CCA value is irrelevant for a Prius. It may be painted as fake news, but just learn it (chemistry) if in doubt. Unfortunately other measurable units are not advertised or easy to know. The long term and low temperature (in my case) endurance is so much more relevant. Yuasa model is the absolute best value/endurance time value in my experience with so many dead trunk batteries at winter times… Up north we know battery capacity drops tremendously when there are subzero temps. If used low they will empty their entire charge. Please note a frozen battery is not wasted, it likely froze due to lack of charge (pH is to high). But any battery that has dropped to below even be able to start the Prius ECU should never be considered healthy nd only used as backup. Any artery or battery will be able to deliver 300A directly after charging. It’s not viability in my mind.
That’s a testament to quality indeed. Since the dimensions and pole dimensions and positions (!) are rare, I have tried em all. Any battery claiming high CCA is by my definition easily emptied.
Agree, higher CCA seems to come at the expense of lower amp hours, it's a trade-off, on or the other.
Indeed. It’s two different focus areas design-wise. Either you deliver a lot now and store less, or you deliver less and hence store more. It’s not just fluff, the design of plates and electrolyte flow is very different. I have not tried lithium as an aux at all, partly due to lack of trust in cold climate sustainability. Might be idiocy, but price is also highly relevant… My experience: avoid Bosch, Excide and Yellow Top, if you live with subzero nights.
I've got an Optima Yellow Top, and in hindsight, see the high CCA came at expense of lowish Amp Hours (38?). That said, and considering our very sporadic driving, I just keep it on a smart charger, 'round the clock. Over 10 years now.
That is indeed my experience aswell. Actually, this YTop has been the most wanted money for me, I can buy three Excide ås for the same price. I have lagats used a ctek 5A charger attachment on my Priuses, but with the YT it seemed to make it worse at keeping charge (since I think it was not at all designed for subzero climates). We can have a full month with -10° at night. Yuasa YBX3057 is my absolute empirical favorite. It has lame CCA.
This is knowledgeable information indeed. However, in my battery hardened mind, the concept of ”battery testers” is idiosyncratic. It’s an unknown and this kind of tool is a waste of money; Unless anyone is in a hurry to determine the batteries ability to crank the engine, as shops are by definition. Any quality charger will indirectly show you more relevant information during the cycle. Ie charge time to full mainly, and drops in V over time (not ctek as it lacks any displays) CTEK defines these in the manual. It actually checks how much the V drops/unit before deciding to ”recond” it. I also have some osram 20eu 4A chargers that show V.
My second-last car, a MINI (BMW) "required" coding when a non-BMW battery was installed, for optimum life. I just went with the $300 BMW battery. Doesn't sound like the Prius requires that, but perhaps it is optimized (charging profile, or whatever) for the stock battery.
I do not recommend a Toyota TrueStart battery because to check it for a warranty claim you need to schedule an appointment and bring your car into the dealership, which costs money. They will not test your battery over the counter for a warranty replacement, unlike all other auto parts stores. Advanced Auto Parts, brought my flat battery to the counter, the employee brought out a machine and tested it to confirm it’s dead; on the spot replacement. Toyota Auto Parts, brought my low battery to the counter, the employee told me it’s not a parts warranty claim and I need to schedule an appointment…
I wonder if this depends upon the dealership. I am happy to bring my car in if they are going to check it for free. The old Toyota battery that came out of my car lasted 12 years and it still measures 12.68 volts after it's been sitting in my -20C garage for a week. I only replaced it because of its age.
I had no issue with my battery from Toyota. The parts people were great where I went. There was no sticker on the battery, but they read the code. It was out of warranty. They not only gave me the veterans discount, 10%, they knocked off an extra few dollars. Perhaps you should try another dealership, if one is close by. Or talk to the part manager, or owner of the dealership.....
I called corporate, and the lady kind of told me that it is dealership dependent, but she was very uncertain. So I went to another dealership and it was a real struggle to get the parts manager to agree, finding every excuse, but after a long fight, a legal and technical argument… they finally took my battery for warranty. Now I have to go back there the next day and pick up my new battery. (Which he said doesn’t get a new warranty, just a continuation of the old battery’s warranty … really?) Also the warranty does not include removal or installation. The nationwide auto parts retailers will replace your battery for warranty on the spot, and swap it for free. Consider that. And their 84 month warranty is actually only a free replacement for 2 years, afterwards it’s 50% off a new battery, then 25% off until the end those 7 years.
That's different; Battery warranties use to be pro-rated based off of retail pricing model - regardless of the price you bought the battery at. If you bought a new battery based on that pricing scheme; warranty starts all over again. In rare instances, customers wanted a free replacement; We'd obliged and give them a used battery, if available, for the remaining term of the warranty. We do make it clear to them that this is a courtesy and won't be responsible for any expenses they incur, if they get stranded somewhere or they can take the remaining cash value - usually a few bucks after around 50% of the warranty has expired. All that is written and signed-off by both parties on the work order. We'd get the occasional idiot with a bad alternator or voltage regulator - that's where those used batteries come from. We'd service them, recharge and test them, then resell them as reconditioned. Most batteries will die within 18 months of EOW, if there isn't an electrical problem with the car. That was more than 40 years ago, when I was in high school, working in a parts store. I'm sure they got it dialed-in by now.....
I've managed to skirt the battery warranty debacle, for any and all cars we've had over the years: unless it was defective from the start (which has never happened so far), I've kept a close eye on the battery's status, keep them on a charger during any protracted downtime, and periodically test with an electronic load tester.
What charger and load tester do you use? I recently wanted to check my old battery under load before I replaced it, but wasn't sure how to go about that.
