Fitting mobility 12volt AGM battery.

Thanks John and dolji,
"The Prius does not require that the 12 volt battery has large connections to carry heavy electrical currents as in normal cars." Maybe this is why the mechanic guy didn't think 2 battery terminal posts would include routing for the white box thing. He did seem to say t the white box was important to many things running. maybe your saying the white box can be bypassed for this connection, and doesn't need the 12V to supply it power. Verification appreciated,

1)Assuming I got 2 posts on top of battery,
can i get a 2nd on dolji saying i need JIS adapters things?


I found this interesting sites while trying to find a picture of the white box thing. sounds cool for camping!
2005 Toyota Prius Mobile Installation

Sam

 

I'm not sure what you mean when referring to the "white box thing", but if you are meaning the attachments to the positive terminal, and/or the regen control box in front of the battery, then no, you cannot just disconnect them.

This is the reason I recommended you try and swap the battery for one which has the M6 connectors and then purchase the M6 to JIS pencil post converters.

When you fit the converters the battery becomes just like a normal JIS pencil post auto battery and so the installation is more or less a standard install.

If you could provide a picture of the "white box thing", that would help us to see what you are talking about and in turn be able to give you better advice.

hope this helps.

 

I am working on getting a battery with top terminal posts. In the meantime, my check engine light came on; Thank you, but No thank you for your assistance, Dolj. John or Steve, or someone else, 1)do you think that a defunct 12V battery could be causing check engine light issue?
2) Is it normal if fairly frequently the main battery display goes from 2 bars to almost max bars? (just trying some POE )

background :
DEC 2103: Red triangle quick blinks, mainly on downhill turns. car running fine, just triangle blinkage.
DEC2013: took it to shop, no solid answers, just error codes
B12000

B1207

B1271

C2318
I started researching what the issue could be-learning about aux 12V batteries, red triangle stopped appearing.

APRIL 2014red triangle came on and stayed on. car engine driving like it ate a meatloaf, brakes felt like I didn't have power brakes.
APRIL 2014 Got oil change- all lights off, car running smooth.(?)
APR-MAY resume 12V battery studies
MAY 5 2014 :check engine light comes on, back to meatloaf
"I could use engine thingy love, oh I could use engine thingy love. I could use (maybe) engine-issues tied to 12 V love , but no thanks Dolji... no thanks Dolji, " duh- dun- ta- dun- ta -dun- ta -dun
duh -dun-ta-dun-ta-dun ta dun..."

 

No worries, chief. Hope you find someone who tells you what you want to hear.

Good luck.

 

Thank You Dolj, I'm sure your services are in need in your neighborhood for AC/DC line up issues,

 

Okie Dolji : )
So my previous nice picture of terminal connection was completely inaccurate. I Apologize to the forum. I asked Guy (the battery guy) , and he says "Terminals:NB" stands for Nut and Bolt terminal(see new nice picture).
I told him I believe I need something compatable with M6 terminals, and this is what he pointed me to:
Sealed Lead Acid: UPG 12V 55Ah Sealed Lead Acid - AGM - VRLA Battery - I4: BatteryClerk.com

My guess is that the NB terminal battery I have will not work. Does anyone know if the above battery, with "Terminals: Internal Threaded Posts" can be fitted to the Prius ( with the addition of some pencil post adapters)?

If so, The best option I have come up with is Return the battery I have, and exchange it for this one (plus shipping and 25%restocking fee). I will ask some friends if they need a new lawnmover battery, but I don't own one.
gotta go now,
sam

 

Oh yeah, I found this Julie Miller's blog, helpful to me, same 4 initial codes I had back in Dec 2013, though her issue ended up being a transaxle failure (whatever a transaxle is):
Prius | All about Julie

As I may have alienated the only person regularly corresponding to me on this forum (I apologize Dorji, I also understand if you have decided to devote to other ventures. I just get overwhelmed sometimes.
I would appreciate your help- I'll make an effort to get remove the stuff on top of the battery, so I can take a picture of white box), I will try and go back and read some more forum posts on terminal posts. I am feeling a little better.

In case you really do like AC/DC , here is current Pittsburgh that's good
Music | Gene The Werewolf

 

Hi Sam, no worries.

That battery looks good and from what I can see they are M6 terminals. I'm not familiar with the brand, but as long as you get assurance from your supplier that they will look after you if you have problems, then that should be ok. Just check the terminals are M6 before you buy, if you decide to get it. Just looking at the dimensions, just double check the width and height. These dimensions are both larger than the stock battery. You need to measure the space in your car to ensure that this battery will fit. Also do you have the tray for the non-sks stock battery? Or, does your car have SKS keyless entry and start?

