Ugh, I think my 12V battery's dying

just had mine replaced. went to dealer and was told $175. it was under warranty so it was free. not stocked by every dealer so i would have them check if it is in before you go. Kragen is $89.00. is it under warr?

 

The battery is dying because you're killing it. It's a small battery and can't run any accessories for more than a few minutes. If you want to run any accessories for more than five minutes leave the car ON and in Park and let it manage its own energy state, as it was designed to do. The only time you should not do this is when the car is inside a building or other completely enclosed space without no provision for exhaust removal, in which case you'll have to suffer without the radio, lights, and A/C.

 

I second what Richard says. Don't ever use your car battery for listening to the radio more than a couple minutes in any car. Your battery will last much longer.

 

I agree. However, with my Prius I tend to leave the vehicle on as was mentioned earlier. I don't do this because I'm afraid of the 12v battery giving up the ghost as much as I do it because sitting for relatively short periods of time the car is going to be on battery anyway so I figure I'd just let it do it's thing and as someone else put it allow the car to manage it's on power. Besides, In AZ it's nice to have the A/C running. Although I bought my '08 towards the end of the hot season last year I have had it in the low 100 degree weather and was pleasantly surprised how long the Prius will run on battery with the A/C on parked.

Mike

Mike

 

Four years is not very long for a car battery. My cheap oem batteries in other cars last 7-8 years. Car batteries are not made to be charged and discharged. That would be a "deep cycle" battery. Deep cycle batteries are constructed much different than a standard car battery. Plate dimensions, thickness, clearance from bottom of the battery case, etc.

Car batteries are happiest being fully charged all the time.

OTOH, it is not some sort of crisis if you partially discharge your battery periodically. However, it WILL decrease its life.

 

You are correct about contrasting the difference between starting batteries and deep cycle batteries. However, 30 minutes of listening to the radio won't run down a battery in good condition enough to make this a problem.

I'm not sure what part of the country you're in but in parts that have extreme temperatures 3-4 years is doing pretty well. Heck 2 years here in Arizona where it's still 104F at 2am (and upwards of 120F during the day) is good.

 

Quick run get a grain of salt.
Personally I don't mess about with batteries, if they go flat with little provocation they get replaced. No point having a $20,000 car if your stuck because of a $100 battery.

Different story if I leave a light on all night, I will recharge but if it goes flat or seems to be going flat with little draw, recycle time.

 

Re: My 12V battery died- how to jump?

My 6 month old new battery (2008 car) died - for no reason? Its totally dead. How to jump? Nothing works. The manual says pull off the fusebox cover - then a cover - presumably the little red one with a +. NO negative ground is obvious. Ground Anywhere? And has the main battery set also been discharged? Is it damaged? Where could all that voltage have gone?

 

Re: My 12V battery died- how to jump?

Find unpainted body metal to connect the negative lead to. For example, the head of a bolt.

The traction battery (what you call the main battery) should be unaffected by the 12V auxiliary battery being discharged.

As to why the 12V battery died - if you didn't leave a cabin light on, is it possible that you are not driving the car enough? The charging voltage is ~13.8V, which is less than that found on conventional automobiles with alternators. If your driving pattern is mostly very short trips combined with periods of non-use, then the battery may not remain fully charged.

 

The 2G Prius 12V auxiliary battery has an AH rating in the low 30's. When in ACC mode with the stereo on, my guess is that ~1A, maybe 2A current is required. So you could play the radio for several hours before depleting half of the battery's capacity.

However if the battery is not fully-charged, or through aging has lost some of its original capacity, then you might have a surprise.

 

This brings up a question I hadn't thought of, in 2 months of Prius ownership:

While the battery of a traditional car tells you when it's low, (by requiring longer cranking) -- how can one know when the Prius 12V is low? Does the ICE not kick in correctly at ~ 7-seconds after start-up?

 

It seems that the most common symptoms are the dash and/or MFD going nuts during or immediately after booting up the car, or failure of the car to enter the "Ready" state.

 

:loco:

The dealer said that the 12 volt is only covered by the 3 year bumper to bumper. Not part of the power train!:usa:

 

- have ready mode for 30 mins
- remove surface charge
- put a volt meter up on that b****ch
- what's the minimum voltage before discarding?
- call me up instead of the stealership

 

does anyone know if Optmia has/will ever make a prius style battery? I have a red top in my honda and it's been goin strong for 5 years now. The car has a system also, can run off bat no problems for an hour, although it's been a while since i ran it like that.

would be niceee. the panasonic look's so dinky

also if anyone want's to answer this question, what kind of charger can one use? I read something about 3.5A max on trickle. What brand charger can i pick up? I have a black and decker already--but I think it pushes more like 9 A