Looking for aftermarket 12v battery

I'd be interested to know whether your order is accepted or rejected. Most Toyota dealers selling parts over the web will not ship batteries as they are considered "hazardous material" and the freight charges will be quite high. So don't be surprised if you receive an email or phone call from the parts dept about this.

 

well when it was time to replace my bat in my my04 I found a conversion kit $15 on the net (and it was not a cheap made one) then went to autozone and got the great level 2004 Mazda Miata ... bat and kit just under $110. Was it a perfect fit well no but a lot better than the dealers price of $250 plus install.. and this new batter is 10x better than that Japan one....

One thing to keep in mind is that the us battery post are switched from what you have in Japan... so that made the cabling a bit tight...

OH and the kit came with a tube splicing from two tubes on the Miata battery to the one outlet that the Prius has.

 

Wow, a dealer's price of $250 plus install??? My dealer charged me $150, which included the install on my 04.

 

Yes, the Miata battery is designed to be externally vented and is safe to use in a Prius. There can be a lot of jury rigging depending on application, but I wouldn't have concerns using any of the Miata conversions

 

That's good advice any time you replace a 12 vdc battery, Prius or conventional vehicle. Have had co-workers and neighbors get replacement batteries from Canadian Tire and other places - claimed to be "fully charged" - but once back at the house, barely 30% charged

For a conventional vehicle, it puts a lot of stress on the alternator trying to charge up an almost dead battery

 

The Optima battery from eLearnaid arrived fully charged.

 

Optima batteries appear to have much lower self-discharge than conventional batteries. I wouldn't mind trying one next time a battery quits on me

 

Jay, being in Canada, asked me to visit my local Autozone to see what's up at that retailer regarding 12V batteries. So I went to the Autozone in Mission Viejo, CA this morning and took a look at the battery catalog attached to the rack containing the 12V batteries for sale.

No battery is offered for Toyota Prius. A battery is offered for Mazda Miata.

 

Patrick

Thanks for the legwork



That is veeeeerrrrrrrrryyyy interesting! According to the Autozone online, when you enter the vehicle information (2004, Toyota, Prius, etc) and click on Batteries, they list a range of batteries that are supposed to work in the Prius

When I asked locally at Parts Source, Napa Canada, and Canadian Tire, I received the "correct" reply: we don't offer a battery for that car, you need to go to your dealership

I'm wondering what else Autozone Online got wrong about the Prius? I should look again and see if they offer a "starter" or "torque converter" for the Prius. Maybe they offer a "clutch" for the Prius too!

jay

 

You can get the Duralast battery at Autozone for $80, then you could use the $15 optima conversion kit if you like. This is a 460 ca battery with an 8 year warranty. This would, by the way, give you the ability to jump start another vehicle.

You could get this, or something similar:

U1 12 Volt Battery Electric Wheelchair Scooter - eBay (item 310130066541 end time Mar-29-09 12:34:19 PDT)

This is similar to the WestCo battery that is commonly used in the Miata. The hydrogen release is so minimal, that the battery is sealed completely instead of venting.

The WestCo battery would need the conversion kit, or you would have to come up with your own connections.

The wheelchair batteries are nice because they have connections similar to motorcycle (mc) terminals. Just from looking at the Toyota battery and connections, it appears you could easily connect the battery cable bolts directly to the mc style terminals, without using the round terminal connections.

Sorry for the delay in getting back, I didn't mean to make you think you'd never hear from me about this.

Regards,
Dave

 

I don't know who supplies Toyota batteries but we were impressed with the one in our 2000 Tundra. It seemed to be just fine in 2008 but my wife runs the truck and she feared getting stuck somewhere so she opted for a new one from Toyota. Never had a battery that lasted that long.

 

Odd. When Patrick checked they didn't have one ...

 

Sorry, I missed Patrick's post. The autozone battery is a miata battery, that's why you would need the optima conversion kit or something similar.

 

Thanks for the correction. Do you know what the CA of the Toyota battery is?

 

The Autozone Online site implies no conversion is necessary, and further implies they have a lot of batteries for the Prius. Using Patrick's zip code, this is actually implied as in stock, but when Patrick went in person, only a Mazda Miata style in stock

There is no mention upon entering Toyota Prius, that the battery that is suggested for replacement is actually for a Miata, or that it requires a conversion kit for the posts

 

Nope, I don't. Furthermore, I would *never* offer to directly jumpstart another vehicle using a Prius. If something fubar's - eg the person in the dead car attempts cranking while your Prius is hooked up - if you're LUCKY you pop the 100 amp fuse and your car is only temporarily disabled

If you're unlucky - we have reports of a few folks being unlucky with jumpstarts - then you've fried +$4,000 worth of inverter. Your Prius is most definetely Tango Uniform until you have a very expensive repair done

I carry a Canadian Tire emergency jump start box, rated at 700 cranking amps. It's supposed to be charged monthly, and immediately after each use.

I've used the booster box to successfully jump start stalled cars and even a full size pickup. If somethings fubar's I only fry a $120 booster box, around $70 on sale