2007 Prius - Check Engine, Red Triangle, VSC Lights - 12 volt battery issue?

This is another symptom consistent with HV battery failure, so confirming the DTCs your posted earlier. Is it your normal practice to have the A/C off? The battery appreciates a nice cool (72ºF-76ºF) environment, so it might pay to have it on.

 

If I understand prior posts, Toyota has recently reduced Gen2 HV batt price significantly. I wonder if Todd is aware of that.

 

Call your local dealer to find current Retail price for Gen 2 batteries. Some say they will not sell to consumers.
Retail price last year was around $2,600.
January 1 of this year the retail price dropped around $400.
Remember, these are not fully assembled so some additional labor is involved to assemble them.

Wholesale price will be less than retail price, of course. Especially if you have an ongoing relationship.

 

Todd makes sure his used batteries are in good condition. Given the choice, I would choose a used low mileage battery over a rebuilt one. @jerrymildred here has been running a used battery from Todd for quite a while with no issues. Jerry is away without network access for a while though.

 

Looked up Apollo Hybrid, at least we know the home address if something goes wrong (not dissing or hating).

No yelp page for this business (hard to gauge without fake or real reviews), perhaps yelp doesn't list residential addresses?

If nearby, swing by this business and look at his setup, what type of gear do they use for reconditioning or balancing the batteries?

This could be an affordable and viable route if you just need a battery or to flip it.. I would opt for their 'rebuilding' your own battery with a 48+ hour turn around (though many here believe it takes longer) if the quoted price is the same, be sure to ask how they do the rebalancing process (top balance, bottom discharge balance, rinse repeat, etc).

If you do take it there, have them test/pull the codes pointing to the bad module(s), take the cover off the battery and you should document your current modules (pics of the serials) and know which ones will be replaced (should be obvious once rebuilt). Ask if they will shuffle the modules around in the pack (middle to outer edges), and if the fan will be cleaned during install.

Maybe you could trade in this current 'as is' prius for something from Todd?

 

Good show ... all in all, better to get results quickly than to have the cleared code take a month or two to reappear.

I owe it to Augustus de Morgan to add that, while the part Patrick said is very much correct (finding the battery to have failed would be evidence the DTCs were valid), the part he didn't say is, also, correct: simple absence of a returning P0A80 code shortly after changing the aux battery would not be much evidence for the 'false codes' notion.

Evidence for the 'false codes' notion would have this form:

• Codes, subcodes, freeze frame data saved from original report (before wiping them out with battery change)
• Suspect faulty modules/components identified based on that information
• Teardown and direct exam of the suspect components, finding them to be free of the reported faults

Not an impossible bar to meet, but a higher one than just "changed the battery and looked like codes were gone."

-Chap

 

Now offering for new customers Low Mileage Battery with 1 year warranty installed for $939. (Limited Time Offer, so hurry because at these prices they are going fast !)

I'm not sure how that converts to brand new Panasonic modules, but I thought the 'for new customers' was kind of funny. How many repeat customers can there be? And wouldn't you want to offer a good deal to them also?

If actually new, could they be the Chinese prismatics?

 

It would be bad if it is the Asian prismatics.
I've never seen those work well.

 

Will try and keep it positive here.

Where did you find "rebuild brand new Panasonic cells for $939 + tax with 1 year warranty", the only mention on $939 (without tax!) is on the homepage where I quote "Low Mileage Battery" and no where on that page does it mention the words "new" or "Panasonic".

Since this is (mostly?) a mobile service it doesn't sound like your battery would be balanced if rebuilt onsite at the $499 option.

There is a 'claimed' yelp page, with a single review.. if these batteries are 'going fast' at this price, where are the reviews?

This mobile service doesn't appear to have a physical address, what happens when you need to make a warranty claim and your call isn't answered?

Over all I *might*' trust Apollo over "Paul" with a random amount of money, but only because I have an address.

 

What an absurd thing to say.
I think you are almost unnecessary.

 

No but there have been COUNTLESS posts where they had a whole slew of codes set and replacing the old 12 V battery made them all go away......permanently. That is especially true when the 12 V battery TESTS BAD.

To be fair, sometimes it does NOT fix the underlying problem but ignoring the 12 V battery completely and chasing each of the codes individually BY GUESSING AND SHOTGUNNING PARTS AT IT (which is all most owners are really capable of doing; some dealers too) is just foolish.

 

A critical part of that diagnostic procedure is: The 12 v system that runs all of the computer boards.
To overlook that critical first step is not worthy of being called "methodical".