If the NB terminals on your current battery looks like this:


then they are also known as Flag Terminals and the ones on your battery will possibly be F11 terminals.

Here are a couple of options to use the battery you have:

1) There may be JIS Pencil Post adapters to fit this type of terminal too. I did a quick search, but only turned up flag terminal converters for SAE size posts. If all you can get is SAE adapters all is not lost, as you could turn them down on a lathe to JIS. What you are looking for are converters that look like this:



Another option for the battery is you have is you could forgo getting adapters and use the existing clamps by loosening off the nut, back off the bolt then affix to the flag terminal like this: You may need to put 1 or 2 washers either side of the flag terminal to pad it out.

That is definitely an option too. How you go about it is really up to you and what you find the easiest.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks Dorji,
Exchanging for different Ritar not an option. Its make it work with this "side terminal nut and bolt teminal (correct?) or reutn it and whatever the dealership service does (optima, I would guess).

I have a picture of the current battery, I will attach it later tonight.
I do have keyless entry. When the service guy first tried to install the Ritar, I know the Ritar battery was about 1/2 inch wider than the battery that was already in there (OEM, I believe). I thought maybe it was a battery tray issue, and mechanic guy seemed to think he could work with that.

Dorji, will any of these adapters serve my purpose, or something like them?Quick Cable: Conversion Adapters

I attached a picture of an idea. Where the arrow is, can I attach some adapter to that thing to get to pencil post? Assuming this can be done, and the right adapter can be found, I do not know if the terminals need to be in specific locations or if "an inch here- inch there" variation is fine.

I do not think using a lathe is a great option, as I had to look up what it meant.

 

Sam,

Do you think you could take a reasonably close up photo of the battery terminal of the battery you have? And also a photo that shows the whole battery so I can see what you actually have and we can take it from there.

I'm also a little confused as you open your post with "Exchanging for different Ritar not an option" and then you say "or return it", so which is it?

I would like to help you, but the way you write your posts, it doesn't make it easy. I find them very confusing. Maybe you could just relax and take a breath? It is not too difficult a problem to solve, you just need to take it one step at a time.

 

Muchas Gracias Dolji, I appreciate your encouragement, support, and patience. I see how my poor use of return and exchange in share When I say "Returning", I mean mailing the battery I have back. getting a refund. Likely, closing case on mobile 12V experiment . When I say "exchange", I mean Mailing the battery back in exchange for a different Ritar battery. As I said, it is not currently an option for me.

By the way,I took the car to the dealership service, after the check engine light came on. When they ran diagnostic tool, they only got a P code (I don't recall now, a shot in the dark guess0115 Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit Malfunction) They replaced a coolant valve, water pump, water pump belt, cabin air filter. And have returned it. at $400 in labor, not cheap, but my stepfather asked them to check the brakes again, because I told him it was having issues. Engine runs well now, so at least thats going good.

I am a bit slow putting things together, so don't hesitate in stating the obvious.. As I have never gotten to the Car's 12V battery terminal, I 'm not sure what I am exactly trying to attach the battery to. (The good news is that I just realized that the last picture in Share 249 is a picture of the car (vocab?) , not the battery terminal!Making progress!!). I'd like to make this work, so, especially since the car is running fine now, I am open to either going with give something a lathe then SAE->Pencil Post adapter, orany other option. Whichever is easier, and relatively safe.

Here is a pic of my battery, I can take more, just ask.

 

heres the battery pic

 

In reference to css28's post regarding the universal batteries available from Amazon and Batterystuff, what kind of posts are on these batteries (see attached pic)? Are these pencil posts? Would these adapters (image attached) be the correct ones to purchase for my Gen II Prius?

EDIT - OK, I did some more research, and it seems like these are L type terminals and a pair of flag to post adapters would do the trick. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Ok, so you have a battery with flag posts and the positive and negative terminals are correctly oriented, so the options I gave relating to a battery with flag posts will work for you. If it were me, I'd go ahead and purchase the flag to JIS PP adapters. If you could only get Flag to SAE post adapters, I would take these to an metal engineering shop and ask them to turn them down on a lathe for you. I'll attach a drawing you can show them that gives the measurements of the posts.

(The measurements to use are the T1 dimensions documented.)

