i found.... duralast, superstart, diehard, interstate, and optima. all 250, except diedhard 270 and optima 290. i think i would prefer a non auto parts "in house" battery, but not sure which ones are. the big question, is the optima worth the extra $40? they claim faster charging, and more charging cycles. if true, the faster charging sounds like it would be good for my type of driving. but is it legit or just a sales pitch? do they have a reputation for being high quality?
The Optima has has higher CCA, which comes at the expense of amp hours? I'm out of my depth, just what I've read here. FWIW, my current battery is Optima, but in hindsight I don't think it's superior in any way. If I was shopping now it'd likely be Canadian Tire's house brand offering for our gen of Prius (a conventional case AGM). I started buying their batteries for some in-the-family Hondas, then a Toyota, and my impression, just from their appearance, there's not that many actual battery manufacturers, the cases, specifiactions and all are very nailed down, and often the same battery just has different store brand decals applied. Prices are going through the roof of late, by the way.
Walmart sells a S46B24R and it is often in stock in their stores: EverStart Platinum AGM Automotive Battery, Group Size S46B24R 12 Volt, 410 CCA - Walmart.com
i saw that, cheapest battery i found, but there are none in my area, and there isn't a buy online option. the warranty is better too. all these other batteries are 2-3 years. another thing i hear, you can walk in any time within warranty period and get a new one. costco sells interstate for basically same price, but don't have membership.
my buddy has a samsclub membership, but they don't have a clue which one i need. according to them they have many compatible batteries. my battery says 24R, but they have 24F, and google says there are 4 group sizes for 06 prius 140R, 24R, 34, and 51. is 24R the only one that will work?
You want a S46B24R as Pasadena_commut mentioned above. The Prius battery has smaller terminals and a vent connection. Optima used to be the fanboy favorite around here but have proven to fail in half the time of a Toyota version. On top of that, Optima’s terminals are easily damaged by over tightening leading to an even quicker end. Some of the physically similar cheap batteries have the plus and minus swapped which will make your parasitic draw struggles seem like child’s play if you reverse connect the battery. Others have bigger diameter terminals which require separately purchased adapters. Do yourself a favor and shop Toyota dealers for an oem battery that will last twice as long. Dealer markup is usually an extra 100% for walk in customers so they have room to discount if asked. Sometimes the dealer will sell the best battery for an Autozone price. And yes, Autozone has a S46B24R / 46B24R as well.
these 2 look to be my best options as i can get them for around $180. the only difference i can see is CCA and reserve capacity. i know interstate, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. east penn makes the super start. johnson makes interstate. MTX-S46B24R battery | Interstate Batteries https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/platinum/battery---accessories/batteries/31624da3221a/super-start-platinum-agm-battery-group-size-s46b24r/ssbq/s46b24r/v/a/18881/automotive-car-2006-toyota-prius?pos=0
Because Priuschat’s server gets sluggish at times and the user presses the button several times. It is an IT thing.
Many of the batteries listed are actually the same item, just with the car parts store's sticker slapped on it instead of the manufacturer's.
any concerns with using something like this? i would image not since this is what it's built for. but since this isn't your typical car figured i would ask first. i see them from 5-100w. was thinking about grabbing a 20w. amazon.com/TP-solar-Monocrystalline-Controller-Extension-Terminal/dp/B07RZBVTGR/ref=sr_1_27?crid=1O0AQT8R9D9EZ&keywords=20w%2Bsolar%2Btrickle%2Bcharger&sprefix=20w%2Bsolar%2Btrickle%2Bcharger%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-27&th=1
Be sure that the device knows how to deal with an AGM battery - if it is only for a standard 12V wet cell it might not work right. My other concern is the quality of the device. There is a lot of crap for sale on Amazon and you really wouldn't want to find out that it fails by shorting its outputs together, for instance. (Specifically, you would like to be sure it isn't going to burst into flames while attached to the 12V battery.)
