prius 12 volt battery failure? dont buy nw! but replace/reuse your old one

That's nice
Next time just peel up the(Mylar) tape, take off the caps and add(distilled) water
You still have a small, weak, non-deep cell battery that can't run the radio for 1/2hour without going to ground, as in gomer.
And you've got a bubbling lead acid battery in the drivers compartment, emitting "?" gas.(yes you hooked the small plastic evacuation tube back up)?
Don't mean to be harsh but putting an Optima gel battery in is a healthy alternative and it won't be ded the first time the overhead light get left on,imho,ymmv

 

Let it sit for a week and see if it holds a charge.

 

Minor nitpick, if you test a battery, it should maintain >9.6V at the end of the second 15s test. If you did several at 10s, then it's good. But check it again in a week just to be sure.

 

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Dude your crazy! You have never seen a battery explode before have you?

Last thing you should do on this planet is drill holes in a car battery. Bad enough it can explode then it showers you with sulfuric acid.
Be afraid.

Search You Tube for BATTERY EXPLOSION

 

The Space Shuttle management decided that putting missing tiles back on the Space Shuttle after each trip was much easier than the hard expensive work of not making tiles come off in the first place.

Just because you can get charge back out of a battery does not mean you should do so and brag to the world. edthefox5 is pointing out something important. By the way, I have experience a battery explosion in my (previous) Camry. No way I'm dorking around with a problem battery.

 

do you have to drill so many holes??

how do you know how much distilled water to add? do you use some sort of a sizzle stick dip stick? are you adding water directly to acid?

what causes batteries to explode?

 

Hydrogen gas + spark or heat source. Scary stuff.

 

I believe Flying White Dutchman is just trying to be helpful.

But in good conscious I would NEVER recommend in a public forum that anyone drill holes in a battery.

Too dangerous of an operation to forward as a DIY project.

Thrift aside, sometimes the risk doesn't equal the reward. IMO no, don't go drilling holes in your car battery. Just safely replace it, just properly dispose of the used one.

 

Well, yeah, it is if you are drilling into live 650 volt ac wires. Hydrogen gas is scary too, and that is the main cause for explosion as the previous poster asked. If you know what you are doing and take appropriate caution, then by all means proceed.

 

My problem with this statement? Is how many accidents happen because someone "thought" they knew what they were doing? How many accidents happen where people think they had taken proper safety measures?

When it comes to drilling into a dying or aging battery? I'm going to say 99% of your average owners and drivers are not qualified for such actions.

The problem with a thread like this? Is it's encouraging EVERYONE to do something I think most everyone really should avoid doing.

If you are a battery expert? If replacing and repairing batteries is a "thing" you do as a living? Well....maybe...but otherwise? For the average owner? My opinion has to be, simply go buy yourself a new battery.

The margin for error, and the potential outcome if something goes wrong, are just too narrow and too great respectively.

This is my personal opinion, even recognizing that there are a percentage of people probably qualified and equipped to attempt such an experiment in extending ones 12vlt battery life. IMO....for an item the cost of a 12vlt battery...simply not worth the risk.

 

Everything you did sounds fine to me, I did wonder why you did not just remove the tape which hides the 6 cell caps. With drilling you had to get small pieces of plastic in the battery tho. As for venting and dangers of Hydrogen gas that is total BS. Also the HV fan also exits any 12V gas that could build up, (without a vent) and will continuously exit the car under the rear fenders. The rule is always pour H2So4 into water not visa-versa. ie: that is in sensible proportions. Most of the time this is not applicable to "Battery Maintenance". This subject has been covered before, in sickening detail and extended BS.

 

Dang, tough thread! Give a simple answer in response to a question on what causes batteries to explode and I gotta bend over for it twice lol.

 

If you get enough hydrogen you could make a cool flying balloon

Mike


iPhone

 

This should remind Top Gear fans of Jeremy Clarkson's favorite line, "How Hard Can It Be?"

Optima has a new battery dr46b24r that is a direct replacement for the Prius battery, unlike the d51 no extra kits or modifications are necessary.

I may use the drilling holes and topping off with distilled water method to be a temporary bandaid to be done when my 12V battery dies and I'm waiting for an optima to arrive. Unless I see hard evidence otherwise I wouldn't consider this a safe permanent solution. Luckily the Prius gives you some clues that the battery is dying so I hopefully I will have enough advance notice that the Optima will arrive before the battery dies completely.

 

Are you still using this battery now? I wonder how much % you recovered the original with such a simple procedure...