12v battery maintenance, issues, etc.

[Bassa]

3 hours ago, Dala said:

Cloudy today, I tried plugging in a 20W solar panel

  

 

[Bassa]

Interested how this panel works, looking forward to see how it performs. 

[CPN]

4 hours ago, Bassa said:

Is yours a Yaris Cross 22?   You will see from other posts that solar panels and jump leads are being purchased as ‘add on’s’ to boost the battery. 
I think the battery design on this model may be different.

It's not. The Mk4 Yaris has an identical drivetrain and Battery pack as your Yaris Cross has. (mine was one of the first Mk4's produced in 2020)

4 hours ago, Bassa said:

I did not buy a brand new car to buy ‘add on’s’ to keep the battery going. 
It has been reported on posts that this model will not stand for one/two weeks without the battery going flat whilst on holiday.

I've already disproved that with my car several times but yes, I also have a solar panel and CTek charger but I have not needed to use either "in anger" yet... 

4 hours ago, Bassa said:

I love this Yaris Cross it is a lovely car, but it’s let me down. 

Sorry to hear that you feel that way... 

[anchorman]

11 hours ago, Bassa said:

 

I love this Yaris Cross it is a lovely car, but it’s let me down. 
 

 

Why, did it fail to start?

[Roy124]

Bazza, I think your are blaming the wrong thing.  It is not a faulty Battery but the parasitic drain from the car.  The solutions covered here are Battery care but not because of the Battery itself. 

A bigger battery is only a palliative and may solve some issues but if the underlying problem is parasitic drain and insufficient recharge time there will be issues in future. 

You may not have a problem after a 2 week holiday.  You may not have a problem after a period of low usage.  However unknown to you that battery may be running below 12v and not 12.4v.  Then one day it fails. 

I suggest most people, in most circumstances, will never have a problem. 

[Roy124]

Having been bitten with a flat Battery about 3 times I decided be prepared. 

I had a voltmeter and was able to convince the garage to change the Battery under warranty. 

I bought a charger. 

I bought a jumper pack. 

I bought a Battery monitor. 

These are one-off purchases and in all about £100 or so. They all transfer car to car. 

In my circumstances a solar charger would be the least effective item. 

I have used the jumper pack once when my Corolla battery went flat on 8 days. 

The battery monitor was a recent purchase for this car and has been most instructive in how the 12v system operates. 

[Mojo1010]

Mk3 Yaris here coming to 7 years on original Battery, not once it fail to start. It's not the Battery to blame in majority of these cases. More of not enough being in ready mode to maintain it. 

I do not have any of the chargers stuff. A member has fitted a 45ah Battery, that will help, though it still need to be charged up enough with usage or eternally with very limited usage. My car sometimes sit for 3-4 days, then it will be driven for 2 hours or more for work/leisure, that is more than enough to keep it maintained. 

[Bassa]

19 hours ago, CPN said:

Good point and well made. In actual fact, there are many times when we both go out together and, since my wife has nothing to get out of the car for, I leave the car with her sat in it while I do a quick errand and during those times, I leave the car on and in Ready Mode... I'm sure that all those odd times add up to help the car out...

Thanks all, I have picked us some really useful information on this site, especially leaving it in ready mode, which my partner did today whilst I was on hospital appointment.  Let’s hope I have no more problem.  Thanks, I really would not have know about this simple way to charge the Battery. 👍

[FearlessRock]

Oct 2022 Toyota Yaris Hybrid Design, approx run twice daily for 10 mile trip, yet Battery has failed twice in the last fortnight

[Roy124]

21 minutes ago, FearlessRock said:

Oct 2022 Toyota Yaris Hybrid Design, approx run twice daily for 10 mile trip, yet battery has failed twice in the last fortnight

How long did each journey take?  Assuming that is 2x20 minutes per day, it is not very long.  Then the electrical load could increase the demand on the 12v system which reduces the effective recharge each trip.  After that first failure the Battery has been weakened and this could hasten the second failure.

Only a hypothesis as there are other possibilities.

[Joby1]

Hello all

It’s Joby1. I started this thread back in Jan 2022 after having to call Toyota Assistance due to a dead v12 Battery. 3 more call outs due to a dead Battery in Jan/Feb I managed to pursuade Toyota to fit a new v12 Battery during my April service. 
I use my car everyday for work driving at least 16 miles Mon-Friday and most weekends I drive approx 75 miles on the motorway. 
Last week I’d left my car for 12 days whilst on holiday. Yet again, I returned to a dead battery. Waited over 3 hours, until 4.20am in the morning, for Toyota Assistance to come to start it. I’d hoped the new battery had resolved the issue. But this was the first time I’ve left the car I driven since the battery was fitted. 
I’ve spoken to the Toyota Dealership again but they are just not interested in the issue  and are not willing to acknowledge it’s a design fault.

