Battery Maintenance - Revive your Dead or Dying 12v Aux Battery

I appreciate your concern but I think your assumptions are unfounded. I also believe your comments about unhealthy air, exposure to unsafe chemicals etc. can be applied to an untold number of everyday situations including most home and car repairs (and even everyday laundry, meal prep and cooking adventures).

Smart people and great companies rebuild batteries every day... this is neither an overly deadly task nor a new concept.

No one with any credibility has stated that this operation causes any more or less gases in the car cabin. If this is your hot button you should be more concerned about the many posts from users that have replaced their batteries with lower cost non sealed batteries and use them in their daily drivers.

Maintenance and hands on troubleshooting is not for everyone. But if you take the time to do maintenance on your car you often find issues that are problem areas that can be addressed and even corrected with simple measures. I'm not convinced you are better off ignoring the battery and hoping it is safer hidden in the back without verification.

"IF" there was a sealing problem with the battery maintenance I performed... the battery would have leaked, depleted the coverage and the battery would have long since failed. Because it has not failed (or needed additional water in almost 2 years)... that alone should tell all you all you need to know about your venting concerns.

From my view the battery is venting in the same method that it did from the factory. I may be mistaken on this but I think if you actually look at the dynamics of what I did in removing and replacing the sealing caps and adding water to the battery you may be surprised to find that the health risks are unchanged.

The top clear cover is not the main vent path. Each cell has individual seal caps. I simply removed the rubber caps added water and replaced the caps. I believe the caps and the untouched escape vent is working like before and I believe the venting is largely unchanged. I know the smell of a leaking battery and that's simply not an issue.

It’s also coming up on the 2nd year of extended life (without any additional work or checks on my part). Is that better that the battery being in the land fills? I think so... Some will argue that after 3-4 years you should blindly toss them whether there's and issue or not. Others have proudly let them do their thing and they have lasted 7+ years and counting... either way that's fine with me... I'm ok with that. The post was my 2nd and I was simply sharing my experience to a problem I faced on the road (on vacation with limited options). I've been more that amazed at the contrasting opinions (as batteries seem to be a wild and crazy subject). I can only imagine the results had I received as much attention to my other issues.

 

Thank you... I agree.

In the end we are volunteering our time and talents with the ultimate goal to help one another.

When we're in sync the feedback can (and should be) a thing of beautiful and blessings.


Sometimes we all get caught up in the moment and our responses can be a bit too edgy... let me apologize in advance if I've caused unnecessary friction.

I appreciate all the knowledge, insight and help I get from these forums and can only hope someone else gets a similar benefit from my small contributions.

 

Thanks for sharing... Glad it helped!

Did you happen to notice how low the levels were in the individual cells (before and after adding water)?

 

** Final Battery Status - The battery lasted an extra 2 years.

At the end of this summer the battery finally started acting up again. There were times when I had to press the Start button a few times to get the car into the ready mode. I vaguely remember this issue when I originally revived the battery a little over 2 years ago. When I checked the battery voltage via the OBD2 it was clear it had issues. Later when I removed and check the battery I discovered it had a bad cell next to the negative post.

Toward the end I was measuring as low as 10v. At this low voltage the system can barely gain "Ready" mode and thus cannot kick in the HV battery to help out the aux battery. Once you get the "Ready" mode the voltage jumps to ~14.5v as the power bus gets boosted by the Hybrid battery.

A few times during the time when I was still on the failing battery I used a pocket sized lithium battery Car Jump Starter to boost the voltage for a few seconds to gain the "Ready" mode to get me going. Once the card started I was fine for the rest of the day.

If you find yourself in a failing battery state and you don't have access to a jump starter you may want to note that the system puts a large load on the aux battery when you close and open the driver's door (as this triggers the brake pump to run for a couple of seconds with a large current draw up to 30a). I found that the battery would rebound and gain the ready state as long as I stopped open/closing the driver's door and waiting a few minutes. Another approach is to enter the car from the passenger side (so the driver's door does not trigger the brake pump). I used a book I happened to have in the front sear to press on the brake petal while I pressed the start button from the passenger seat.
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Example "Pocker Sized" Portable Car Jump Starter:
These little "Jump Starters" are more than enough to start a Prius and can be used as a flash light or usb charger for your cellphone.

DBPower https://www.amazon.com/Compact-DBPOWER-8000mAh-Portable-Flashlight/dp/B013UJ2JCE/ref=sr_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1483078888&sr=1-3&keywords=car+jump+starter

Anker