Proactive 12V battery replacement: good idea, or waste of money?

8 years is a good run. if you don't want a no start in a bad situation, replace it, or buy a jump pack and ride it out.
it could last a few more years, depending on climate and usage.
be careful buying on line, warranty can be a pain.

 

Yeah, unless you're really on top of it, monitoring with one of the newer automotive 12 volt battery testers (they do an electronic "load test", give a verdict), 8 years is a good run. I changed our last in September of 2015. It'd be "sensible" to change by this fall, but I have/use one of the aforementioned testers. And, while our usage of the car is almost nil, I keep it on a smart charger. And have a jump pack.

And I keep an eye on Canadian Tire, SaskBattery, et al, see what the current replacement options are. I'll often say just go to the dealership parts department, but for 12 volt batteries their prices are nuts. I checked with them a few months back: $340 CDN please, for the Yuasa battery. I'm on west coast Canada, and these batteries very likely are coming from across the Pacific. I can get the same Yuasa, shipped back to me from SaskBattery (in Saskatchewan), for $229 CDN, free shipping, and about 6% sales tax, vs 12% from local dealership.

 

Best approach is to buy a decent 12v smart charger that goes up to at least 8 amps and also buy a replacement 12v battery to keep on your shelf ready to go once your effort to keep your existing 12v fully charged and functional gets annoying. As in maximizing the lifespan of the things we own is a virtue that reflects the original spirit & intent of the Prius' reduced carbon footprint.

 

The little lithium jump pack in my glove box feels to me like a more worthwhile investment than aux battery replacement before it's needed. It covers me not only for expected, age-related failures (which I've never had in a Prius aux battery younger than ten years, and I'm semi-abusive of them), but also for unexpected things like something left on, parasitic drain problems, etc., which leave you just as stranded but with less predictability.

So it doesn't mean I never experience a surprise, it just means I can take the surprise in stride, get to my appointment or whatever, and then spend whatever money needs to be spent when it needs to. Meanwhile, I can use the same jump pack to help out other people with their own surprises, which ends up being the bulk of the use that it sees.

I tend to agree about long battery warranties. The way the major US makers, anyway (how many of them are there really? Johnson Controls? Exide? East Penn?) fragment their branding into a dozen private labels (whoever makes them for Costco labels those batteries "Kirkland", and to use the warranty, from wherever you break down, you still have to find another Costco and buy another "Kirkland") just made it seem to me like an exercise in selling you something that sounds good but complicates your life to try to use.

 

Noco 2500 box here stays with me . Universal battery is better cost too have em 8n all power sports equip here on onan gens too

 

@Tombukt2 please, please, please: proofread your (presumably) voice-dictated contributions.

 

itisjusttoohardtotrytounderstandwhatisbeingwrittenandfromwhatlanguageitsbeingtranslatedfromUsingvoicetranslationjustisnt'goodenoughandwhentherearenotspacesorperiodsorcommasoranythinglikeitnothingmakessense.

 

Depends who's driving and the need to get places. For my at home life, I'd just wait until it's actually giving trouble. For my elderly parents I switched it out just in case, (when it tested borderline). If it tests good I wouldn't change it even for my parents.


REVVL V+ 5G ?

 

There's nothing magical about Toyota's battery tp justify its high price. That's a lot to pay for a warranty you probably will not need.

My $65 generic U1 AGM battery is a few months older than yours, and still getting its job done. That's even though I've abused it a few times by leaving a door ajar for several hours. I do have a new back-up one ready, just in case.