new 12V battery (Toyota OEM)

[brianz]

I wish I had a before photo. I thought there was a vent tube for the battery off-gassing. The new battery part number I got was C0PBSAGM48. Pardon me for not being that knowledgeable about batteries - I did look up that AGM batteries are safe indoors. I'm just curious if it's then a different kind of battery than the factory one or I was just imagining the blue tube was a vent tube.

Does the factory battery use a vent tube?

The battery has been pretty much not good since day 1 - it was already losing charge quickly in the first month I had it. The first time I had the vehicle towed and the brake actuators were failing, since the charge went so low. I don't know if others are doing this, but if you push the power button twice in succession, it will start the radio and run off battery only (engine won't kick in). I used that on my BZ4X a lot - I don't know what that mode is called - maybe an accessories mode - suppose I could search the manual. Anyway, the car would literally just die sometimes after 10 minutes of listening to the radio.

I thought I was being a car hypochondriac (is that a thing?), so glad to see the battery test had indeed failed.

 

[brianz]

I should mention - i'm going to be driving coast-to-coast next month and sleeping inside the car, hence the preoccupation with something so trivial.

 

[Mikie]

Yes, the factory battery has a vent tube connection (the car comes with a standard lead acid battery, not an AGM). My vent tube connects to the left side top of the battery (it's a small rubber tube about a quarter of an inch or so in diameter). While AGM batteries are sealed, and under normal conditions don't vent, the standard lead acid battery DOES need to vent, so connecting the tube is important...

 

[EOD Guy]

My OEM battery was a turd from day one. I replaced it with an Optima and a solar charger mounted under the roof rack, no issues since.

 

[ERROR504]

My OEM battery was a turd from day one. I replaced it withView attachment 33375 an Optima and a solar charger mounted under the roof rack, no issues since.

Oh, this is cool. How is the solar panel mounted? Did you mount it to the rails underneath? I assume you’ve fed the wires from the side of the roof rack to hide it, but where do they enter…. Is it just a simple as feed into the rear hatch and just close the door on it?

 

[EOD Guy]

Oh, this is cool. How is the solar panel mounted? Did you mount it to the rails underneath? I assume you’ve fed the wires from the side of the roof rack to hide it, but where do they enter…. Is it just a simple as feed into the rear hatch and just close the door on it?

The details on my built page, the 4 bolts mounting the panel are visible in the pic and ran the wires through the rubber boot at the top of the hatch.