It’s not acceptable. Toyota customer just should not have to accept this level of unreliability. Having spent circa £20k on the car it’s totally ridiculous that I have to be prepared to expect that if I don’t drive my car for 12 days then it won’t start and that I’ll have to be prepared to spend time and effort calling out Toyota Assistance, at the end of my patience and only option it seems for me to have a car that starts reliably is to get rid of my 2020. Yaris Hybrid.

Heyho, a very disappointed long standing Toyota customer 

 

[anchorman]

Question.  Do these solar chargers have any parasitic drain during darkness or do they go open circuit?

[Cyker]

Just for some balance, I haven't had any Battery problems since owning mine. I have left it for up to 2 weeks (e.g. Xmas school holiday) and it's fired up straight away when work resumes.

I've also left the lights on all day once too, but no dramas enschewed.

I do drive a lot more than most tho' as my car is a workhorse to get me from site to site during the day.

 

[Max_Headroom]

 

Quote

I have left it for up to 2 weeks (e.g. Xmas school holiday) and it's fired up straight away when work resumes.

I would appear having read so many posts on this subject that there are those that know how to look after the 12v Battery and those that struggle and end up having issues.

[Cyker]

It's tricky - I do feel some people have gotten cars with half-dead batteries, but there is also an element of user culpability too.

I think one of the best things I did was take the car on a 2 hour hoon immediately after I took possession of it, as I reckon that gave the Battery a good start (And helped me get a good feel for the car  ) Compare this to the person who picked up their new car, drove it home, then immediately went on holiday for several weeks...

 

[Cyker]

It is so weird some people are having such problems with the 12v...

I wonder, do you have the connected services enabled on yours?

That's one thing I declined on mine.

[TruBlu]

2 hours ago, Joby1 said:

Hello all

It’s Joby1. I started this thread back in Jan 2022 after having to call Toyota Assistance due to a dead v12 battery. 3 more call outs due to a dead battery in Jan/Feb I managed to pursuade Toyota to fit a new v12 battery during my April service. 
I use my car everyday for work driving at least 16 miles Mon-Friday and most weekends I drive approx 75 miles on the motorway. 
Last week I’d left my car for 12 days whilst on holiday. Yet again, I returned to a dead battery. Waited over 3 hours, until 4.20am in the morning, for Toyota Assistance to come to start it. I’d hoped the new battery had resolved the issue. But this was the first time I’ve left the car I driven since the battery was fitted. 
I’ve spoken to the Toyota Dealership again but they are just not interested in the issue  and are not willing to acknowledge it’s a design fault.

It’s not acceptable. Toyota customer just should not have to accept this level of unreliability. Having spent circa £20k on the car it’s totally ridiculous that I have to be prepared to expect that if I don’t drive my car for 12 days then it won’t start and that I’ll have to be prepared to spend time and effort calling out Toyota Assistance, at the end of my patience and only option it seems for me to have a car that starts reliably is to get rid of my 2020. Yaris Hybrid.

Heyho, a very disappointed long standing Toyota customer 

 

I totally agree and have the same issue for the last 2+ years. Toyota doesn't seem interested in the fact that customers are continually worried if their car will start or not.

£22,000 pounds worth of worry.

[Roy124]

Cyker, actually that is more of less what we did. Not something we could control as we booked the holiday before we bought the car. 

No problems at all. 

[Cyker]

Damnit stop poking holes in my theories!!

 

[Roy124]

3 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Damnit stop poking holes in my theories!!

 

We are doing about 900 miles per month. 

[CPN]

2 hours ago, anchorman said:

Question.  Do these solar chargers have any parasitic drain during darkness or do they go open circuit?

They effectively go open circuit (extremely high resistance). You cannot back feed a solar panel because of its built in protection. Which is why it is safe to plug it into the OBDII port. While the sun is out and even in fairly good daylight, it will trickle charge the Battery. When the light level drops sufficiently, it simply stops charging.

[CPN]

51 minutes ago, Cyker said:

It is so weird some people are having such problems with the 12v...

I wonder, do you have the connected services enabled on yours?

That's one thing I declined on mine.

I didn't on mine and have had no problems with my 12v Battery... So that's another theory gone for a ball of chalk! 😉🤣

[Dala]

I use this one: 

https://optimate1.com/solarduo/

[Mojo1010]

Maybe it could mean the 'new battery' was not in a good state to begin with? (No holes is my theory)

[Roy124]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:54 PM, Max_Headroom said: