Best 12V Battery?

Sigh, you are beating a dead horse and do not know why I am encouraging you -- other than I am in pain, can't sleep and am tired of watching Pluto TV.

Lots of good batts. Lots of people with opiniions. Why not go with the batt that was made to FIT --WILL FIT and is probably right around the price of any GOOD battery -- plus or minus $50.....if you are one of those that want to save $$$ and want to screw around getting a wheelchair batt to fit -- make me an offer on mine (opps, forgot, my chair is a "manual" ).

Go to
Shop Genuine OEM Car Batteries for Your Toyota


When you get there, scroll down to the red shop now button. Click it and then on the page that pops up select the details of your car (year, model, trim, etal). Then select the battery. then click on the link to Toyota of Lake City that will show you they are willing to discount the batt to $206 --- you are welcome. Did this for my niece whom lives in Shoreline a week ago. If you are truly finding LOTS of real TOY dealers carrying anything other than TOY batts, you are truly in an alternative universe and I do not want to know about it -- but try batteries plus+ for their $200+ Duracell that fits. Some will install for free, some will not.

Car and Truck Batteries at Batteries Plus Bulbs

If you go the stupid route and buy online and have batt shipped to you, in the unlikely event you have a problem and need to return said batt -- yeah -- that's going to be a big pain (HAZMAT shipping).

If your current batt tests low after eight or more hours of the car sitting unused, yeah, new batt is in your future.

If you do not want those batts there are 4 million, 600 and 73 other RECENT posts on PriusChat that beat the same horse on the same subject. Stupid aux batts...getting to feel sorry for that horse
kris

 

Wow, Kris. You do sound cranky. Hope you feel better soon.

But you're also absolutely right. I'm surprised at how many people after seeing their oem Toyota battery last for 10, 12, 14 years or whatever, think another battery will be better and go hunting for bargains.

@darkgiant, lots of folks will swear by Optimas or other brands, but I don't think you'll find a better battery than the Toyota True Start.

 

there is no metric for 'best' here. we have seen everything and anything.

how old is your battery? what does it measure with everything off? 11.1 with everything on might not be bad.

a/c has no impact on the 12v, it is high voltage running off the hybrid battery.

if the car is infrequently driven, you should consider a battery tender, whether you buy a new battery or not.

if you do buy a new one, i agree with chris and jerry above. find a dealer with the best price on an oem true start.

 

I apologize for being curt and cranky and all those other things!

I am celebrating today (HUH!) the four-month anniversary of the accident that basically ruined my life (at least for the time-being)...Am I feeling sorry for myself -- sort of. Do I need to take it out on Washington Husky fans (well, sort of -- at least that's what a true Oregon Duck or Oregon Beaver fan would say).

>>>>For those outside the Northwest, dark giant's avatar (purple W) is the symbol for the doggone University of Washington Huskies --- a bitter enemy of those of us in Oregon.)

Anyway, I am over my issues for the moment. And, again, I do apologize. I DO have lots to be appreciative of (mostly)....Anyway, this is not the Dr. Drew forum;....

Get the TrueStart and call it good. If not, I really think (as Does EricBecky) that the DuraCell is a good alternative -- but it is about the same price -- only plus is that you MIGHT get Batteries Plus to install it gratis.

 

Glad you're better for now. I know that pain and sleep loss makes me grouchy, too. Well, maybe I'l always grouchy but those situations make me too tired to hide it.

@darkgiant, as you can see, there are options. I just happen to have had good results with the True Start. There are some other ones out there, but you usually get what you pay for. Other good ones will be pretty similar in price. Back in the day, it was Sears Die Hard or nothing for me.

 

If that's the original 12V, then it's probably about due, although with those short drives, it may just need more charging time. In my neck of the woods, four years is pretty average, but your climate is much easier on batteries. Because the Prius makes such small demands on the 12V, it's much smaller than other cars' batteries and the charging current isn't as strong. Most any parts store will load test the battery for free, although there are reports of especially ignorant staffers being afraid of getting killed by checking a 12V battery on a Prius.

In a regular car, the battery gives the traditional warning of the engine cranking slowly saying that the battery is running out of capacity. The Prius battery doesn't crank the engine, so rather than pulling several hundred amps when the car starts, it might pull maybe 10-14 or something crazy low like that. So without a belch-fire V-8 engine going "err-err-err-err" on a cold morning, all we get is weird lights on the dash as the computers try to make sense out of sensors that aren't getting enough power to work right. Or, it just goes dark and nothing works. Depends on how flat the battery got.

Battery Tender, is actually a brand name that's so common that it's in the vernacular like "Kleenex."
Automotive

The safest bet is to get a new battery but also get a battery maintainer that is meant to work with AGM batteries such as in the Prius. Not all chargers are AGM friendly, so make sure of that.
This is an example that I would consider if I was shopping for one.
Power Plus 3 Amp Selectable Battery Charger

EDIT to ADD: There are lots of other good battery maintainers. I just used that brand as an example.

 

yeah, under 12v is pretty bad, i'm surprised it is starting. still, you could try charging it up and monitor it. the car won't charge it enough unless you drive a good four hours, or let it sit in ready for eight.