b/c of the placment of where the battery is in the back of your car some batteries physically won't fit. nothing really special about putting it in. i believe your owners manuel has how to do it (don't quote me though).

how old is your car, dealerships have a pro-rated warrenty on their batteries, i believe its free for 3 yrs/ 36k miles, than every year or 12k miles its pro-rated (ie they pay x% you pay y%) and the ratios change based on age or mileage.

 

Toyota uses a special non gassing deep cycle battery for the 12 volt in the trunk. You don't want a batter that gasses hydrogen and oxygen in your trunk. A spark could cause a significant boom. The Optima D34M Blue Top should be a good replacement choice. However, you should measure your space and compare it to the battery specs to confirm. In the 2012 it should fit, but will be longer than the original. It will depend on your mounting brackets.

The trick of replacing it is to use two wires to solidly connect the terminals of the battery leads to the new battery before you disconnect the old. Positive to positive and negative to negative of course. After you have a solid connection disconnect the old battery and put the new one in place. Then make the permanent connections. The idea is to not leave the car without a 12 volt supply during the changeover.

 

i think the optima battery is a little too big. the hybrids have small batteries since they only run the accesories in a hybrid. (i believe Mg1 starts the car and uses the hv battery not the auxilary one), so b/c its small and where it is in the trunk i'm not sure what battery would fit besides oem. i'd measure like ron AKA suggested. best way to see what will fit. also ron is right about the type used and you really don't want an aftermarket battery venting into a inclosed space. i know the prius batt. have a vent hose that you hook up that routes outside the trunk, i think the camry;s have the same thing.

 

i know the prius batt. have a vent hose that you hook up that routes outside the trunk, i think the camry;s have the same thing.

There is no vent on the 2012 TCH battery. They use a sealed AGM or Gel battery that does not gas. The Optima is an AGM. The yellow top is designed for starting and is intended for conventional auto starting service. The blue is for marine, and depending on the specific model designed for deep cycling. The 12V in the TCH is not used for starting.

 

Optima has made a battery specially designed for the Prius, including the vent system: http://shop.optimabatteries.com/pro...Top+Prius+Auxiliary+Battery/part_number=DS46B24R/1737.0.1.1.73619.0.0.0.0?pp=8&
While I don't know for certain, I would think that the hybrid Camry probably uses the same battery as the Prius so this might work.

 

Optima has made a battery specially designed for the Prius, including the vent system:

http://shop.optimabatteries.com/products/productdetail/Optima+Batteries+DS46B24R+YellowTop+Prius+Auxiliary+Battery/part_number=DS46B24R/1737.0.1.1.73619.0.0.0.0?pp=8&
While I don't know for certain, I would think that the hybrid Camry probably uses the same battery as the Prius so this might work.

The information on the top of my 2012 TCH battery would indicate it is a 51 AmpHour battery, which is significantly more capacity than the Prius battery at the link -- 38 amp hour. The D34M has 55 amp hours.

You can find more battery discussion at this thread I started on the subject.

TCH 12V Battery Discussion

It is possible the newer models have larger batteries. There are reports of them going flat after not being driven for a few weeks, so perhaps Toyota increased capacity.

 

good find, as long as the cca and reserve capacity is the same there shouldn't be an issue i would think

 

On Toyota website, in Parts and Service section, then Batteries it stated...

If your vehicle is hard to start and/or has dim headlights when the engine is turned off, your battery is getting weak and should be replaced with a new TrueStart™ or True2™ battery. Manufactured to Toyota’s exacting standards for quality and performance, these batteries offer the right combination of cold cranking amps (CCA) and reserve capacity (RC) for reliable performance regardless of climate.
Believe it or not, a higher CCA rating isn’t necessarily a good thing, because it negatively affects RC, or the ability of your battery to hold a charge. TrueStart™ and True2™ batteries have been approved by Toyota engineers for years of trouble-free service–and no one knows your Toyota better than they do.

 

Y'all still don't even know if his car is 2012 or not, yet everyone made assumptions it is.

Hey, camryfan, read this before you "nothing special" it:

http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/f49/12v-battery-replacement-27927/

I thought, it was proven beyond reasonable doubt, that Yellow Top Optima is the right choice for TCH? Both on size and storage capacities? Where did blue one came from? We got already numerous posts here last year, with one optimajim, having all this figured and resolved? Now we go for a new theory?
Even if it's 2012, does it have thrmistor or not? And if yes, does he know what to do with it? Haven't noticed any mentioning of that either.

