this unit, fully automatic. Is that correct? When you use yours, do you connect directly to the battery or to the jump point under the hood?

Ron

 

I agree that a trickle charge is better for the battery. However, many people have lots of drama and excitement in their lives and may not be able to allow so much downtime for their car.

If your charger can produce 10A, then you can get the battery charged at a faster speed when you need to. You can use the 2A setting on the charger when you have plenty of time.

I personally am not in favor of a low-current battery minder, unless the car is only used on weekends. For a daily driver, who wants to go to the trouble of hooking this up on a daily basis.

 

Hi Julia,

I did see that post. I am looking for something that has a little more to offer than the 6Amp Diehard. The unit I referenced also has switchable amperage output as well as a desulfate system. If you do some research on batteries, you will find that all batteries tend to sulfate if they are not kept fully charged, and will sulfate heavily if you allow them to discharge. The charger I am looking at will at times bring a unservicable battery back to servicable use. It all depends on how much sulfate is on the plates.

The unit will also charge up batteries as well as maintain them with a trickle charge, therefore it falls into the category of the type of charger I am interested in. I plan to use the charger on two separate vehicles, not just the Prius. FYI, Optima makes a real nice charger for your new yellow top. Expensive price though $199 on the website.

Hope this helps ya in your quest for knowledge and research.

Ron

 

Woowwwww! Look at Julia. Now she's giving advice. . You'll be an expert soon Julia.

 

The usual advice is not to bother unless you have pets or people in winter coats using the back seat a lot.

 

We've been using the Extreme X for about 4 years now. It has a neat set of cables that allow you to do a permanent install on the terminals of your Prius. The cables have modular connector plugs in the middle of the cables that you can disconnect / dangle out of the car, to an easy-reach place. That way you can plug it to a power source without ever having to open up access to the car/battery. It was actually PriusChat's own Darrel (EVnut) that put me onto this model - which he uses for his RAV4-ev (see his web site: evnut.com and drill into the menus). I gave it a try after seeing that he swor by it - and how well it maintained his aux battery. We got a 2nd one for our electric Duffy party boat, which runs on a quantity of 8 six-volt lead acid "Trojan" style batteries. I rotate maintenance charges between the 4 pairs of Trojan batteries using our 2nd Extreme X . I'd of normally had to replace our 6v Trojan batteries by now, had it not been for the Extreme X. So yes, I'm very satisfied w/ them. I'm sure similar products work well, but the price for this sucker, as well as its 'set-it & forget-it' operation, makes it a bargain imo.

.

 

Well - if this bugs you then you need to fully-charge the Optima and see what happens. You can do that by either:

1) buying a good charger and using it overnight, or
2) leaving your car READY for a prolonged period, like overnight. (In that case, make sure your car has sufficient fuel in the tank. You do not want to run out of fuel during this process.)