Whats my best option for a 12v battery under 150?

you can make anything fit

check out wallmarts, i read they have fifty dollar batteries that work well

 

yes, if you were to get severly rear ended, it might be an issue.

you can mcgiver a hold down brackett and base plate, as well as change the end terminals if you need to

 

That would be a lawn mower battery......which is NOT a good idea except for temporary use.
They do NOT work "quite well" for very long.
And may not have the capacity to work right at all.

I read that you are really good at giving out questionable advice.

 

you're no slouch yourself

 

Pretty much every battery replacement on a Toyota requires some cobbling: their lame brain design design has no tolerance for dimensional change, in particular for height. I think width too.

In comparison, all our Hondas used a simple bracket cross the top, that could accommodate a moderate amount of width variation, and hold-down via threaded rods with nuts, with the bottom ends hooked: you just snagged them into holes on tangs below, and the threads allowed at least 1/2" adjustment.

I'm tap-paying almost everything these days, no need for change, so I have a loonie (dollar coin up here) and a quarter, for grocery buggy deposits, and an assortment of washers, for Toyota. Oh, and a short length of bathtub plug chain, in case we come across a hopscotch.

 

Check NAPA. They have the correct AGM battery for a Gen 2, and also offer several discounts. See what is available to you for discounts. Military, ex military, AAA member, even UPS employees. Never hurts to ask. I ended up getting one for about 177 several months ago if I remember correctly.

Any Group 51 battery is an exact fit. NOT 51R, which has the terminal polarities reversed. The only difference is the post size on a Group 51 is standard, not he small JIC. I solved that by visiting a salvage yard and getting the correct size clamp for the positive (they are interchangeable with just one stud/nut) and a ground cable with the correct size post clamp (from a camry hybrid)

 

The last time I walked into my local NAPA (8 minutes from my house) they had 2 on the shelf. Yes, the posted price is >200, but there are discounts available.

You can also go to local salvage yards and get a used battery for about $30. Many of them sell tested batteries with 30 day warranties, especially the Pull-a-Part and probably the LKQs. Just need to match up the post size and clamps so they're the same.

Or look in Craigslist for someone parting out a Gen 2.

 

A group 51 battery should fit in the same space. You'll have to make pigtails or use terminal adapters of some sort.

 

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I went to the local Toyota dealerships website and purchased an OEM 12 volt for my 2005 a couple months ago for $191.86. The website is separate from the dealership and offers up to 25% discount. I also bought my OEM catalytic converter and saved $500+ bucks. If I was willing to drive further I could have saved even more. I eventually bought a CTEK charger for my old battery and returned the 12volt battery without a restocking fee because I purchased it online. It is a great way to save your money & get OEM for much better pricing. FWIW this is in SoCal area.

 

A generic U1 35 AH AGM that you can buy for as little as about $70 can be adapted to work fine with minor mods to the battery and hold-down hardware. You can even add a vent connection and connect it to the original vent hose. That's what I did. It's nearly 8 years old now, and still going.

Leadfoot's suggestion is also good. If you do that, be sure to get the version with its terminals in proper positions; Group 51 is one way and the otherwise similar 51R has the terminal positions the opposite way.

 

I took a fresh look at this problem. If I were really in a jam, (which I'm not, this is all theoretical) I might look at using a U1 type battery and adapting the terminals.

The physical size isn't that far off, the capacity is a bit low but certainly not worse than a dead stock battery. Lots of stores stock them and sell them for $60-70. You have to adapt the terminals with extensions, but it isn't impossible.

EDIT: just saw CR94's post, the moment before mine. Nice work!!

 

Sheesh. Inflation is really doing a job on us. I guess it’s either food or a battery.
Probably starting a gofundme would be in your best interest.

 

I'm pretty sure 51 matches the arrangement of the stocker, but I'd always advise readers to doublecheck before buying anything.

I'm curious about the adaptations you undertook for the terminals. By eye, it looks like you could use ordinary SAE-JIS adapters with a narrower bolt & matching nut to clear the square hole in the U1 terminal. Then you'd have a pair of JIS posts on top of a U1 battery, but not necessarily in the right spots... So I'm curious how you solved it.

 

Buy a new "normal sized post" clamp (toyo #90982-05061 $15 on ebay new, or $2 salvage yard) and swap it with the OEM JIS positive clamp. Then spend a couple dollars for a widely available ground cable. The group 51 fits perfect, just like OEM.

 

I was pretty sure you were correct about the 51 vs. 51R, but wasn't certain, so left that vague. Anyone who buys the the wrong one of those and doesn't notice the difference in positions of the "+" and "-" terminals is headed for expensive trouble.

I connected the Prius JIS cable clamps to the rectangular U1 battery terminals in the crudest, simplest possible way, but it works. That was to slip the opening in the clamps over the terminal with no additional parts, and tighten the bolt. This compresses the openings to a slightly smaller size, but not so much the clamps couldn't be safely spread back to their original size if I ever revert to using a battery (or adapter) with JIS terminals. I checked and retightened the bolts several times, to be sure they wouldn't work loose. Adding some sort of shim material might reduce the tendency to distort the clamp, but I doubted that advantage would outweigh potential drawbacks. So far, no problem with those connections. Other, more creative methods might function equally well, and perhaps look a little more elegant.