Important to "treat" 12v terminals?

Dad is right...it's important for the battery to have good connections with the terminals. Good job!

Instead of sandpaper, I use this metal tool to clean off terminals then spray it for protection.

 

Spraying the top and sides of the battery is a bit over kill; IMHO. I use the wire brush battery terminal cleaning tool and heavy axle grease; if I don't have any battery terminal spray available. You just need to keep moisture out of the connections; once you've got a good connection.
Don't forget to top off the battery with distilled water annually, if you can access it.

 

Eh, it helps a little.

It is very significant that a Prius battery will usually show a lot less corrosion on the terminals than a typical 12v battery, so less prevention is needed.

 

i never have. i think the components are made of better materials than in the past.

when i was younger, i used to see corrosion all the time

 

Yep dad is right. I sandpaper the posts too. Except coating the sides of the battery. Probably just as important to keep the battery well dry as you know it can turn into a swimming pool. Best fix is drill a little weep hole in that rubber plug in the bottom of the battery well.

The 12 volt chassis ground connection has been problematic too so good idea to sand that connection on the chassis down and lube it all up. I use RedLine CV-2 chassis grease 100% pure synthetic grease does not deteriorate or dry out at all over the years. This photo is after its been on the battery system for 14 years.
Best grease on the market.

Like this:

 

I make sure the cable clamps a posts are bright metal*, then put everything together, no lube. At least with battery in the hatch, no corrosion, crystal build-up or whatever.

food for thought: Toyota delivers the cars with no grease applied.

* keep in mind the posts are lead: be careful when cleaning, and wash up after.

 

"Old school" flooded cell batteries with vent caps are more likely to have corrosion problems with their connections. I usually "seal" those with grease or "battery terminal protector" (red spray stuff in a can from CRC).

"Maintenance free" batteries don't outgas as much, and I seldom see corrosion on them- unless there's a leak around a terminal. I usually grease those connections anyway.

AGM batteries have never given me any problems- I just clean and tighten the clamps and that's all.

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It's a living organism from what I understand so you want to make sure it doesn't become alive on your battery terminals fittings etc I've had good luck with CRCs red spray You lightly apply it if you think you need to do it twice go right ahead but like spray paint light coat let it sit a few another light coat some kind of an oily red substance You don't want it running off your terminals and off your battery looking like a crap spray paint job I did this to my HV battery terminals about 9 months ago now The other day I took a look at them the red is still there there is no organisms growing no white frosting nothing so far just the light faint color of copper and silver nuts showing through the red clear spray seems to work very well I've used this stuff since I used to work for CRC in the '70s

 

The last person I saw topping off a battery with distilled water was my Dad, sometime in the mid to late 1980s.

Is it even common to buy a non-maintenance-free battery for a Prius? Or did I miss some sarcasm?

 

Not much any more.

With the old style wet batteries with vented caps, almost all of the corrosion problem was caused by
sulfuric acid fumes escaping from the caps.
That in turn was caused by inaccurate voltage regulators that tended to run "hot".

AGM batteries are not vented. Regulators don't over-charge as much as they used to.

So.......pretty much none of that is really necessary anymore.
Unless it just makes you feel better somehow.

And putting the wrong "stuff" on the connecting surfaces can be worse than nothing.

 

even the wet battery in my 2005 dodge is still clean after 18 years

 

OK to clean the heck out of the battery terminals. Not so much the cable connectors that go on them. Many of those are nickel plated copper, and it is pretty easy to get all the way through the nickel to expose the copper if sandpaper is used. That can lead to problems sooner rather than later, as copper corrodes much more easily than the nickel layer.

The battery in my daughter-in-law's 2012(?) Corolla corrodes the terminals really fast, with or without the terminal rings or a grease coating. Big foamy colored deposits form in months. I think this is the combination of a crappy battery which leaks fumes around the posts (it was in the car when she bought it) and the connectors having already been corroded through to the copper.

 

This thread made me think....when/why did the clamps go to the skinny little coated copper things? Back when dinos roamed were the clamps not big clunky lead things???

 

A bit of both; and you can only install a vented battery outside your passenger compartment (ie. 4th gen). I prefer vented wet cells. It seems every-time I buy a sealed 2-, 4-, 6-, 8-year battery, that's how long they last - and most times they don't make it that long. Then there's the MSRP prorated credit for the battery. In most cases; it's cheaper to buy whatever battery is on sale than go with the prorated battery credit. I've purchased a 2 year vented wet cell battery and it lasted me 15+ years. Got into a 3mph fender bender and it died the next day - shorted plate and wouldn't load test. Got a sticker shock when I tried to replace it @$65; I paid less than $25 for that two year battery.

 

G2 has a vent.

 

So ??
That may or may not be an actual vent that is open all the time, depending on what kind of battery you put in it.