Ron, as knowledgeable as you appear to be on the subjects, you could have done better job actually. Connect wires to new battery BEFORE replacing old one? You serious? You ever tried that yourself? All he needs is a reasonably small back up 12V battery, 20 or so bucks worth, hooked up parallel to battery cables, and that's POC to do. Why no one told him to have car turned ON, so that everything is powered off traction battery? Just in case?
You realize, it's The Wife's car? You know hell she'll put him through, if he ends up with $520 bill from dealer like the other guy?

 

Connect wires to new battery BEFORE replacing old one? You serious? You ever tried that yourself? All he needs is a reasonably small back up 12V battery, 20 or so bucks worth, hooked up parallel to battery cables, and that's POC to do.

If you use the D34M Blue top battery, it is a piece of cake to connect the new battery before you disconnect the old. Just use the extra set of terminals, for your temporary, make before break wires. You are correct. It would be much more difficult if you use the D34 Yellow top which only has single terminals. Probably would need more hands than an octopus...

 

The only difference between the D34M Blue Top and the D34 Yellow Top is that the Blue Top has both the post type and wing nut type connectors. The later connector is for boat and RV accessories. Both are dual purpose batteries.

The M is for marine. That lets them jack the price up.

 

Doesn't the "marine" type batteries supposedly give you many many more charge/discharge cycles than the car type batteries ? therefore the added cost/price ?

 

Quick question, does anyone know this ?
how many Watts you can run off of the '12 TCH's 12V Aux battery while the car is Powered On using an Inverter ?

Thanks.

 

"Marine" batteries are typically dual purpose. They provide reasonable cranking amps but can still stand up to many deep discharge cycles. More than automotive starting batteries for sure, but less than true deep cycle batteries. Both the Blue and Yellow tops are dual purpose batteries.

True deep cycle batteries have more capacity at the expense of cranking amps. They achieve this by using fewer but heavier lead plates. Note that the Blue and Yellow top batteries weigh the same at each size group. Dedicated deep cycle batteries are heavier and often slightly larger than their dual purpose equivalents.

 

D34 Yellow vs D34M Blue? Yes, the specs look very similar. Optima claims the Yellow provides 2X the recharge life compared to a standard battery, while the Blue provides 3X. Perhaps just marketing hype...

 

On Optima website D34 and D34M costs the same! $234.99

 

That might be true. But we'll never know.

It's hard to imagine how they could increase cycling capacity without using heavier lead plates. They could do this by using less porous lead material, but you would then expect a decrease in cranking amps.

 

So no one knows answer to my question ?

how many Watts I can run off of the the new Camry's 12V Aux battery while the car is Powered On? doesn't have to be exact, an estimate is fine.

I want to buy a Power Invertor to use as Emergency Home Backup Power. Thinking of buying a 1750 Power Invertor.

Is 1750 Watt too high a number ? And is it possible to add more Wattage capacity ?

Thx.

 

how many Watts I can run off of the the new Camry's 12V Aux battery while the car is Powered On? doesn't have to be exact, an estimate is fine.

What I recall reading somewhere is that you are supposed to limit charging current to the 12V battery. From memory, I believe Toyota recommends a max of 5 amps. 5 amps at 12 volts is 60 watts (P=IV). The question would be whether or not the charger from the HV battery respects that charging limit.

That said, I think at one point Toyota may have used a gel type battery instead of an AGM. Gel types are quite sensitive to overcharging. It cause bubbles in the gel which in turn shortens their life. They may now be using an AGM which should take more than 5 amps.

 

There is really no charge or discharge limit for AGMs. With their low internal impedance, they don't heat up much.

A 1750 Watt inverter should pull less than 20 amps including heat loss from the inverter. Trolling motors draw more than that from deep cycle batteries under sustained use conditions.

I don't understand the TCH charging system yet, but it should be able to keep up with a 20 amp draw.

 

Thinking about it more, the battery will limit charging rate as it charges up and voltage increases. Still the charging system has to feed the headlights, sound system, and all the rest of 12 Volt accessories. That will be a lot more than the 5 amp limit for charging. So it is quite possible that the charging system is good for 20-30 amps or more.

 

Power equals current times voltage. P=IxE by that formula you need 145 amps plus the losses in the converter. Will flatten the battery pretty quickly in my opinion.

 

Inverters are typically rated at the AC side.

So 1750W at 115V is only 15.2 amps.

They draw more than that because of thermal losses that will depend on the efficiency of the particular inverter.

Many RVs use 1750W inverters with regular deep cycle batteries.

 

Most new cars have what used to be the cigarette lighter now labeled 12/120 volt power plug. It's fused at 15 or 20 amps on most cars. That would indicate the standard design criteria for customer usable loads from the battery and charging system is around 20 amps. If you add that to the other options like the radio/nav (fused at 15 also) that you most likely wouldn't be using while using an external inverter, I still wouldn't put larger that a 300 watt 120v inverter on the battery.