In a previous post you asked how exact things need to be, and while there is not a lot of room to play around with you should have no problems fitting the battery once you have your adapters altered (if needed) and attached. Just be aware that the positive and negative terminals are a different size, so you will need one of each and make sure the correct one is fitted to the correct terminal. The positive terminal is the larger and the negative terminal is the smaller of the two.

One last thing, for your info, measure the voltage of your new Ritar battery out of the box, then prior to fitting, charge it up overnight.

Good luck with your project.

 

Yes, the adapters you linked to would do the trick as long as they were JIS PP adapters, but in all likelihood they will be SAE post adapters. If you already have this battery, then see my post above in reply to getwellsam, who is in the same boat.

If you haven't bought the battery, get the larger 55 aH rated battery with M6 posts as it is easier to get M6 PP adapters than Flag terminal adapters in the JIS PP variety. Just double check the measurements, particularly the width and height will work before committing to the purchase.

Hope that helps.

 

Many thanks Dolji. It seems the SAE to JIS PPP is the easiest way to go. I'll order them,
I have a friend who might be able to help with Lathering down.

 

It sounds good, I hope it turns out well.

Let us know how you get on.

Buena suerte.

 

Thanks for the feedback, dolj. As it were, I don't have the new battery yet. My current 12 volt battery has been showing a low voltage (about 12.1 volts after several hours of non-usage). My research here on PC and elsewhere indicates that 12.1 is a pretty low voltage; it may be sufficient for now, but it reflects at best a moderately discharged battery.

Interestingly enough, I talked to a Toyota service adviser as well as someone from a local towing company that replaces batteries for AAA, both of which claimed that my battery status is fine. This is rather surprising, since the owners manual states:

After considering my options, I'm going to hold off on buying a new battery for now. Instead, I've ordered a CTEK Multi US 3300 battery charger from Amazon, with which I plan to charge my battery and see what happens. If this doesn't help, I'll go ahead and buy a new battery. I figure I should have a good battery charger in the garage regardless, so if I end up needing to replace the battery, I won't fret about about it.

Regarding the flag post terminals, I had an idea... Why not just use an L bracket, nut and bolt to change the terminal orientation from vertical to horizontal, and take an approach similar to what Britprius described in his post, specifically:

Anyhow, since the situation is not a dire one, I'm going to take things one step at a time, and hopefully learn a lot in the process. Whether I end up needing a new battery in the near future or not, perhaps giving it an overnight charge every month or so will prolong the battery life. Whatever the case, it certainly beats paying the stealership some ridiculous amount of money to install another substandard battery.

 

These voltages are with the battery standing and with NO load (OPEN voltage). Voltage is part of the equation but does not tell the whole story. The other part of the equation is how well the battery holds its charge under load. You can have a battery that charges up and has fantastic voltages, but when you apply a 5A draw will be flat in 10-15 min. So what is needed is to measure the time it takes for the voltage to drop to say 12.4V from 12.5V.

Yes, that is a good charger and yes you should have a good battery charger in your garage. Charge up your battery, let it sit for a couple of hours and then do the current draw test I mentioned above. I found that just putting the headlights on will provide a suitable current. After the initial sudden drop, time how long it takes to drop say 0.3V. This should be in the order of several minutes, not seconds. To give you an idea of what you should see I ran this test:

So you can see that the OPEN voltage is the same after running the headlights for 15 min. Your milage may vary depending on the type and condition of your battery, but the important thing is how long the battery will hold the voltage under load. The shorter this time is, the poorer the condition of the battery. Also, just because you find your battery at the poorer end of the scale, does not mean you need to immediately run out and buy a new battery, but I would be planning on replacing it sooner rather than later.

Charge up your battery after this test, if it performed poorly.

Certainly charging the 12V once month (or even once a week) is a good idea and may give you some more service life out of your 12V before changing it out for a new one.

That is an idea, but I'd counter that by saying why would you, if you have the opportunity to do it the way you want? If you re-read John's post you will also see that he did it the way he did it because his friend forgot to buy the adapter posts and was making the best of the situation as they couldn't wait to get the adapters. Getting the M6 terminal and adapter posts is by far the easiest option, but feel free to do it how you see fit, just be aware of the overall height as it is not unlimited. You don't want to get finished and find the cover won't sit right.

I wish you well in your endeavours and hope it all ends up well. I hope you have found what I have said to be of some use. Let us know how it turns out for you and what you finally ended up doing.