Prius battery?

A friend of mine's Prius battery went flat a while back & I helped him with it. It's a separate 12v battery for starting, etc. It's located in the right rear alongside the spare, IIRC. It's kind of a pita to R&R. And I think it's pretty much a dealer item and fairly pricey for a battery. The rear hatch has an electric latch so he couldn't even get to it until we connected the jumpers and got some juice in the battery (there are jumper connections in front under the hood).

10 years for a battery? Here in AZ we're lucky to get three...

A 1963 VW beetle car I used to own had the battery under the rear seat.

If that was my Prius car, I would DO something about that battery cover lock! I wouldn't waste any time about it either. cuhulin

Prius has the same thing as all the hybrids. One more or less standard battery for starting and operating the electrics and the high voltage pack for the motor(s).

If he has to keep jumping it the battery is bad or the alternator is failing.

The battery is a more or less dealer only piece because of it's odd size.

Hopefully, the dealer is well prepared to stock, replace, and recycle the batteries because the trickle in R&R&R now may become a flood soon.

10 years seems like a long time to expect a battery to last - my assumption is that these batteries get deeply discharged often during it's service life. However, that's just my assumption - any info on this?

Not uncommon. The 12V aux/starting battery is tiny, and the car has a pretty high key off drain. According to Van Battenburg cars were going dead in airport parking lots quite often after just a few days.

 >I'm curious, is that a separate regular 12V battery,

Yes, a group 51

The main pack can charge the aux battery through an inverter, but the software wont let the main pack drain below a set discharge.

A little under $200 will get you a 46 AH optima (OEM is 28 AH IIRC) although I am not sure if this would void the warantee or not... caveat emptor! Some Prius owners are quite the zealots about them, and there is a ton of info on the forums, here's 2 that apply:

t-auxiliary-battery.html HTH Ben

Group 51's are pretty common and there are readily available, even at Walmart and Sam's Club. I would talk it over with the nearest battery distributer or Prius club member before I dropped $200 on one of those tiny things.

Ben

The software gives numerous warnings to keep the driver from over discharging the batteries, including 'limp-in' modes with reduced speed in extreme cases. The NMH batteries are a pretty mature technology. The car treats them with kid gloves...no over charging or deep discharges. 1 fellow has 2 RAV4 EV's and both are at about 100,000 miles and well over 10 years trouble free, still having good power and range. There is already an aftermarket in repairing the packs. Rarely would all the individual batteries wear out or fail at the same time. They are tearing them down and replacing just the bad cells. I've heard of folks getting back on the road for about $200 HTH, Ben

Thanks for the info, I'm pretty ignorant of the technology. I'm thinking they're using lead acid batteries. :-)

That's good news. Sounds like this will change the automobile repair business. No transmission, no head gaskets, no timing belts, no heads, no spark plugs, no fuel pumps, no radiator. Imagine that, cars that are easy to repair! :-)

*28* amp-hours? that's pathetic. a generic fire alarm/UPS battery the same size as a car battery is about 55 AH IIRC

nate

Cars that are easy to repair,,, from the 1960s on back. I would like to see the steam engines make a come back. cuhulin

Steam engines seem to be a lot of hassle - Jay Leno notwithstanding. :-) We can't go back in time but the fully electric car of the future looks to be pretty simple - it's sorta like those model electric RC cars except the driver sits inside!

Sometimes they just explode.

Nahh, the marketing departments will fill it up with all sorts of useless and unmaintainable gadgets, just like they did with the piston engine cars....

--scott

I'm sure the old timers would appreciate an exploding electric car option. Just use Sony laptop batteries. :-)

Boy, this is a cynical newsgroup - yay! :-)

One of those science channels on tv.They built a sort of small house.They sent a hot water heater straight up through the roof.It looked like rocket. Have you tested the safety valve on your hot water heater lately? I haven't. cuhulin

I have checked recently. As a matter of fact, I think it's important to check this several times a day - just to make sure. Excuse me, I heard a funny rumbling sound - I better go check that safety valve. If you don't hear from me, you'll know what happened. :-)

Slim Pickens, riding that A Bomb. How I learned to love the Bomb and stop worrying. Yayyyy Hooooooo,,,,,,, cuhulin

I've had at least two of those fail... they usually fail *open.* Does a heck of a job cleaning the laundry room floor. Unless there's that linoleum like tile stuff. Then it does a heck of a job loosening the tile.

One time it was while the girl and I were out of town for 4-5 days straight. Came home to several inches of warm water in the basement :/ The other time was Xmas morning at my parents' house. Not cool! (well, my shower was...)

Now I check 'em every year when I flush the tank... if it doesn't feel like the spring is as strong as it should be, it gets replaced.

nate

I'm pretty ignorant about this, my guess is that most folks are. Wouldn't an open valve mean that there's something wrong with your temperature regulation and that an open condition means that the safety valve is working? I guess that maintenance on these would be to screw in a new valve. I live in a condo with a central water heater, if that blows I guess we'll all die. Oh boy. :-)

My kitchen has a water heater closet for the hot water heater, plus a lot of junk I have stashed in there.If my water heater blows up, I hope I am out shopping somewhere.Electric hot water heater, I used to have a gas hot water heater. cuhulin