12v Battery change 2007 Prius

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...2v-battery-replacement-preemptive-strike.html

Tom

 

It does for me; it came up #1. The key is to use a Google search like this (from google.com):

Leave out the spaces before and after the ":". I had to put them in to keep PC from making a smiley face.

Tom

 

I have a 2004 Prius delivered new January 2004. Original 12v battery finally went last month. 7 years and 94,000 miles! 12v battery change was a snap. Not as easy as changing a normal car's battery. But if you are able to look at something and figure out what nut/screw has to come out to remove it, you will have no trouble. Only unusual step was removing the HV battery vent tube. Two screws. No big deal. A long socket extension helped with the bolt next to the body. I went with the Optima. It will probably outlast the rest of the car.
The car had weird symptoms when the battery was getting weak. I would turn the car off when parking but it would still beep at me when the door was opened to get out. The beeping would stop when the door was closed. If I left it like that, the 12v battery would be drained by the next day requiring a jump start to close the relays for the drive battery. If I powered on and off the car a couple of times. It would stop beeping while exiting the car. And then it would start the next morning. A small portable battery jump starter worked every time to kick start it.
Cool trick! Put the jump starter battery on the jump starting terminals in the fuse box under the hood while you are replacing the 12v battery. All the settings and radio stations are maintained after the job. Watch polarity!!!
While I was in the battery compartment, there is a rubber drain plug in the floor behind the battery. You can not see it when the battery is in place. I ran a wire through the plug. Tied one end into the back up light socket. The wire was from a water proof strip of LEDs stuck to the bumper just at the lower spoiler line. The wire was easily run between the spoiler and wheel well liner to the drain plug. The strip provides light right at the curb to assist parallel parking at night. The 5050 series LEDs are very bright. People have asked about it many times.

 

Don't think the Prius is so special with its trunk battery, many old Cadillacs have their battery in the trunk or under the rear seats and I hear they're a pain in the arse to replace as well.

Quick question: I don't have a portable jump start battery, mine is just a regular 110V battery charger with settings like 2amp (trickle), 10/20amp (charging) and 75amp (jump start), does anyone know if a charger should be hooked up to the jump start terminal during a battery change and what setting should I use?? Of course the charger is microprocessor controlled, so when I disconnect the old 12V battery during the change I think the charger would just stop and come up with either an Error code or battery full message. Nonetheless I'd like to hear from people who have tried this.