That 12v battery (again!)

[Roy124]

33 minutes ago, kernowjim said:

 

I just gave the tail to my dealer and asked for it to be fixed. 

[kernowjim]

3 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Jim, if the positive connection is the same as my old Corolla you may not be able to connect to the battery clamp but another bolt near it. 

The negative bolt was fine. 

A solution offered by others is to change the CTEK M8 ring connector for M10 or better an M10 Spade, have a look first before you start

I managed to connect both M8's of the CTEK directly to the Battery clamp bolts - positive very close to the chassis so had to wrap my spanner in insulating tape to be safe - CTEK started with two bars and that's after a drive from Cornwall to Belgium and back at the weekend - now on 4 bars, so worth doing occasionally I would say

[Roy124]

Fair enough.  On the Corolla 1.8 the clamp bolt was M10 with an M8 under the red cover next to it. 

[Michael legge]

Had a chr before my Yaris cross new in March 2022.had the aa out three times since I brought it.I had 2 new batteries on chr which the dealership done to keep me quite.in 2023 should we have to go on the drive once a week to do this on a £30.000 car.does any know what size 12 Battery is fitted compared to a normal car Battery ie Ford Vauxhall .it realy is doing my head in a taken away the enjoyment of buying a hybrid .if you left the car on the drive and it got nicked your insurance whould be invalid.any ideas folks thank you.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Not just Toyota hybrids which have this issue - also Kia, Hyundai, Honda, etc.

As regards Battery maintenance, see:

 

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, Michael legge said:

Had a chr before my Yaris cross new in March 2022.had the aa out three times since I brought it.I had 2 new batteries on chr which the dealership done to keep me quite.in 2023 should we have to go on the drive once a week to do this on a £30.000 car.does any know what size 12 battery is fitted compared to a normal car battery ie Ford Vauxhall .it realy is doing my head in a taken away the enjoyment of buying a hybrid .if you left the car on the drive and it got nicked your insurance whould be invalid.any ideas folks thank you.

Hi, 

if you are worrying about brand new car 12v Battery my recommendation to you will be to request your dealer to fully charge your 12v Battery prior to new car delivery/ collection. You need to have trust in your dealer. If not you can fully charge it yourself with a smart charger and if you don’t use the car regularly best to recharge once monthly. Definitely not an issue only to Toyota hybrids but most new cars. If you drive on daily basis for 30 min + each time you have nothing to worry about. 
Enjoy your new car. 👍

[Roy124]

Michael, as Tony says, it depends on your driving profile.  Can you give us an idea like annual mileage, frequency of driving, typically journey time? 

Also where your car is when not driving, such as road side, drive, garage.  Do you have mains power. 

In my case, 6.5 months, 5,500 miles, driving every day or 2-3 days, and most journey legs 20-30 minutes.  No problems. 

[Primus1]

Problems also with ford mild hybrids, my puma shows Battery saving messages from time to time, I just stick it on trickle charge every so often, seems I might have to do the same when I get my cross…

[flash22]

Think you are missing the point, the Battery is a symptom, you need to find the cause of the drain - have you had the DCM update done ?? Have they checked for a parasitic draw ?

Do you have a dash cam fitted ??

[Bernard Foy]

Alan, I drive daily all short runs and less than 4 thousand miles yearly. I have a front and rear hard wired dash cameras fitted by the dealership, very rarely do long runs, I’m on my third Yaris Hybrid and never ever had any bother with the 12volt Battery. I have of course seen on this forum where quite a number of members have had bother. Maybe I’m lucky.

[Primus1]

Some puma owners were convinced it was the rombat Battery and some dealers changed them for varta ones, still the problems persisted, I had a new dash fitted in 21, and they replaced/updated various modules, I still get deep sleep messages on the app, but, strangely not on the info screen in the car, my front and rear dash cams are powered by a hardwired Battery pack, so power is taken from this when car is not being used, I don’t think anyone has a definitive answer for cars ( of all makes) that have problems with draining batteries, maybe it’s some component that it widely available and used by all hybrids, but I dunno!?, maybe one day it will be solved

[Roy124]

Alan, we know car alarm systems are continually armed.  The car is listening for key calls.  It is also listening to Toyota servers waiting for conditioning requests and after you switched off transferring the data analytics to the mothership. 

[Cowgirl]

I’ve just had my first service and on the hybrid health check the 12v Battery failed although overall it passed. 
 

When I questioned them on it they first said I wasn’t doing enough miles (just under 7000). So I responded that having the engine running for approximately 2 hours each day wasn’t enough to keep it in good condition!

 

They had no answer to that

[anchorman]

1 hour ago, Cowgirl said:

I’ve just had my first service and on the hybrid health check the 12v battery failed although overall it passed. 
 

When I questioned them on it they first said I wasn’t doing enough miles (just under 7000). So I responded that having the engine running for approximately 2 hours each day wasn’t enough to keep it in good condition!

 

They had no answer to that

What do you mean Caroline - it failed but it passed?

