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Aux Batteries keep dying

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by cbird02, Apr 16, 2020.

  1. cbird02

    cbird02 Junior Member

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    Awesome info guys and great link dolj. Filling back up and will check voltage after an hour, then left overnight hooked up to check for draw tomorrow!
     
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  2. mikefocke

    mikefocke Prius v Three 2012, Avalon 2011

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  3. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    What is your reference for this information, or the source of the chart?
     
  4. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    You need to do a parasitic draw test:
     
  5. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    That video was already linked to back in post #17 when testing for a parasitic draw was discussed.
     
  6. cbird02

    cbird02 Junior Member

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    So I let it sit overnight with cable off, hooked up cable closed doors and left of for 1 hour and my voltage was 13.0V . Checked 24 hours later and voltage is 12.92 V.
     
  7. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Did you happen to measure the voltage after it sat and before connecting it up?

    In any case, it seems the battery is in a reasonably good state. Are you proceeding to do the next step to confirm the car quiesces to 20 mA as outlined in post #17? (Quoted below.)
     
  8. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    That's not a parasitic draw test. There's no shortcut for the labor that needs to be done. You also need to apply a load tester to the battery. The lowest cost one at harbor freight is the best one that I've used for over 20 years. The digital one that calculates battery life by measuring internal resistance is woefully inadequate and notoriously wrong. It also cost more to get wrong results. Buy this one and test both the battery and do a parasitic draw test.
    There's just no way around doing this correctly...
    100A 6/12v Battery Load Tester
     
  9. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Who said it was?

    How exactly does that load tester also do a parasitic load test?
     
  10. mikefocke

    mikefocke Prius v Three 2012, Avalon 2011

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    Here is another one
    [​IMG]
     
  11. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I did a parasitic draw test on our 2010. Basically disconnected the neg cable from the body, bolted a long lead to the body, a second to the neg cable, ran both leads out through the hatch threshold, closed the hatch, taped the separate leads to the slab, waited about an hour (fob away, in the house), then measure first amperage (for safety), then milliamperes, with a multi meter. Got 15~20 milliamperes with occasional spikes to 40~50. The spikes might be due to the security icon blinking on the dash, but they didn't seem to sync. Anyway, VERY low. No where near 0.5 amp mentioned earlier.
     
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  12. cbird02

    cbird02 Junior Member

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    I wasn't performing a parasitic draw test. I was seeing if I need to perform one. If I do, I will be following the directions in the video with a multi-tester in series on the battery.
     
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  13. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    I don't see a problem........unless it continues to fall by a tenth of a volt every day.
     
  14. cbird02

    cbird02 Junior Member

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    I mistyped - Here was the sequence:

    After full charge, negative detached: 13.3
    After overnight negative detached: 13.1
    After 1 hour negative attached: 13.0
    Next day 12.92

    I will keep checking

    Edit: I was waiting to see what the standing voltages do over time sitting since I am not really using the car during quarantine. If I see a down trend I am going to do the parasitic load test
     
    #34 cbird02, Apr 20, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2020
  15. George W

    George W Active Member

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    The Gen 2 Prius only trickle charges the 12 volt battery. If you start with the less than full charge it'll take a long time for the car to catch it up.

    If you don't have a smart charger, just take your new battery to an auto place and have it fully charged before you start it in its life cycle
     
  16. Jimiguess

    Jimiguess New Member

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    I'm new here and cant seem to find a place to start a new thread and ask a question ? help !
     
  17. 05PreeUs

    05PreeUs Senior Member

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    Sorry, LOAD testing the 12v in a Prius is a fool's errand. These batteries are NOT "starting" batteries in terms of size or capacity so testing it like one will not obtain the desired and accurate results. Would one start a motorcycle or garden tractor? Sure. But that is NOT how it is being used.

    Unless the CURRENT DRAW is measured with the B- cable REMOVED from the battery (-) post, you will not know if there is too much "draw" on the battery. One clever trick, since the battery is in back, is to trip the liftgate latch CLOSED, which should keep the dome light off while the measurement is taken.

    Normal "key-off" draw is under 0.5A, ANYTHING over that is too much and for a 12v to live, it should be in the 0.2A range, lower is better!
     
  18. George W

    George W Active Member

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    Skimming through this thread I have not seen anybody mention the SKS system. Does your Prius have the smart key system? That is always drawing a small amount, unless you physically turn it off with the switch under the steering wheel.
     
  19. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    Agreed...the 12 volt battery doesn't spin the motor.
    The 12-V battery turns on all the switches. without a 12-volt battery the car won't start. The user is reporting that the 12-volt battery is dead. Parasitic draw to the 12-volt battery needs to be tested. Load testing of the 12 volt battery still needs to be performed. It's too late to charge up and load test the old batteries because they're already damaged from a low charge state. But you can test the current battery. Then you can do a parasitic draw test on the system.
     
    #39 douglasjre, Apr 20, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2020
  20. douglasjre

    douglasjre Senior Member

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    You still need to perform one. Make no assumptions. You don't know what the voltage drop rate is for a given parasitic draw