12V battery choices

I had my 12 volt battery replaced at Sun Toyota in New Port Richy Florida. The cost was $138 for OEM battery and $12 to install.

 

I think you win the prize for lowest Toyota dealer-installed price.

 

I put my Optima battery in today. No issues, the parts in the eLearnAid Kit all worked perfectly.

13.06 Volts out of the box and 12.4 Volts doing the loaded Diagnostic test installed in the Prius. The Optima had a 2/10 sticker on it.

Reset the clock, radio settings, drivers side auto window, and disabled the backup beep again.

Bob

 

Beauty! :_>

 

The drivers side auto window needed to be reset? How?

 

See post #10 here:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-technical-discussion/76469-driver-window-auto-control.html

 

My MPG has increased for sure with the new battery.
Last 10 tank fulls before the Optima averaged 33.7 MPG and the first tank after is at 51.7

It has warmed up out but this is a big change.

Bob

 

I just ordered the Optima battery and kit on sale for $180 -- in my town the OEM battery costs $185. I'm making out like a bandit

Also, with regard to the improved fuel economy:
I've been getting TERRIBLE gas mileage (33-35), but I just thought it was the cold temps. I've also hade to jump start the thing 4 or 5 times in the last several months. On top of this, it would sometimes beep after shutting it off, sometimes refuse to lock doors... all kinds of quirky behavior.

So I decided to try an experiment: I put a small motorcycle battery in the back and attached it to the main battery with jumper cables.
All the problems went away. No more beeping. No more refusing to start or even complaining. After a week, my fuel economy is at 45 mpg despite the time spent with the engine idling to charge up the new battery.

From 32 mpg to 45 mpg is one hell of an improvement just by jumpering in a tiny battery. It seems the Prius does something stupid when the 12v battery is dying...

Now I just can't wait to get the jumper cables out of back

 

I understand this happens a lot... but the energy lost from this decrease in mileage can't all be dissipated in the little battery or it would probably melt... I wonder if the reason for the lower mileage is that the lowered voltage on the bus is causing the ecu to not control the car as efficiently.

 

Or happenstance: the weather was better after adding the battery, or he unconsciously drove more economically, or the like.