4.5 years 95k miles - new battery?

Alas, we as a society aided this, by our demand for cheap goods.

 

BEST to read unload and load voltages after the battery has sat for a few hours or ideally the next morning.

12V reading after your just drove will give a false high.

Just IG-ON is a weak load.

UNLOADED 12V Battery Reading. Remember, ambient temps affect battery voltage.

+1.

Here's a more meaningful LOAD: Turn headlights on high, vent fan on high, radio on, hazards, all interior lights, etc. The more stuff you turn on, the greater the load and a better way to asses the 12V battery health against a load. Resting voltage is slightly meaningful, but a load measurement is the most meaningful.

 

I hope you're not preaching to me about "buying American."

1. I don't come here (Priuschat) to get into political discussions. There are other sites I frequent where I already get enough of that.
2. I buy plenty from American manufacturers, and will be more than happy to compare notes with you anytime you'd like.

Have a nice day.

 

Yes. If you can snag the $117 from Amazon, it's a no brainer.

 

Wal-Mart is still evil.

 

Just replace it. I have played the "wait until" game with car batteries and often times the battery won...........when everything is closed............on a dinner date with my wife....................2 hours for AAA to respond.................listening to my wife telling me I should've replaced it sooner......
I have had my car a little over 1 year and plan to replace the 12 volt within another 3 years.

 

Exide is also making a compatible battery I'm pretty sure. And Canadian Tire has a rebadged version:

Canada Tire alternative:
MotoMaster Eliminator Ultra model 10-5122 (rebadged Exide battery)
----
Above Canadian Tire battery is rebadged:
Exide FP-AGM51JIS

I got this Optima:

Optima Yellow Top:
Group Size: GR#51JIS: 46B24R
CCA: 450
CA: 575
Length: 9.272 in
Width: 5.024 in
Height: 8.885 in
web page:

But next time I might go with the Canuck Tire one, they're pretty on-the-ball, it's not a one-size-fits-all.

 

If a battery "naturally" dies after 4-5 years or so... how long can you keep trying to jumpstart it before you absolutely have to replace it? Once my battery nears the 4yr mark, I plan to buy one of those portable lithium battery jumpers (you can get them dirt cheap on Amazon), and see how long I can keep my old battery before it bites the dust. I'd hate to replace a battery early out of precaution when it may have a good year left on it....of course, if it's so dead that I can't even jump it, that would suck too

 

I'd go for a charger before a jump pack (or jumper cables), and a digital multi-meter.

(Having both has you covered best.)

 

I live in an apartment, so nowhere to plug in a battery charger, plus I travel a lot, so would be nice to have that portable battery jumper with me as insurance...the moment it first dies, I'll go out and buy a replacement battery, just hoping it can still be jumped with those portable packs. Would probably be a good idea to get the digital multi-meter though...

 

Gotcha, and yes on the multi-meter. Lots of uses besides the car too.

 

Jumpstarting the battery incorrectly can cost $4000 for a new inverter. How long should you jumpstart your Prius? ONCE. then get a new battery.

 

Toyota dealer

 

A few notes.

The financial value of holding on to an old battery is very low. You only would want to spend time and money on this that equates to cost savings plus any environmental concerns or techie thrills.

Specifically:

Ignoring the time value of money,
a $200 battery, used for 4 years is only worth $4 a month. $3.33 if you get it to 5 years. That last year is only worth $40.

Are you really gong to spend much on monitoring equipment, spending time learning to use it, and other fussing around to save $40? I don't have that answer, but it's worth asking.

I've heard the mpg drops before battery goes south ? Of course that varies with the weather, etc, would have to compare with previous year.

Any way, the multimeter or checking with my mechanic to do this seems a good idea. Anything much more than this, such waiting to the bitter end and risking the whole AAA thing seems not worth it to me - I'd rather replace too early, at most I'm wasting $40 vs a AAA tow.

But yeah, multimeter seems reasonable if my mechanic can't do it at oil changes. It's $25 for the best seller on Amazon. It does have some other uses:

EVERYONE Needs a Multi-Meter

Cable testing with multimeter...how do you do it? | The Gear Page

 

Wow, I'm usually the cheap one around Priuschat doing the bare minimum maintenance. Kudos to you for not wasting Mother Nature's resources. Financially, it won't make much sense versus the inconvenience to keep the battery going. However, She put a lot of work into the material to put to waste too soon.

Anyway, the answer for me is twice. One time could be because you left a light on. Twice in as many days means the battery is shot. I carry a portable jumper/air compressor/LED light/USB charger in my trunk. It cost a whopping $40 on sale at evil Walmart.

 

Pends.

The phrase "no problems" sticks out, and if you're talking about letting a dealership do this?
I wouldn't.

It might be a good time to start shopping for a new battery on paper, and reviewing some Youtube vids.but before somebody out there starts talking about "old man winter" remember that you're only booting the car up with the aux battery.
You're not "cranking" anything.
Perhaps one of the batteries at a big box store?

 

FYI: Prius battery is not available at big box stores.

 

Note: The old 15 minutes of running the engine does not recharge a 12v Prius battery. Think 8 hours. Yes, eight full hours.

 

.
BS

 

Yes, but.. if you pay $200 for a battery, and then the car is totaled when a tree falls on it a month later, you don't get back the unused value of the battery, so it did in fact cost you $200 more than if you had waited.

In a less dramatic example, if I expect to own a car for 12 years, replacing the battery at year 6 saves $200 over replacing the battery at years 5 and 10.