Replaced12v battery yesterday - lasted 6.5 years

What battery did you get, and where did you buy it?

 

Hi All, I am new here, I have a 2014 3rd gen prius. I bought it from a dealer at 96k miles. In 2017. Now it has 238k I had no issues with it so far. All batteries factory on it. During this lockdown I keep my car in my garage on battery tender. I drained it accidentally twice over the years each time charged up pretty well. I never had it checked but so far all is running well. I keep a battery jump starter in my trunk just in case if I forget something on and drain the battery again. I keep a jump start battery pack for peace of mind inside the hidden compartment space above the spare tire. The battery pack I have is Duralast Power Station 1200 it fits perfectly and air compressor, led light, 120v plug, and 2 USB ports are also very useful. I think that the main thing with all batteries is to keep them fresh and active. Normally, I put on about 1k miles every week on the ODO but these days I am stuck at home so I run the engines on both of our Prius’ at least for 20 min every week just to keep batteries charged and engine lubricated. That is all for now. Keep it moving. Drive Safe.

 

Most batteries sold in the USA, I understand, whatever the name on them, are made by Johnson Controls, but that doesn't mean that they are all of the same quality: JC could make batteries to suit a particular price for each brand.

What is the warranty on yours?

 

If you're mostly parked securely, with access to an AC outlet, I'd look into smart chargers, something you can just hook up and leave on till you next need the car.

 

Last time I was paying attention, stuff in the US seemed kinda split between Johnson, East Penn, and Exide. East Penn (maker of their own Deka brand) had kind of a distinctive look, easy to spot in rebranded versions. The Exides were sort of recognizable too, if not as distinctive as the East Penns.

"Warranty" on items like that can be played as a pure actuarial game without anything to do with actual quality. Just take the exact same battery, figure its likelihood of needing replaced in 4 years, take the net present value of that, mark up the price by that amount, sell it as a 4-year battery. Repeat for 6 years and for 7 years. Customers will sort themselves into the three matching market segments and all feel happy with their purchase, for getting a great deal, or getting a long warranty, or whatever their preference is.

Something to remember about most of those battery warranties is that the way each actual manufacturer sells 30 or so different brand-labeled batteries, that's part of the warranty calculations too. If your JCI battery, say, conks out after three years, in order to collect on your warranty, you can't just find your way to any retailer that sells the JCI battery; you have to find your way back to one of the same retailers dealing in the same brand-labeled version of the battery you've got (if you can even remember what retailer it was that sold you the Sunwhiffle or whatever it says on that label).

 

My battery is eight years old and doing fine so far. But it’s lived mostly in temperate California and maybe the larger capacity plug in battery helps?

 

Just replaced mine this winter at ten years in snowy (if decreasingly so) Indiana.

 

I would just turn off sks disabling the constant scanning and car can be manually lock by key.

 

About 40 years ago -- at Sears, I am almost positive -- I bought a new battery, and after they had taken it down from the shelf, they asked me how long a warranty I wanted and punched the expiry date sticker according to the length of the warranty I had paid for.

 

Gen 2 had an SKS OFF button. Gen 3 doesn't, but Gen 3 has an SKS that automatically gets bored after a day or two and drops back to pinging for fobs much less frequently. (Sometimes I notice this now when I walk out to my socially-distanced car and pull the door handle and it doesn't open the first time.)

There is a chicken dance available in Gen 3 for turning SKS off and back on if you really want to. I haven't bothered since I first got the car and tried it out. It involves the driver's door-ajar button and a button on the fob in a certain pattern that I don't remember.

Yeah, that's the pump that gives you brake pressure to work with, and it will sound like a dying windup toy as one of the more unmistakable signs that your 12 volt battery is drained.

 

I use a solar powered trickle charger; a technology that RV, boat, and others who let 12v batteries sit idle for long periods of time have used for decades.

They can come with long leads (with quick disconnect leads) so you could put the panel out in the sun with your car under the carport. You can route the wire so one has to see/move it to get in the driver's door thus there's little chance of driving away with it connected.

 

I don't think it matters. Though I do routinely leave ours unlocked when in our (secure) garage, figure less wear-and-tear on the mechanism.

If you own the place I would maybe consider getting an outlet at the carport.

 

I always thought that AAA didn't carry Prius compatible batteries. When I put in my 2012 Prius III specs in here AAA Battery Quote I get N/A. Not sure if they just don't list it in on their website? I'm in SoCal btw.