I’m in Love, With Our New 12V Battery!

Probably making me wait until I figure out how to read engine RPM so I can do the 3000 RPM test. Soccer game is about to start. I keep praying to the lightning and thunder gods to no avail....

 

Alright, so I dug through what I compiled from Toyota TIS about checking the charging system. Since it is a DC/DC converter the steps are a little different:


Turning on vehicle to Ready, one is supposed to connect an ammeter to the positive cable and watch as current flow into the battery decreases to 10 A or less.

Then turn the power switch on to Ready again, headlight ON, blower motor on and rear defogger ON:

Current flowing from battery should be 0 A or less
Aux battery voltage (at the terminals) should be 13 V to 15 V

Woohoo. I think we have a compatibility match! Time to install.

 

Okay, so I connected a charger to the jump points under the hood while I swapped the new battery in, quickly disconnected the charger, and found that the new battery is too tall! I have contacted the seller. Hold down will not hold with original bolt and nut. And the plastic panel on top does not sit flush, roughly 1 cm - 2 cm above where it should sit. They should get back to me Monday hopefully as they are closed weekends.

To be continued....

 

So I had the opportunity to get the original battery on my scales. One is a post office letter scale which just said “E”, too heavy. The bathroom scale says 28.8 lbs.

 

I can, not too hard, but the plastic cover above it also doesn’t sit properly, about 1 cm up I’m estimating, and I don’t really want to hack that to fit, at least not yet. As it is the other stuff that sits on top of that cover might not fit well too. I’m going to get a longer bolt and that should hold it down for now. It’s so light I don’t want it bouncing around while driven. I’ll see what options the seller gives me before I do more than bolting it down with a longer bolt and bunch of washers...

 

I just thought of something, the bracket holding the battery down has the battery temperature monitor attached, and it doesn’t sit well on the top, more than likely hindering the temp monitoring function. Gonna have to note that to the seller when they get back to me. It should sit more flush with the top surface so heat can transfer more properly. (But I also feel the actual battery cell inside sits low so as not to contact the top of the casing as well, so that the temperature control may have to depend solely on the built in internal circuitry).

As it is the bracket partially covers the emergency/voltage meter button and voltage display.....

 

Well, I took a closer look and the bottom of the original is square while the bottom of the Li one flares out so you can clamp a hold down bracket on the bottom, so it is not sitting flat on the bottom. Almost fits with mounting bracket mod...

 

Supposedly Li batteries can be cycled 2000 times, similar to cell phone batteries. So the plus side is the longevity and the weight. They have been prone to catch fire, the concern, and whether the onboard electronics/control logic are reliable I will have to follow up. It is in the car, sitting close to just right. The plastic cover barely will stay in it’s place as it wants to pop up from one of the three tab hold downs.

 

Besides the high cost down side. Braille batteries can cost $1000 to $2000 +.

 

To me this is more an investment/calculated risk. I paid more for a supposedly more durable/reliable product, with built in logic/safeguards, and backup power, for a fraction of the cost of a Braille battery, which doesn’t include such enhancements.

I would consider a Braille Lithium battery more of a risk because of it’s extremely significant premium.

 

I did take some risk, that it doesn’t last long enough to make it monetarily worth it, true. Only time will tell. I’ll pop in this thread once in a while to update on any (other) issues I come across. (Right now there is a slight fitment issue).

 

Almost 2 1/2 months, roughly. So far so good. I guess I’ll post again around 6 months, or 1 yr...