Level 3 12 volt battery test

My philosophy is the greater the amount of amp-hour, the greater the longevity, as well as more forgiving if you leave the headlights or doorlights on. My 55 amp-hour I installed in Jan2013 is still going just fine, but clearly getting towards the end.

My buddy in an '06 Prius bought one of these from this link on Ebay a month ago and said it worked, but was a little bit wider than previous.

My Jan2013 one fit quite well once I removed the tray underneath...

As for this ebay one, I ordered one last week on Monday and it arrived on Friday.

As for the terminals, this time I matched some spare bolts to the thread pattern and used two big washers, one on top and one on bottom of terminal and a lock washer to prevent it coming loose. These type of terminals on these types of batteries are standard and I've used several different hardware methods installing them over the years.

The main reason I bought this Ebay battery last week is a person with a not long for this world 2002 Prius who doesn't have much money needed a 12v. So I figured I'd buy one that fit my car, so if the '02 that needs a tune up and battery reconditioning and a deep clean isn't something she can invest in I can take back the battery and eventually use it in my Prius. Still haven't done much testing of this brand other than it arrived at 12.95v and stayed at that voltage even after I put a 2000w Bestek inverter load on it.

Only problem with this battery going in the '02 Prius is battery in Gen1 is on the opposite side of the car so I had to rotate the battery 180', which means the terminals are next to outside of the car/rear quarter panel rather than towards the inside, which will be a problem if that quarter panel get a dent going 2" deep, but like I said, this Gen1 is not long for this world. Also had to bend the mounting base plate a bit to hold this slightly longer battery shape. But those are Gen1 problems.

As for the vent tube, as per many a conversation, you know where you can shove your vent tube or lack thereof.

If you do buy one and do testing on it, please share your results here!

 

I've been meaning to replace it for 2 years and I keep forgetting about it since it's my wife's car. I've been doing a lot of reading and see a lot of positive reviews of the yellow top Optima even though there are plenty of negative reviews but the positive reviews still out number them by a large margin. I also found out that Batteries Plus Bulbs will give 10% off. If I go that route I'll charge the battery with a trickle charger before using it. They also will exchange it if I have issues within the first 3 years.

 

i think they are all good options these days

 

There are certainly plenty of options. Everyone has their preference. I'm hoping in a few years when
I need one the price will have come down a lot. And/or they have an updated one that's better.

 

Try a Solar BA9 or similar, electronic load tester.