Hi all, I was laid up in a hospital for about three to four weeks and my 2011 Prius just say there. When I tried starting my Prius everything lit up on dashboard except the familiar ready. Luckily I was able to jump start the car but I’m concerned about the battery and its reliability. I think the battery had a sticker showing manufacture date of 2014 which means it’s about 9 years old. I’ve driven it around a bit but I heard that once a battery gets depleted at a certain point there’s no going back but replacing with a new battery. Can I get away with current battery or an I playing Russian roulette? Any recommendations on 12v batteries? Thanks!
at that age, i'd just replace it. it could last awhile, but why risk it? the other route would be a jump pack, so you can drive it until the battery dies completely.
My vote is replace....gosh I don't like keeping a 12-volt over 5-years but my wife's 2017 is now 6 and still testing at 100%....how is that possible????? (It is pampered in a garage.) And hope you're all better from the hospitalization!
IF it is driven most every day......maybe. Better to replace it with a name brand AGM. A dealer would be a good place to start looking.
Three years ago I restored a battery of unknown age that I'd run down to 3 V. It's still in my car today, and I've left the vehicle parked for up to two months at a time and come back to find it fully functional. From my experience, one high drain incident is not necessarily a death sentence. I would just run the same battery until I noticed it losing capacity (frequent jumps required). And invest in a lithium-ion jump pack, as that is good to have even with a new battery.
Or you COULD practice preventive maintenance and buy a decent battery tester. But then, that wouldn’t make for frequent posts on sites such as this, would it?
A tester is a good idea, but since an auto parts store will test it for free I don't particularly feel compelled to buy one myself. A jump pack in the glove compartment ensures there's no chance of getting stranded. I'm still interested to know, though, why you think the battery might suddenly die without any prior indication.
These batteries today give you no warning. One day they work, the next day they don't....not like back when you could hear the starter slowing down as the battery went bad. I agree about the jump pack...people on here want to buy a battery because theirs might go bad. I prefer to get all the good out of things, lol.
My 2012 Prius Plug-In's original battery finally died today. I thought it was something else when the engine light came on without all the lights lit up on the dashboard. I haven't driven It much for a month after I got my 2023 Prius Prime. I have a spare New Optima battery with a bent post and I was wondering if it's safe to install this?
I was wrong. There is a software that will send you an email and text message that the 12v bat life span is near to end to indicate failure is near
I had one damaged in shipment same as that. I epoxied around the bottom of the post after straightening it and installed it...still going now after 3 years. They didn't want me to ship it back, but sent a replacement....I sold that one.
Auto parts stores often don't really know HOW to do a good test. Often batteries that they deem "good" really aren't and owners waste time and money chasing a "ghost". If you don't periodically check your "jump pack" and keep it charged.......IT might be dead too when you need it. And those large Li batteries sometimes overheat just sitting there. And we don't just "think" that batteries suddenly die with no warning, it happens every day and is reported in forums just like this hundreds of times a year. I am NOT saying that I think your plan is a BAD one necessarily.......just that there are other good ones too. And replacing an old battery at the first sign of trouble is right UP there at the top of the list.
A good indication of a battery that is losing capacity would be if you find that you need to jump the car at any kind of detectable frequency. Or whatever software @Grit is thinking of. An abusive discharge (down to nearly 0 V per cell) has often been touted as a death knell for the battery. In what sense? Is it no longer able to achieve its rated voltage? Does it lose capacity permanently? Is there a known mechanism for either of those in an AGM battery? If recharged properly, neither of those takes place. AGM batteries can sustain at least one such event without any loss of capacity or increase in internal resistance. Those interested might refer to the paper attached, published way back in 1997.
Yes. All of the above. What exactly are you asking about with "known mechanism" ? You are quoting results with a perfectly healthy, almost new fully charged battery........in which one deep discharge is not likely to have any immediate adverse impact. BUT......most cars are NOT running around with almost new fully charged batteries and the older that it IS, the more likely that a deep discharge will have a lasting effect. In addition to sulfation, other chemical depletion occurs too. It is like the last straw and the camel.
This is what I was referring to by "known mechanism". What depletion? Any further reading material would be appreciated.
You have Internet access. Do a Google search. The main one is "sulfation". That is, some of the working chemicals (sulfuric acid and lead) turning into compounds that will not go back into solution with the application of charging current. Might also want to have a look at the site "Battery University".
The auto parts store test simply tells you the current condition of the battery. A good tester will tell you the direction the battery is heading and at what rate (if it shows you IR). But then again, you would have to test it periodically to make that information useful.
