Dealer had the best 12v battery value.... Shocker!

wow! i paid $210. 4 years ago, congrats!

 

I bought a Yellow Top for my 2008 in Feb 2012 for $199.99 and it worked fine. I got the Toyota TrueStart for my 2011 when it needed one back in Feb 2018 for $226.47. You got an excellent price considering how much more expensive just about everything else is. Your dealer wants to be competitive and get your business.

 

Recently got spark plugs: dealership parts department was best price compared to my usual local parts place. Never hurts to check with dealership. They’re parts depts are good for tracking down the right parts too.

 

Next week i’ll find out how much they are asking here for that 0054421171325. Getting really frustrated with Exide EA456 (non-AGM) previous owner had installed. Less than 2 years (and 10kkm) old battery but was again completely empty. Car had been driven 4 round trips (about 10km each) this week but still, completely empty when it was time for 5th. Admit that during past 8months car had been driven just 2000km. And even during april temperature has often been -15…-20deg celsius in the morning so it does not get charged too well.. Hoping AGM to solve the problem. Not worth trying..?

 

agm won't matter, but a new battery might. still, i'd want to be sure there's something wrong with the old battery before dropping good money on a new one, only to find out it's the car and not the battery

 

I think battery and car are fine. It’s just that this little driving in cold weather wont charge the battery enough. If the battery was empty after few days it would be different situation but it takes months.

AGM tolerate cold and deep discharges better.

 

have you considered a maintainer? i use one when i'm not going to be driving for awhile

 

AGM has a (slightly) different charge profile than flooded. It will likely last longer. It got pretty cold here in Southern California this last winter but not that severe. LiFePO4 is in 3 of our cars now oldest over 4 years old...

 

Yes and i even have one. But it is one of those that run some charge-discharge cycle. Not sure how low it’ll discharge. Most importantly, electricity is available at parking lot 2hrs at a time After that need to go to parking lot and turn the clock or, let it charge 2hrs a day. Would that be any good? It is very low 0,2-0.3A charger.

However, after doing some simple measurements with multimeter, i started wondering the whole battery thing. 20hrs after driving it showed 12.36v from the battery poles. Zero from terminals under hood. Before measurement i unlocked and opened drivers door so brake booster did it’s thing. Roof and trunk lights were on for short while. But i guess 12.36v is still okay’ish? Then i turned car on and engine kicked in and it gave 12.74v from the poles. That made me wonder. It started climbing slowly though.

i believe i need to get some booster for back up purposes. And start checking out contacts, earthing etc and monitor the battery behaviour for a while. Change in strategy.

Funny thing that when i tried the maintainer it immediately worked from those terminals at front. My real charger always struggle.

 

Yeah it’d difficult to charge with your power situation. Best to have steady supply of 120 volt, and a smart charger in 3~4 amp rating.

 

I bought the same one from dealer for $240 last year. So yours is definitely a good deal.

 

Here the standard actually is 230v 3-4A sounds bit high but i’m no expert. My regular charger has 8 if i remember correctly

 

if you are not getting a voltage under the hood, i would check the neg to body connection.

2 hours a day won't be enough with low amperage, i would look for a charger that puts out the max the battery mfg recommends.
i may be wrong, but 12.74 seems a bit low with the car ready.

 

Bought 28800-YZZPD battery from dealership. 192Eur incl 24% VAT. Equivalent Yusa from battery retailers would have been 224Eur - 299Eur. Confusing.

Edit: Had colorful evening with my new battery. Shipping label data stated that battery had been shipped to dealership 17.3.2023, but when i removed the wrapping i noticed a label stating June 2021. Obviously the manufacturing date. That made me wonder and i proceeded to charge with my AGM compatible intelligent charger (8A). After an hour it was still charging (never happened to me with new battery) so i decided to disconnect and connected again bit later. After a while charger was getting really warm and then loud ”creek”. Now charger just go standby mode and do not report full nor start charging. Tried with my other car and same. So its dead Lets see if the 28800-YZZPD still functional. At least it stayed cool all the time, did not warm a bit. Unfortunately Prius nor multimeter not around right now. Can hardly wait until weekend to see if it works