New 12 volt battery alternatives to OEM

I enjoy my frugality as much as the next person, but not at the expense of personal safety, and most definitely not for -- at most -- $50 savings every 4 years or so.

Think about it -- people are talking about risking sulfuric acid burns to save one dollar a month. 'Ouch' does not even begin to describe it. Try being skinned alive.

 

Look at the Vpower XPC550, 55 aH, better than Optima Yellow (needs no converter kit) costs ~$200 including shipping. I'm considering getting one but want to see if anyone else has done so first.

 

I purchased a 2010 Prius V September 2010. Currently 3700 miles. I drove the car once in a while and kept the aux batt charged for a year until this November when the batt suddenly and unexpectedly died with a complete discharge. I did the usual AAA tow to the local Toyota garage where they said the battery was in excellent shape and that I must have left one or more doors open. I always check for that so I have to count that out. Looking around on the Net, I've fund other Prius owners complaining about the same phenomenon. All of a sudden there is a catastrophic discharge from which the battery never recovers. Sometimes Toyota steps up to the plate, mostly not. One should be able to drive their Prius to the Airport long term parking and expect to be able to drive home without an extra garage visit and taxi ride (or whatever) at homecoming. There are other OEM replacements which would be completely unnecessary had the right battery been designed and put into production. There are some batteries out there, the Optima Yellow AGM and a couple of others, one being just a plain old cabbage patch Exide D51. There is another, I have come across, the Vpower XPL550 with 55 aH; costing ~$200 including shipping. I don't know any more than that. No one has owned up to havine purchased and installed one. It looks like a nice unit from the pictures and is supposed to be an Optima Yellow drop-in replacement without the conversion kit. This doesn't solve the problem of a battery too small in a car to large, but, it's a step in the right direction. Any comments about the wisdom of buying this battery or especially anyone who has purchased and installed one will be appreciated.


Currently I hook up a 2/10/50 amp automatic battery charge every time I'm going to leave the car longer than overnight. I have monitored the DC voltage drop starting at 12.50v (without the charger) over a 5+/- day period with a pretty constant .30v drop every 24 hour period. When the battery gets down to 11.50v+/-, the charger goes back on. That's a pretty sizable drain on a battery of any size. The voltage drop increases as temperature decreases. I told the garage to keep the car for 7 days. After 4 days they returned it saying there is nothing wrong with this battery. They had to be seeing the same thing I'm seeing. In 4 days, this battery would be dead meat without an immediate charge to save it.

 

My brother recently found an importer claiming to be the biggest independent importer of Europe. 150 miles from his home, but 'en route' to my work . I'll ask them if they want to sell the Optima Yellowtop with pencil posts Possibly I could get them to buy a single pallet (~84 batteries) and sell them off around here (although 84x200$ is ermm, a lot of money ). There must be plenty people wanting them here too.

Their site showed two options for the Prius: the Varta mentioned on page 1 ( VARTA BLUE dynamic A14) and a different brand (MF Calcium 12V 35Ah).

 

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I ordered the VPower XPC550 from The Battery Store Online, The BEST Power at the BEST prices! on 11/18/11 and I'm still waiting for it to arrive.

On 12/8/11, they said it has shipped. Still waiting................

It must be coming from China via "slow boat."