Gen 4 12 Volt battery.

A Li jump pack has to be charged to be useful. But it tends to sit in a car unused for a long time. There is a good chance that the Li battery is discharged when I really need it. So I decided to invest in a supercapacitor starter instead. About the same price as Li battery based jump pack, but I don't have to worry about charging it which is a big plus.

 

I charge my Noco about once a year whether it needs it or not. And it hasn't needed it yet after over two years. I keep checking it about once every 1-2 months thinking, "Now can I charge it?" Nope still 100%. So far I've started a Gen 3 Prius, an old Ford Tempo, a humongous Ram pickup with a V8, and my wife's 2017 Prius.

 

Clore (makes jump packs) will send you an email reminder to charge every 3 months. Along with new product links of course, but hey.

 

Yeah, I noticed that a Li battery charge seems to remain fairly stable over time for many of those Li battery-operated devices if it has no drain at all. I keep an emergency old cell phone in our cars. It is usually turned off, and the battery stay fully charged for months or even years if I don't use it. I also have two Li jump packs, one in our PathHy and one in my son's car.

The problem is that it does not get used often enough to be proactive about checking or changing it. I tend to fully charge it and stick it in the car and forget about it. In fact, the Li jump pack in our PathHy has not been checked since I put it in the back compartment almost 2 years ago. And neither pack has been ever used yet. No occasion so far. I had one time our PathHy did not start due to a dead 12v battery, but it happened on our driveway. It was easier to just use the 120v connected charger to bring it back to life. I needed another jump starter for my PP, so decided to buy a supercapacitor type. Now I can really forget about it, and still, be fine when I really need to use it.

LOL. Such email will go straight to the trash bin. The number of push notifications and reminder emails I receive on a daily base is just ridiculous. It no longer serves the purpose of reminding me of an important event.

 

Hmmm, not convinced about Li-ION battery anything. Mobile phones start dying at 3 years, Laptops similar. 4yr old BOSCH Vacuum holds charge for 3 minutes now.

But my EGO Lawnmower - battery died - Dead as a Dodo - at 14 months. Fortunately still under warranty. It'll be a Petrol Mower next time.

MEANWHILE - at 6yrs old, my PRIUS 12 volt is still going fine.

 

By and large, that's true. In fact, my EGO mower battery also died under warranty. I wonder if they had a design problem. Time will tell.

But a health check of my iPhone 11 Pro Max battery after 1-1/2 years showed it at 100% capacity before I sold it to a friend. My previous MacBook Pro battery was also 100% capacity, but it was only a year old when I traded it in. My 3-year old iPad, however, is down to 89.5% capacity. It still feels like a new device, though.

And, at 5 years, the 12V on my Prime is still chugging along just fine so maybe it'll go as long as yours.

The deep cycling on most battery powered devices really kills the batteries. On my phone, I use an iOS shortcut to tell me when it goes over 80%. So I charge it in the morning and by the next morning it's down to about 50%. I have an app on the laptop that lets me keep it plugged in and hold the SOC at any value I choose. So it stays at 55% unless I need to take it to a meeting.

On the other hand, I was running the mower battery all the way down. After the original one died, I bought a spare to go with the replacement one EGO sent me. Now I just let it get down to about 40% or so and then, next time I mow, I charge the other one and do the same. I just keep switching back and forth. It'll be interesting to see how these batteries do.

 

A lot of Lithium Jump Packs/Starters are now charged by USB connection. So i keep mine perpetually charged by plugging it into the USB connector in the back seat of my Prius and put the Lithium Jump Pack itself in either the center console or the seatback pocket.

Left mine in there for 2 years and never thought it about until last month when my dad needed to boost his van. Jump Pack was at 100% and cranked that van up perfectly. I was even able to use it 3 separate times to jump that van that day without charging in between. Only went down to 86% charge. Put it back into my Prius and on the 30 minute drive back to my house it was charged back to 100%.

So if you're worried about the extra maintenance of keeping the Jump Pack charged, get one that's charged by USB and leave it connected in your car to USB. You'll never have to worry about it.

(Not sure about long term though, i think after 10 years of being in the car with annual temperature swings of canadian winters, the lithium cells might not hold up. But i still think having it and replacing every 10 years is better than not having it)

 

Don't know. I got mine replaced at PEP boys for a very reasonable price installed with a three year warranty. I got a year in already, I am posting cause I am looking for a lithium iron phosphate drop in replacement as a replacement two years from now. Any idea? Does anyone think a group buy be a good idea?

 

I did the opposite and bought a more expensive battery than the OEM product. I bought the DieHard EV 12-volt battery at Advance Auto Parts. I liked the fact that it has more Cold Cranking Amps than the original.

Advance Auto Parts - Down for Maintenance

 

I’ve read that higher CCA can mean lower amp hours.

 

I believe the OEM battery specs are 52 AH and 294 CA whereas the DieHard EV are 50 AH and 710 CA.

 

For a hybrid or EV, CCA are pretty meaningless since there is no cranking taking place. AH are what you need.

 

I'd rephrase that, just a bit, to say that higher CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) value is not that important; the spec'd CCA of the stock battery (typically around 300~325?) is sufficient . Higher AH's (Amp Hours) is relatively important, and tends to be reduced with batteries having high CCA, it's a trade-off between the two values (another reason to not go with high CCA options).

All that said, if your battery has as-tested CCA value that's dropped to or below the spec'd CCA, that's a battery on it's way out. The Prius may not need high CCA, but less-than-spec CCA still doesn't bode good.

 

Correct. It's not that you don't need any CCA. You have to be able to handle the inrush of the relays closing, pumps starting, computers booting, etc. But spending extra for more CCA isn't going to be an improvement. But spending extra on more amp hours can help.

 

I agree.

Except in 2015 when I was young and foolish, I installed a Yellow Top with 450 CCA, and lowish AH. Wowed by CCA, and the price was good, from SaskBattery.

With our ultra low usage it’s maybe moot: the car lives on a smart charger. Still tests like new.

 

You guys need to get out more. How about a trip to Banff NP? I'd LOVE to go back there.

BTW, we're doing an Alaska cruise in August and will have a few hours in Vancouver on the way back. Wish we had time to drive up to Langley & visit my alma mater.