[Cowgirl]

The 12v Battery is only one part of the hybrid health check, apparently the 12v Battery will fail the test at a reading of 11.8. It could have failed as it was cold as the time of service, around -1 at night, the start and draw could have reduced the reading. 
 

They said if it was repeated it may have passed but that would cost me £60. I have had no trouble starting it and use a trickle charger when I’m away, so I thought I would see what happens next service.

[Derek.w]

I far as I remember a 12 volt Battery test involves putting a rated load across it for 30 seconds and seeing if it can clime back up quickly there are test kit on the market allow you to do this disconnect the earth wire set the meter to a known cranking amp range and it giver a reading pass /fail thats what a garage is probably using in one form or another.

[anchorman]

17 minutes ago, Cowgirl said:

The 12v battery is only one part of the hybrid health check, apparently the 12v battery will fail the test at a reading of 11.8. It could have failed as it was cold as the time of service, around -1 at night, the start and draw could have reduced the reading. 
 

They said if it was repeated it may have passed but that would cost me £60. I have had no trouble starting it and use a trickle charger when I’m away, so I thought I would see what happens next service.

Hmm.  Very noble of them wasn’t it.  I would have thought 7000 miles was enough when essentially you don’t need any if you leave it in start mode.  It doesn’t really tell you anything if it’s a “temporary” condition.  I wouldn’t worry about it.  

[Marjan]

On 5/24/2022 at 5:58 PM, TonyHSD said:

No need to be a blast, it doesn’t matter what speed you are doing, only matters how long the car is ON. If your journeys are less than 20min each time it’s likely to reduce battery capacity. The trick is to keep the car in ready mode as long as possible. For example if you drive someone to the shop, let them off and if you are staying in the car waiting, do not turn off, keep in ready mode while waiting. Turning off and on the car often within short period of time really kills the battery because there is an electric brake pump booster which pressurises and de pressurises the brake system each tmi,e the car been turned on or off and that is the largest 12v energy consumer. 

Sorry for a noob question 

Ready mode is putting the car in park and don't turn it off?

[anchorman]

5 minutes ago, Derek.w said:

I far as I remember a 12 volt battery test involves putting a rated load across it for 30 seconds and seeing if it can clime back up quickly there are test kit on the market allow you to do this disconnect the earth wire set the meter to a known cranking amp range and it giver a reading pass /fail thats what a garage is probably using in one form or another.

That’s a drop test for a conventional starting Battery.  Whether it is similar I don’t know.  

[anchorman]

1 minute ago, Marjan said:

Sorry for a noob question 

Ready mode is putting the car in park and don't turn it off?

In the engine run position yes.   

[Derek.w]

My understanding of ready mode just press the brake then start the car from park.

Thats ready mode note engine may not run at least in the summer but the car is ready to go when you move it out of park.

If you move it back into park without turning system off then you are in ready mode once again.

[anchorman]

6 minutes ago, Derek.w said:

My understanding of ready mode just press the brake then start the car from park.

Thats ready mode note engine may not run at least in the summer but the car is ready to go when you move it out of park.

If you move it back into park without turning system off then you are in ready mode once again.

Exactly 👍

[Derek.w]

Cowgerl you can just monitor the 12 volt Battery now and then and if its just above 12.2 volts put a charger on it or leave the car running in ready mode for 20 or 30 minutes.

You can monitor it from the cigarette lighter socket by putting the car in auxilary mode for a reading before starting ie going to ready mode.

Or use a BM Battery monitor needs wiring across Battery but you can then check condition without entering the vehicle or somtimes even leaving the house.

Give it at least one hour before rechecking the 12 volt battery.

[Chas G]

On 3/7/2023 at 9:36 PM, Derek.w said:

I far as I remember a 12 volt battery test involves putting a rated load across it for 30 seconds and seeing if it can clime back up quickly there are test kit on the market allow you to do this disconnect the earth wire set the meter to a known cranking amp range and it giver a reading pass /fail thats what a garage is probably using in one form or another.

Toyota yaris cross hybrid manual says - Open voltage at 20°c, 

"turn the power switch off and turn on high beam headlights for 30 seconds".

12.0 volts or higher.

I assume a bit less than 12 volts in this cold weather.

[Andrew Harrison]

On 3/7/2023 at 7:34 PM, Cowgirl said:

I’ve just had my first service and on the hybrid health check the 12v battery failed although overall it passed. 
 

When I questioned them on it they first said I wasn’t doing enough miles (just under 7000). So I responded that having the engine running for approximately 2 hours each day wasn’t enough to keep it in good condition!

 

They had no answer to that

Get a voltmeter that connects to your cigar lighter socket and leave your car in ready mode for a couple of hours. Switch off then after 30 minutes turn your power button/key to accessory mode and if your voltmeter reads below 12.2 your Battery is faulty and unless your dealer told you how many miles you had to do when you bought it you should insist they replace your 12v Battery under warranty