12V battery group size

there have been a lot of 12v failures, maybe on prime though.

 

I remember it being hard to decipher but I thought Yuasa said the Gen 4 battery was AGM.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience; it’s good to have a firsthand report. Did the original hold-down bracket work correctly, too?

No, it’s a flooded (wet-cell) type.

 

The regular Prius has a standard lead acid battery, no AGM.

 

I think I've only read of 2 others - at least on Gen 4 forum.

 

I thought they were defective "infant mortality" failures early in their life though. (ignoring somebody abusively running one down)

 

When she's stopped and working in the car - I assume she's got it actually running with the A/C on? Running on "Accessory" to have the radio etc running wouldn't be good for it, as the battery would deplete continually.

 

Memory sometimes plays tricks - but I don't recall many.

 

padroo said the same. prime must be the problem. same battery, different charging system

 

With a little more research, I found that, at some point, the 12v in the Gen-4 now has a real BCI code, it's 140R. See this chart that seems to have additional codes, compared to the chart posted earlier in the thread. Battery-Web.com - BCI Group Numbers, Dimensional Specifications, Polarity and Terminals

Of course, this is small consolation, since it appears that there are very, very few manufacturers who actually make a 140R battery... The earlier-posted suggestion of using the Odyssey PC-1200 might be a good choice, though by my comparisons, the height is 1/10th of an inch above stock. Problem? IDK...

Incidentally, I was motivated to get into this about a week ago after I had just gotten back from the ill-fated road trip, from which my beloved 2004 Prius did not return... The good news is that, even stranded on the road, I found a good deal on a "left over" 2018. Since it was made in January 2018, and had been sitting around since (it only had 100 miles when I got it), I decided to prepare myself for a possible early death of the 12v. I thought, at first, oh great, 12v under the hood now... only to discover that Toyota decided to put a totally obscure size in there. It's really baffling, since unlike the hell hole install on the 04, there's a decent amount of space under the hood of the 18. They could very easily have specified a normal, easy-to-get size. Gee, I wonder why they didn't.

Oh yeah, also, the label on the 12v installed in my car says it has a 78-month warranty. That's pretty good (at least it sounds good), but if it dies early, I'm probably just going to spring for the Ody, rather than getting into serial wty replacements of a poor design (if that's what it proves to be -- I'm suspicious given the history).

 

I believe that is a common Japanese size and the car is made in Japan..

 

It probably is. And it would make total sense for them to specify that battery -- if they were selling the car in Japan alone. Of course, they knew darned good and well where a large slice of these cars were coming... I've loved my Toyotas, and the company generally makes good, effective decisions, but IMO, they've goofed on this one. How would we react if they were using an air filter that was only readily available in Japan? I'm sure that the dealers will be able to supply the 140R batteries if and when we need them. I'm also pretty sure that they'll be appreciating the lack of competition. . . I fear that we are too small a group of owners to motivate many battery makers to enter this little niche in the market.

 

What brand and size is it?

 

I wouldn't worry about it. I bought a car which had been sitting in the dealership for 17 months, I kept it for 3¼ years, and the person I sold it to replaced the battery 18 months later - ie years old.

When yours dies - maybe not for 5 years, you'll be able to go with the experience of PRIUS owners who have replaced them - and there is a possibility that a cheaper suitable battery might be available by then.

I'd go with TOYOTA's battery specifications - it does a totally different job from a standard car battery. It doesn't have to start the car - but have enough power to power the computers and relays to get it going.

 

In other threads, it’s been pointed out that NAPA (BAT 75140R), AutoZone (Duralast H4-DL), O’Reilly (140RPRM), and Advance (H4) all offer reasonably-priced batteries that are the same size as the original. I suppose they could all be made in the same factory, but I think not: I’ve seen labels from Japan, Korea, and Austria.

The stores’ websites may not have been updated to say their batteries fit the fourth-generation Prius, but they do: @KeanuMok kindly shared photos of the NAPA battery, which he reported was a direct replacement.

 

Yep, they're out there. I'm starting to figure this out -- all because I got "pre-paranoid" about the health of my new car's 12v (mine is a 1/18 build that languished on two dealer's lots for a year...).

This does raise a mildly disturbing/irritating question, though. In particular, how and why has this "Does NOT FIT for Gen 4" error so thoroughly infected the parts distribution databases??? It's not, it seems, just one store chain, nor just one form of the nomenclature -- it seems to be almost ALL of them.

You'd think people who go to the trouble and expense of ordering and stocking a part would -- you know -- want to actually sell it to people. . .

They -- whoever "they" is in this case -- aren't making the process easy for anyone. Years ago, the first time I left active duty to join the reserve, an unseen "they" ticked the wrong box in some obscure database, resulting in me being designated a deceased veteran. They "killed" me, administratively anyway. I lived DEAD for the next six months. Just try to get a scholarship or a student loan when you've joined the dearly departed!!! "I'm sorry Mr. Polk, it says right hear you're deceased." "I assure you, seriously, I'm very much alive! "No, it says right here. . . "

I wonder how many other parts may be more difficult -- or costly -- to obtain because of such unfathomable "errors"???

 

i wonder if they prefer not to sell batteries to prius owners due to the quantity of warranty returns

 

Mr. Polk, welcome back to the world of the living.

By the way, do you have a Jesus complex?

 

I think the correct term is Lazarus complex.

 

Sorry, I have plenty of "issues," but not that one. Besides, I only returned from "administrative death," and it took a good bit longer than three days... I remember the "ribbing" I took from my friends at the time -- If the Marine Corps had meant for you to be alive, they'd have given you permission, and so on... I had immediately joined a reserve unit, so their Unit Diary (the USMC's master personnel computer database system) entries were tripping flags all over the place. It was as if someone had thrown the government's massive administrative "transmission" into Reverse while it was still going Forward at 60 mph. Gears were clashing and broken parts were being strewn in all directions. It was neither "pretty" nor fun to live through. I'm glad to be back with the living.