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Fitting mobility 12volt AGM battery.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Britprius, Mar 3, 2013.

  1. davekro

    davekro Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    SF Bay Area, East Bay
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    Has anyone tried the Mighty Max brand of battery sold on Amazon? I am considering this one. 55AH, 9.06"L x 5.43"W x 8.98"H(8.19"h not including vertical 'flag' posts) I need to measure the actuall width of my original OEM 45 AH battery to see if the 5.43" width is OK.

    Mighty Max Battery 12V 55Ah Power Boat Pontoon Electric Trolling Motor Deep Cycle Battery. (4.6 Stars 1603 reviews) $118.79

    This next Mighty Max battery looks identical. Both pictures show the same specs and Model ML55-12 is shown on the casing. It just does not mention Trolling Motor in the Amazon description.
    ML55-12 - 12 Volt 55 AH, Nut and Bolt (NB) Terminal, Rechargeable SLA AGM Battery. (4.4 Stars 291 reviews). $119.99

    Ah, I see the first battery is shipped from and sold by Mighty Max. The second battery is shipped from and sold by Amazon.

    I have no complaints with the OEM battery. It has lasted since we bought the Prius Plug-In new in 2013. But my wife does occasionally leave interior lights on, so, I'll take the extra AH's for a replacement battery and ≈ $60-$100 US $ cheaper than Walmart or a Toyota battery respectively. ;)

    EDIT: I pulled the original 45 AH GS Yuasa Corp OEM battery and measured it. 9.16" L x 4.75" W x 7 7/8" H (case not including posts). The Mighty Max above from Amazon's case is 3/8" taller (should not be an issue). It's case is just under 3/4" wider. To accommodate the extra width, I simply drilled 3 new mounting holes through the bottom of the black bracket 3/4" further to the inside, so the bracket is now 3/4" further away from the metal wall on the opposite (inner) side of the battery. I noticed that I will need to also drill another hole on the top of the bracket where the threaded rod ( rod has enough extra thread for the bracket to be higher) from the bottom bracket needs to poke through the 'over the top bracket' to accept the nut that holds it down. I will add a spacer and a longer bolt on the inner side of the bracket where it bolts into the sheet metal.
    I'm just ordered the first battery above. It is due to arrive between June 26 to 28.
     
    #581 davekro, Jun 20, 2024
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2024
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Yeah why not If it fits and you can get the terminal sorted out You're good to go people are running elevator batteries and all kinds of things for the 12 volt shouldn't really be an issue The more you leave it on and run it down the more often you'll replace it no matter what it is
     
  3. davekro

    davekro Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2013
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    Location:
    SF Bay Area, East Bay
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    My installation details: Mobility/trolling motor battery to replace my OEM 45 Ah 2013 Prius Plug-In battery

    Myself, liking to know all the details before I decide to do a modification like this, I wanted to post the details of my installation here in case it is helpful or of interest to others considering this mod. Note, the data and mods are for this specific battery, which will be different for what ever battery that you should choose. But hopefully it's helpful in what details to account for.
    I used this battery:
    Mighty Max Battery 12V 55Ah Power Boat Pontoon Electric Trolling Motor Deep Cycle Battery. (4.6 Stars 1603 reviews) $118.79

    I took all of the actual dimension measurements of The Mighty Max 55 Ah mobility battery (and the OEM 45 Ah as well). It arrived yesterday and I installed it. Measuring the two batteries, the new 55 Ah battery was closer in size than I originally thought (see the yellow note in images for every dimension for both batteries).
    This new battery was:
    1) 5/16" shorter in length, so no modification needed for bottom bracket for front to back length.
    2) 7/16" wider at the base, but I only needed to elongate the brackets' three mtg. screw holes 1/4" to allow bracket to slide right 1/4" for the battery to fit w/o being too snug.
    3) The new battery's case height was 1/8" higher, but its 'Flag posts' were shorter than the OEM posts, so the over all ht. was ≈ 1/16" less.
    4) I used a 3/8" thick oversized nut glued over the left threaded mtg. hole on the left side as a spacer for the left side of the top clamp bracket.
    5) With battery in place, I pulled/ bent the right threaded top bracket mtg. post in ≈ 1/4" inward to align with the existing right side hole of the clamp plate bracket.
    6) The small device (sensor of some sort? heat? fumes?) that clips into the top of the top clamp bracket still fits, height wise, but I can tell that the bin/tray that snaps in on top of the battery, is help up just ever so slightly (barely), but the top of that device. I just now thought that the area of the bracket where the device snaps into, could probably be hammered down ≈ 1/16" so as not to be in contact with the bottom of the bin/tray. The devices' slight contact does not feel like any issue at all, so I doubt I'll bother to do my 'hammer down' idea.

    Mounting OEM Pos. and Neg. clamps to the battery:
    7) The Flag Posts edges are rounded and tapered to accommodate a 3/4" round post clamp (the round OEM clamps are way too small to fit). The Pos. and Neg. flags are the same 3/4" width and .4" thickness.
    8) I wondered if there was a 3/4" round to smaller OEM (JIS?) adapters available, but decided not to wait days for parts, if even available, to finish the project. I went ahead and used hardware that I had on hand to through bolt the clamps to the Flag posts using longer bolts and modifying to nuts to use as spacers so that I did not need to squish/deform the OEM clamps and also proved the best electrical contact possible. I know there is not high amperage through these connections, and just bolting the OEM connectors angled with less contact would be a non-issue... But hey, I'm a perfectionist and feel good doing it this way. ;)
    a) I used two square 1/4-20 nuts, drilled threads out w/ 1/4" bit for OEM diameter metric bolts to fit through for between the clamps and the flag posts.
    b) For spacers between clamps I used a large flat washer ground on four sides for the + side and 1/4-20 jam nut (drilled out) for a spacer on the Neg. side.
    c) ≈ 1 1/2" bolt for + side and ≈1 1/4" bolt for Neg. side.

    I feel good about a clean install and less concern for when my wife leaves interior lights on overnight, or until she drives next. ;)
     

    Attached Files:

    R-P likes this.
  4. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Base
    That's interesting I only pay like 169 for a Sears die hard blue AGM the latest I guess looking thing so I would be doing this to save 50 bucks I think I'll just stay with the car rated battery just because I already have it and it's not time to change and 50 bucks is well I guess 50 bucks