 

To produce 15 amps at 110 volts you need 138 amps at 12 volts, assuming zero losses in the inverter.

 

You are correct.

I've been home nursing a broken finger and had a brain fart.

The rule of thumb is that it takes approx. 10 amps at 12V DC to produce approx. 1 amp at 110V AC. Good pure sin wave inverters are about 90% efficient.

A 1750W load should drain the battery in under 1/2 hr. So it still comes down to the output of MG1.

 

Hello, I noticed your conversation involving our batteries and wanted to offer some assistance. First and foremost, all lead-acid batteries can vent gas that is both toxic and flammable, regardless of whether or not they are "sealed" or "maintenance-free." The Camry hybrid battery is located in the trunk and needs to be properly-vented to the outside air, as do any batteries that are located in any enclosed space in a vehicle. The D34M BlueTop and D34 YellowTop mentioned in this thread, do not have provisions for external venting (both batteries are identical internally).

The DS46B24R YellowTop for the Prius does have a vent port, where an external vent hose can be attached, although I do not believe that battery meets or exceeds the OEM specs for the Camry. While a venting scenario is rare and may be unlikely to happen, we cannot recommend placing any battery is an enclosed location, unless it can be safely vented to the outside air.

In addition to our DS46B24R, our Group 27, 31, 34C, 51 and 78 batteries all have provisions for external venting, but we would consider all of those batteries to be custom fitments in a Camry Hybrid and special modifications may be needed to accommodate them. If anyone has any questions about our batteries, I'll do my best to answer them.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.twitter.com/optimabatteries

 

First and foremost, all lead-acid batteries can vent gas that is both toxic and flammable, regardless of whether or not they are "sealed" or "maintenance-free." The Camry hybrid battery is located in the trunk and needs to be properly-vented to the outside air, as do any batteries that are located in any enclosed space in a vehicle.

If anyone has any questions about our batteries, I'll do my best to answer them.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.twitter.com/optimabatteries

The OEM supplied battery in the 2012 Camry Hybrid is not vented.

What is the difference between the D34M Blue Top and the D34 Yellow Top? Is it only the dual terminals on the Blue Top?

 

Ron, I apologize for my delay in responding. I've been chasing around Nitro-burning Camrys for the past few weeks and I'm trying to catch up with work, while I'm waiting to check my bag at the airport. Even though the OEM battery may not be vented, we cannot recommend installing any lead-acid battery in a trunk without proper venting provisions. The D34M BlueTop does have additional threaded top posts for marine applications, but the D34 YellowTop comes with a three-year, free replacement warranty, versus two years for the BlueTop. Internally, the batteries are identical.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

 

Ron, I apologize for my delay in responding. I've been chasing around Nitro-burning Camrys for the past few weeks and I'm trying to catch up with work, while I'm waiting to check my bag at the airport. Even though the OEM battery may not be vented, we cannot recommend installing any lead-acid battery in a trunk without proper venting provisions. The D34M BlueTop does have additional threaded top posts for marine applications, but the D34 YellowTop comes with a three-year, free replacement warranty, versus two years for the BlueTop. Internally, the batteries are identical.

Thanks for the additional information. The dilemma this leave a Camry owner in, is what to do with the vent on the battery. I have had a number of motorcycles with vented batteries and you just connect the new battery up to the old vent. In the case of the Camry, or at least the one I have, there is no vent to connect to.

 

I'm confused. So the Optima batteries will not work in the Camry? Are we stuck with OEM batteries only?

 

Issue is that they will present an increased H2 explosion risk due to a lack of venting provision in stock battery location. Enclosing the battery in a vented container or otherwise venting the area would mitigate that risk. Same risk will exist with any other battery that vents the H2 gas. Panasonic OEM battery is purpose-built to eliminate the need for external venting of H2 gases.

Not that the risk is all that high - but a combination of overcharge and lack of venting could be a real blast.:lol:

 

shotdown, our batteries may work in a Camry, but because of the remote possibility that toxic and flammable gas could vent into an enclosed area during an overcharging situation, we cannot recommend installing any battery in such an area without proper venting provisions to the outside air. The Panasonic OEM battery may also minimize this risk, but all lead-acid batteries, even “sealed” batteries, can vent gas in extreme situations.

Toyota may be using AGM technology, but they may be using recycled lead, versus our pure lead, connect their cells with welded tabs, versus our cast straps, etc...

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.twitter.com/optimabatteries

 

I have to comment, even if OT, but my first car, going back to 1966, was a 1960 VW Beetle. The battery was under the rear seat, I it was 6 VDC, and I used a DC generator to charge the battery. Don't remember any special venting used on the car.