Replace 2005 12 Volt Battery

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Kirk05Prius, Jul 5, 2021.

  1. Ellis Fereday

    Ellis Fereday Junior Member

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    Will this replace my OEM Non smart key battery?

    VEHICLE BATTERY
    $ 235.30
    2880021181
     
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    1) Cold Cranking Amps is a measure of how well your 12v can start the engine in the most challenging weather. This is not relevant to Prius in any way because you have a high voltage hybrid battery pack that starts the engine.

    2) Your bad 12v you bought has led to the seller making up all kinds of stories and false claims to avoid admitting they sold you a bad battery so they don't have to refund or replace it.

    3) The amp-hour measurement is a more accurate measurement than cold cranking amps for Prius because the higher the amp hours the more likely you'll still be able to power up the car if you leave the lights on or haven't driven in a long time. The smart key Prius will drain the 12v a tiny bit more than a non-smart key Prius, but this is not relevant and is just another auto parts store scam/misinformation to get you spend more money. In general, because Prius have slightly different 12v needs, the con-artists who price batteries for auto parts stores use that as an excuse to add an additional $150 or more to the price for no valid reason. That's why I reccomend the $100ish one above.

    4) As @bisco already said there's for the most part no such thing as a "too powerful" of 12volt battery and there's no way the 12v can damage the Hybrid battery because the only function the 12v performs is turning the car's computers on and powering up the relays that turn the hybrid battery on. Once the hybrid battery is turned on it powers the vehicle, starts and stops the engine, and sends a charge to the 12v so next time you try to turn on the car there's still enough 12v juice to do so.

    5) For all the reasons above, a defective 12v battery like the one you bought will just barely work in a Prius, but in any other vehicle that requires cold cranking amps with a regular engine starter that junk battery would of been ready to return to the liars that sold it to you right after you installed it.
     
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    That's overpriced garbage... It only has 35amp hours whereas the one I recommend costs half that price and has 55amp hours.
     
  4. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    No that is NOT what happened.
    A 12 V battery of a slightly different capacity will ****NOT**** "fry" the HV battery.
    No way, no how.

    You need to clear your brain of bad information and start all over.

    ANY 12 V battery close to the right physical size and capacity will be just fine.
    Some people use a lawn mower battery for a short time even.

    Even if there is a slight difference between "smart key" and non smart key ones, it will NOT cause a problem.
    Absolutely, positively not.
     
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  5. Ellis Fereday

    Ellis Fereday Junior Member

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    Well I appreciate all the information given. For some odd reason after 11 years on my OEM 12 volt, it died and I put in the Oreilly smart key model and went through 3 new batteries in 2 months and then my HV battery went out at 155K mileage. The EV place installed a rebuilt one and they were the ones who told me I had the incorrect smart key 12 volt battery. Just did not want to repeat that series of events. Even Oreilly admitted that my early 2005 needed the non smart key model after the fact. Just trying to spend as little as possible to keep my old car running until it is too far gone. Been great since 2008, even after getting my cat converter stolen. Thank you all for your valuable insights.
     
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  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk MMX GEN III

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    That’s a really good run.
     
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  7. Ellis Fereday

    Ellis Fereday Junior Member

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    So I just ordered the 123.99 12 volt that Prius camper recommended. Hopefully it will be an easy install and smooth sailing from now on. thank you all for the help!
     
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  8. Ellis Fereday

    Ellis Fereday Junior Member

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    Ordered, now just curious what size washers I need to purchase. 2 M6-1.00 bolts and they go through the clamps and the bolts screw into the battery vertically since there is no post sticking out, correct? thank you
     
  9. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Just sent you a private message to help walk you through the install once the battery arrives.
     
  10. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Washers ideally are slightly larger than the terminals... The negative terminal is a smaller diameter than the positive terminal.
     
  11. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Correct... Like making a BLT sandwich with the washers as the bread and the bolts as the toothpicks.
     
  12. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    In the meantime while you're waiting for your 12v battery to show up I suggest you do a google search and learn all you can about every Prius owner who has has problems with their 12v battery draining down and becoming an expert on what's most likely to cause that because if you really went thru 3 batteries odds are they weren't all defective and that a light or some crossed wires or something else is causing the 12v to discharge when car is parked.
     
  13. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    While your conclusion seems logical.......it isn't.

    What really happened is that your HV battery started failing about the same time that you replaced the first 12 V battery and you just had no good indication that was happening or overlooked it for some reason.

    A 12 V battery with a higher capacity........STILL puts out the same voltage.
    The things that run off the battery don't know or care that it has a higher capacity.

    I've been an Electronics Engineering Technician for about 55 years now and guarantee you that a slightly different 12 V battery
    DID NOT KILL YOUR HV BATTERY. And it did not cause any other trouble either.
    While it is possible that you had 3 of them go bad in a short time, that's not likely either.
    Whoever was doing the testing just blew the diagnosis.
     
    #33 sam spade 2, Feb 3, 2023
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 4, 2023
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  14. Ellis Fereday

    Ellis Fereday Junior Member

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    Thank you @sam spade 2 for enlightening me on my ignorance. Such a shame that the EV specialty place & o'reillys auto parts were so misleading to a loyal customer. And that is why I always come back to this forum for advice and knowledge. much appreciation to all who share their expertise.
     
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  15. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy Active Member

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    I have a 2007 and this is probably the 2nd time my cars 12 volt battery got drained. Is there a way I can replace my battery with a much bigger capacity even if I have to change the post clamps and as long as it will fit my battery compartment.
    Here are the specs.
    S46B24R
    GSYUASA
    9 Width x 8 Height x 5 Depth
    upload_2025-12-8_21-59-42.jpeg
     
  16. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Refer to the "mobility battery" thread.

    Fitting mobility 12volt AGM battery. | PriusChat

    Some of the batteries mentioned there are 55 Ah, if I remember correctly. However, they require some work to shoehorn the slightly larger batteries into that space.

    Probably easier to wire a permanent charging line to the front jump point and make a point of charging the battery overnight every week or two. Straight to the battery is possible too, but running the wires out would be more difficult. That should take care of it if the battery is going too low because it isn't driven a lot. On the other hand, it won't help at all if the car is left for many hours "off" with a significant load on the battery.
     
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  17. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy Active Member

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    In this situation, I may need to get an extra size battery because I am planning to add extra loads on my car like another extra amplifier (so this last one will make it 3 amplifiers) and I wanna use the 12 volt car battery when I'm charging my RC planes on the field. This original battery is way to small.
    I'll check out that threading and see.
    Thanks!
     
  18. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Perhaps check that the normal parasitic load isn't too high. After the car has been off for a substantial period of time (an hour would be safe) and all the doors are shut there should only be 20-25 mA being drawn from the battery. Don't check too soon - the car turns things on and off for a ridiculously long time after it is "off".

    As for charging in the field - get the car to READY first. No reason to run the 12V down when you can get the power from the HV battery and/or gasoline.
     
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  19. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy Active Member

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    I'll check out the power drop and see.

    As for the charging the RC plane batteries, I have to leave the car off for alot of purpose. I been flying for a long time and more like I'm gonna leave it unattended. I might just add a removable extension 12 volt battery with a cut off switch.
     
  20. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    Ah, you aren't near the car while the RC plane's battery is charging. Sure, don't leave it in READY then. On the other hand, since you already have to stuff the plane in the car, you could buy as big a 12V battery as you want, charge it up, and put it in the back too. There is a 100Ah Mighty Max lead acid that is currently listed at Home Depot for $170. It also weighs 64 pounds, so not exactly portable, but also not so big that you couldn't wrestle it into and out of the car.
     
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