Update battery thread: is the Optima Yellow Top still the preferred choice?

You could add some make up.

 

Hey, two pages of search results for 345LN1-MF , lol.

https://priuschat.com/search/838171447/?q=345LN1-MF&o=relevance

 

28800-21170 Battery Toyota | YoshiParts

This is OEM (28800-MODEL), seem very sealed, but it’s fairly irrelevant. (The price is ~four times the Yuasa SMF mentioned).

 

I'm sure this has been debated, but with today's fancy tailored charging systems, should one match the OEM battery as much as possible? If Toyota is supplying flooded batteries now, should one replace that with a similar design, or can one go with AGM, which a lot of people here seem to do. In the past Toyota seemed to supply AGM. Confusing.

 

Well, as @Mendel Leisk mentioned knowledgeably, the absolute main value of the AGM design is that acid will not leak as much, in case of an impact/accident.

Seems like a minor value to me, compared to price/performance ratio - and perhaps a massive fire on impact etc…

 

One thing to note about Toyota batteries is that you will have to buy it from your local dealer. Yes, there are online Toyota dealers on the autoparts.toyota.com website who frequently run 25% off sale and offer free shipping, but not one of them will ship the battery. So you are stuck with your local dealer, which means price gouging. But you can always ask for a lower price. My local dealer wanted $330 for the battery. I told them that's not only above the MSRP but also crazy. And they agreed to sell it at MSRP. If you don't ask, you will never find out.

 

The Toyota OEM battery is AGM.

 

That's what I'm saying. Perhaps for your generation, but not the latest.

 

So, AGM is now with refillable cells? I referenced the OE ID, it’s very likely an AGM considering the price. 28800-MODEL.

But, what’s the value of AGM (acid glass mat) for y’all..?

 

(Fascinating to me is, if AGM is so acid leak free, why would couriers ban shipping…?)

 

Strange thing is: AFAIK the reason for using AGM used to be if it was in the cabin. 4th gen, it was moved to the engine bay, and the spec was flooded-acid. 5th gen is again in the cabin, but still flooded-acid? Is it at least vented? Maybe regs changed, and Toyota is taking advantage of that?

 

SMF has no vents, no refill and no gas disbursement (theoretically). Refill is very relevant for big Ah deep cycle batteries, those are never SMF. I have two old golf carts (melex) with 6x240Ah flooded Deep Cycle batteries.

On Prius g2-3, the 45 Ah storage capacity would be all logic for Toyota to go SMF instead of AGM if regulation permits.

Difference between SMF and Tubular Battery Technologies

 

Because it’s still a battery?

Depends on the country and shipper too I think: my 2015 installed AGM Optima Yellow Top was a SaskBattery purchase, and was shipped to me in British Columbia, from Saskatchewan.

I’d suspect it arrived in Canada, from Asia, via Pacific Ocean, so back and forth it goes.

 

True, and likely it’s just old school knowledge. Do note they do have a special sticker for batteries, but HCL acid scares every one, naturally;

Some handler got hurt and sued couriers/fedex/UPS in the US for millions as usual, this is the most likely, damaging concept.

Someone still have to ship them, and then in mega bulk. That is safer - according to lawsuit logic.

 

I assumed they used AGM to vent any gases outside the cabin area. My 2025 Camry battery is in the trunk area and considered within the cabin because the rear seats fold down. It is a maintenance-free battery and does not appear to be vented.

 

when i replaced mine, yellow top had had some problems, so i bought an oem for 200 bucks. haven't seen yellow top mentioned much the last few years, but toyota seems to have dropped their prices according to a few reports here.

 

What other uses are there for retired 12V batteries? I have one sitting in my garage right now and I am debating whether to keep it or recycle.

 

You can usually get $20 if you bring it into some places, typically anyone selling batteries.

 

Oh my, there so many uses…

Not really, but here are some usage points;

Since we can have -20° here and I have three Priuses, I use them mainly as fallback batteries if one fails - which will never happen again I told myself 2002..

I replace it with a charged fallback that is stored indoors, they could be used to jump start but with my deep empiricism of once dead batteries, I never do that, especially bad if the battery is frozen (which will happen if the initial charge is low, ie the pH of the electrolyte is way to high to withstand freezing).

(But those pesky family members leaving lights on etc can happen anytime, and at winter time it’s a dead battery in the morning…).

I also use them to drive 12V tools such as oil excavation pumps, compressors and the like to avoid using the onboard battery (common complete drain cause).

For reference, a badly maintained battery (let’s say theoretically with just 10Ah left (impossible meta-data to measure), it will freeze fully at -10° sustained for 5-10h.

A frozen electrolyte will deliver zero volts every time. That does not mean the battery capacity has been destroyed though - as the case is if it has ever been truly emptied once.

Oh, and I also have an 1980 36V 6x6V electric Melex ”golf cart” at another property. These have been used with 12V (mathematics) fallbacks when any issue arises.

Those are true deep cycle 245Ah flooded - not SMF - that needs a lot of distilled water to stay top notch.