Our 2006 Prius will soon need a 12 volt battery

With that kind of service from the 12V , why would you bother looking elsewhere! Hal

 

Here you go.
Toyota Prius 12 Volt Auxiliary Battery with install kit for 2004 - 10

 

You can buy the correct battery at your local Toyota parts department. Or you can buy a Yellow Top D51 by Optimia but you will need the conversion kit.

The Prius does not use SAE battery terminals, it uses a much thinner JIS terminal. It is in the passenger cabin with your loved ones, so any replacement battery should be vented, (to reduce hydrogen gas build up, and AGM. (to reduce sulfuric acid spillage)

That makes correct batteries very rare. If you have no loved ones, you could skimp on safety, but most of us love someone.

 

Do you have any other dealers in your area? The prices you are being quoted are really outrageous. I replace mine a few months ago and the dealer charged $200 installed. I'd definitely call around if you're not interested in the Optima.

 

Hi Bill,
I am in FL (Jax) as well and I recently purchased a new battery from a dealer here in town for ~$148+tax. You should call all the dealers in the city you live in because I was able to pit two against one another and get the $148 price. I did EXTENSIVE research trying to find an alternate battery, that didn't require retrofitting, with no luck. If you are handy w/ tools it should take you about an hour to replace the existing battery. You should also know that my car had almost 100K on it when I replaced, so with only 26K you have plenty of time before you should need a new 12V. Remember the 12V doesn't function at all like in a non-hybrid in that it is never used to crank the engine. It just keeps the computer happy. My battery was actually down to just slightly over 10V with a bad cell and the car was still working fine. Good luck!
Matt

 

a lot of people (thanks to a few key people.. or one.. not sure) are starting to add distilled water. the battery is just getting low. if you feel like this is something you can possibly do then we or you can find the post and you can try that. it's a lot cheaper and people from early on (04/05) have strong batteries still.

 

From what I understand, the 12v battery powers everything except the hybrid drive system, like the audio, HVAC, windows, etc.

 

actually.. the 12v only powers the doors and such when the car is off... the only job is has it to run things when the car is off... and flip on a few relays so the hybrid battery/system can do all the work. it's not used when the car is on. it just charges. there is an inverter that powers the 12v line when the car is on... way more power than the battery could ever feed anyway...

 

AC is powered by the traction battery. The radio, windows, lights, Nav, and other such accessories are powered by the 12V system, which means the 12V battery when not Ready and the DC to DC converter when Ready.

Tom

 

late last year the optima importer to australia told me a d51 would be avalible with the small JIS terminals mid march this year. i couldnt wait and bought a stock battery. have a look and see if its avalible yet. if it is you will not need a adaptor kit for the install.

 

I stand corrected.

Now let me ask this, does anyone use a battery charger to give the 12v a good charge every three months or so?

 

I use a 12V battery charger every two weeks or so, on the cars that are lightly used.

 

See below for a procedure (thanks to jdenenberg) for testing the battery yourself without tools:

http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/73400-weird-stuff-happening-mpgs-dropping-test-battery.html

 

For a few months now I have been wanting to change the 12V in my 2006. I checked several dealerships in Columbus and Cincinnati, and the price varies from $255-300 (installed).