12v battery recommendations

$146 with tax, $132.99 pre-tax and state-mandated fee.

 

You guys need to be careful. The Prius 12 volt battery needs to be vented outside.
You do not want the gasses released by charging entering the passenger compartment!

 

48 month warranty from purchase date, period.
There is no additional warranty after month 48.
The devil is in the details; read: https://rb-aa.secure.footprint.net/Assets/Warranty_S6_Battery.pdf
OR, look at the stickers on the product, as it will clearly state 48months.

Your trusted mechanic may have been applying traditional cranking battery experience, from cars with a traditional starter, to recommend the change. What was the SOC (State of Charge) on this battery with a load?

It is common for Prius 12V batteries to have a very long service life, IF they are well maintained, meaning never experienced a severe discharge event. Some people have gotten 8 years, and one person decided 10 years was long enough, even though he never had any issues at year 10.

You can buy such a product yourself at anytime.
It really isn't that hard to reprogram the radio stations, clock, and driver window auto stops.

Learn to stop accepting the dealers first price.

ALL dealers have their own discount service and parts coupon. ALL dealers also accept other dealers discount parts and service coupons.

Dealers may meet/beat another dealers price on parts/service. You have to price shop first, then ask. This is not that hard to do either.

You) How much is the 12V battery for a 2011 Prius?
Dealer1, close to you) $zzz.zz
You) Thanks.

You) How much is the 12V battery for a 2011 Prius?
Dealer2) $xxx.xx
You) Thanks.

You) Dealer2 has the battery for $xxx.xx. Can you beat it?
Dealer1) Let me ask my manager. ... Yes, we can match it. OR, best we can do $yyy.yy (which is less than $zzz.zz).

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BUT......you need to really understand what that means.

IF you get a true AGM which is sealed up to some high pressure, there will not BE any gasses released under normal operation and that vent is just a safety for a catastrophic situation developing.

 

Wish I had of read all the reviews. I went with the Optima(Autozone), battery based on one of the first reviews I read spent a total of $282, and installed it myself..I am sure I could have saved some money by going with the OEM they offer.. Oh well.. Live and learn.

 

You should have asked about that on this site. You can buy that optima online from autozone and pick
It up at there store for a big discount.

Be aware reports of some old stock yellow tops with poor performance being sold out there.
Drive the car for a few days and then in the am before starting the car check the battery voltage at the front jump points.
A healthy yellow top in a Prius should live at 12.6 volts.

 

The OEM Prius Battery on our 2005 is functionally identical to a standard ($80-$120) Type 51 you can find in Wal-Mart, every auto parts store, and also Lowes/Home Depot because I think it's used in lawnmowers too. It's the same size and will bolt into the same brackets. Unfortunately, there is one important difference: the Prius battery has much smaller terminals than a standard battery. It also has a different vent. So you'll need to change terminals. The negative terminal is on a small pigtail lead and very easy to swap with a standard $3 replacement cable terminal, the kind with the screw-down cable clamp (also available anywhere batteries are sold). The positive terminal is bolt-on style, but is a little bigger than the negative, so you can spread it open with a pair of pliers in a pinch. (You could probably spread the negative terminal in a pinch, too.) You'll need to get a vent adapter to reconnect the vent, and you definitely want to do this for safety; it's not a problem in regular use, but failing AGM batteries can vent release hydrogen gas, which could build up to explosive concentrations very easily in the battery cubby.

Hope this helps! I spent an hour on google today assuming this was a solved problem how to replace the expensive special Prius battery with a standard one, but ultimately had to figure it out on my own.

 

get an agm for safety

 

Most any auto parts store sells a compatible battery that does not require adapting.
That the the proper solution to the problem.

 

The problem was not availability of a Prius battery, it was the cost. My local autozone had a compatible battery in stock for $237. But it only took about 10 minutes and $6 worth of lug bolts to convert the car to take a standard $80 Type 51 AGM battery. As none of us want to spend $200+ for a car battery, I thought this information on using alternate inexpensive batteries for this car was worth sharing.

 

Amazon

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

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Is it properly vented? If not that is a safety issue.

 

You can use a non vented wheelchair battery also. Someone noted the newest Toyota battery does not have a vent hole. I have not verified this though.

 

The newest Toyota battery for the Gen 4 does not have a vent because it is located under the hood, sealed from the passenger compartment.

 

someone posted about the vent tubes on a new replacement hybrid pack no longer being there

 

Not needed for Li-Ion?

 

i think it was gen 2 or 3. not sure it was corroborated though. i may be misremembering

 

They claimed non vented.

But definitely not corroborated.

Hopefully they realize some of us are from Missouri on occasion.

 

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