12v battery problem & Toyota service

[HughL]

12v Battery in my 3-year-old, 30,000 mile just failed. Same very light use as everyone else at the moment, a few miles to the supermarket each week. But it's held its charge for a couple of weeks at least in the past. Got it started with a jump start pack and ran it for a bit to charge, but tested it and clearly a sick Battery. I don't think it should have failed so soon, especially as before the lockdown most of my journeys were 25 miles or more.

Toyota customer services agreed very quickly to change it free of charge and arranged to do it at home through Roadside Assistance. Very pleasant surprise. I'd made it clear that I wasn't a key worker and had no special reasons for any help and honestly was expecting them to say "when the lockdown is over take it to your dealer." AA patrolman said they'd been very quiet for the most part; mainly keeping delivery vans on the road.

So now I've got a nice new Bosch Battery with 5-year warranty. To my mind, that's very good service with no fuss and much nicer than anything I experienced in 20-plus years of (looking back on it, deeply mistaken) brand loyalty to a supposedly more "prestige" manufacturer.

I've no off-street parking and often can't even park in the same street, so hard to get it on to a charger. I'll guess I'll have to fire it up for 15 minutes now and again to top it up.

[PeteB]

The 12V Battery died on my last 2016 Gen 4 Prius when the car was about 18 months old, and my dealer replaced it under warranty without hesitation.  Up until then I'd used the car almost daily, so I figured either the Battery had been allowed to go flat before delivery or it was faulty.

Luckily I keep one of the modern mini jump-starters in the seat back pocket that got me out of trouble a few times until the Battery was replaced.

I was told not to drive for a month after a heart scare in late 2018, so about every 2 weeks I sat in it in READY mode for half an hour to top up the 12V battery, just to be sure.

Similarly, I'm doing the same with my current RAV4 Hybrid as I't only doing a 0.7 mile round trip to the nearest shop every 3-4 days since the lock-down started.

In addition I've switched off the interior lights.  When I park, before switching off I turn off the A/C, wipers if on, operate the mirror fold switch to retract the mirrors and adjust the powered driver's seat (the RAV may be higher, but the roof is now lower, so I've used one memory for a good driving position and the other for an ideal setting for easier entry and exit) to minimise draw on the 12V battery and maximise the time it's getting charged from the Hybrid system.  The next time I use the car I reset these after putting the car in READY mode.  The RAV also has a powered boot so I operate that while the system is on too, although I don't often use the boot.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

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[QuantumFireball]

On 4/18/2020 at 10:21 PM, HughL said:

12v battery in my 3-year-old, 30,000 mile just failed. Same very light use as everyone else at the moment, a few miles to the supermarket each week. But it's held its charge for a couple of weeks at least in the past.

I think the problem is the short supermarket trips aren't enough to give the 12V Battery a good charge. I'm not sure 15 minutes would be enough either. Toyota Ireland are recommending half an hour every 15-20 days for hybrids, I think Toyota GB suggested even more.

Maybe consider a solar charger if your car gets some sunlight. There seems to be types available that'll work inside the car, though maybe getting permanent 12V feed in the cabin could be the tricky part for a gen 4 (fuse tap?) as I assume the lighter socket isn't always on.