12v option from harbor freight? Hmmmmmmmm

Terminal posts?

 

…isn't there something about vents/tubes too? Good price, but (as they say) the devil is in the details!

 

box does say valve regulated, so not sure if you can tap into that for vent tube?

dimensions?

 

thunderbolt solar 12 volt 35 amp hour universal battery

^ Search string if anybody wants it. Checking the harbor freight info:

12 Volt, 35 Amp Hour Sealed Lead Acid Battery

against my third gen battery measurements:

----
OEM battery info (measurements taken directly):
Battery id: S46B24R GS YUASA
length: 9 3/8" (238 mm)
width: 4 7/8" (124 mm)
height: 8" (203 mm) (plus posts)
post dia's:
Pos: 13 mm (approx)
Neg: 10 mm (approx
Weight: 310
----

The thunderbolt varies as follows:

Length: 8" (minus 1 3/8"
Width: 5 1/8" (plus 1/4")
Height: 7 1/4" (minus 3/4")

It might work, with a 3/4" shim under. Except for the vastly different posts. That would be a deal breaker for me. I think too 35 amp hours is less, the OEM is 38 amp hours?

 

Post #8 from this thread, 12V battery replacement | PriusChat
has a mobility batt, 35Ah AGM
says he got 5 years out of it

 

lol, might have been your post that made my mind think that one too.

I think @Mendel Leisk had some posts on that recently, but it may have been convert from american to jdm or something?

 

It is a "lawn mower" battery.
Others have used similar ones in a pinch for short terms.

 

They have a good return policy and I think the standard 20% coupon could apply on this battery. You could probably make it work. The Gen 2 Prius is in their glory years. One step above a junker. With that I say go for it. When I say Junker it's like a tooling car or a kit car. At the point in its life cycle. You really can experiment a lot with your Prius. If things go sideways you can send it to the boneyard.

 

FWIW?

I don't think it's crazy, but I'd invest some of my savings in a decent jump pack and keep it ready.

Juuust sayin

 

That battery should be fine for an G2 SKS Prius that is driven at least a couple times/week. If you can't figure out how to connect to the terminals, though, this may not be a job for you. The venting is the only thing I'm not 100% sure about.

FWIW - I was jumping my Prius with a Makita Drill/Driver battery for a while between when my OEM battery STB and when I got a Yellow Top (form that educational guy) with adapter kit. Can't remember if it was a 12V NiMH or 14.4V NiMH though.

 

Thanks, i saw that a few days ago too

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I think my non-SKS is something like 38Ah originally?

I've been running this similar replacement 55Ah for the last 3-4 years with screw terminals. And no vent tube. But neither has my Volvo's 100Ah battery in the open boot, which is a similar setup and distance from the passengers as my Prius.

I think I would use the Harborfreight battery without any hesitation if I wasn't a stickler for battery maintenance (the biggest battery will last the longest). Price seems excellent. I can't find what I payed for mine, but it was AT LEAST 100euro (~2euro/Ah), probably 130 (~2.5euro/Ah including all taxes) or so and I searched for a long time before buying to get best value for money. So 2$/Ah seems like a steal as long as the euro is worth more than the $ (at time of writing 1EURO=1.10$) and taxes aren't >25%.



Gratuitous pic of them side-by-side

 

I found my purchase price (the company has a different name since January 2016 when I ordered it... which is why I couldn't find the order in my computer).
It equates to 2$ per Ah for the 55Ah (cheaper than I thought, but as said, I found the absolute best price I could find during at least 3 months of (occasional) searching).

But that was 4 years ago, so this 2.2$ per Ah (incl. all tax) sounds like an excellent deal.