Hi Ron...

I was really worried about this too... When I first connected the booster pack to get the car started, the car turned itself ON!!! No joke.. It was in the same mode as if you sat in the car, withut touching the brake and pushed the power button twice. Headlights came on, dash lit up, nav started loading the DVD. When I hit the brake pedal and pushed the power button, it chimed and all the airbag lights, SES, ABS and traction control lights came on for a moment as they normally do. The heat/ac was in the off. Once I touched Automatic on the panel, the ICE started.
So far so good.. I had my wife drive the car to our new house (we are moving) and put it in the garage. she reported nothing unusual even when I asked.
No Hybrid warning lights (yet), although I have not driven it yet since installing the battery last night as my wife's car had me blocked in. I will test drive tonight and report back.

Good to know about the vent!

 

Randy, although I cannot recommend mounting that battery in an enclosed space, because it doesn't have provisions for external venting, I'm glad you are pleased with it. I'm very glad to hear you didn't attempt to make a vent port on the battery and that is a very cool motorcycle!

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

 

Thanks Jim...

Okay folks an operational update -

I drove the TCH a good 30 miles last night through town and found that all features I had grown to know my TCH were still there and fully functional. No warning lights, no wierdness.. The car would go into and out of EV mode as it normally would for a cold night (temps in the mid 20's F)..
So, I was evidently worried about nothing in regard to having the battery go dead flat and to be disconnected while the new battery was being fitted.

I hope my posts on this thread find themselves of use to someone someday as the posts of others here have also been helpful and encouraging to me. It is time for my TCH to go to its new owner tomorrow as it is being traded in.

 

Thanks for the update. Another Internet Myth put to rest!

 

Apparently so Ron...

Optima Jim - they did fatten up the trade in value by a couple hundred dollars when I told them that I had just replaced the 12v battery with an Optima. So, it all worked out for me.. I guess.. They only gave me $13,750 for my 54k mile excellent condition trade. They cited that used hybrids were not selling well and showed me two others that they have had in similar conditon and they have had them for a couple months now. When I cited KBB values, they acknowleged the delta in values, but said that KBB needed to somehow update their agorithyms to more appropriately reflect used hybrid values by analyzing what the ultimately sell for. My TCH is now on their website for $15,999... Everybody's got families to feed, but making more than 2g on my trade in seems maybe a tad steep..

 

Captain Jim and Optima Jim:

Read all the posts. Did some checking. The new 2012 Camry 12v battery replacement does have a hole for connecting the venting tube. So, Toyota is still using the venting mechanism.

The only apparent issue remaining on whether to use the D35 is the issue of the venting, am I correct? Captain Jim feels it is not needed, Optima Jim is more cautious - at least from a legal point of view.

So, my question is this: the Optima D35 does have venting ports (I think they are the two "ports" on top, at opposite ends/corners). Why can't one "construct" some vent lines, glue them from those two vents, and connect them to the one venting tube already existing in the car? Wouldn't that solve any theoretical venting problem? Any issues with this set up? Thank you very much!

 

John, we're talking about an unlikely (although still possible) scenario. Our corporate attorneys have already given me their opinion on mounting unvented batteries in enclosed areas and homemade venting solutions. They don't want anyone coming back to us because we suggested either was acceptable and/or safe. Racers (at least the smart ones) use sealed battery boxes with vent tubes. Whether you want to go that route (or even feel it is worth bothering) is your call.

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

 

Jim,

If the world listened to lawyers, all kitchen knives would be stored in a safe and be stamped "not to be used as a cutting tool, for display use only".

Having said that, I would think that an owner who replaced the original vent tubing with a new, longer piece of vent tubing and routed it from the battery vent to the outside of the car, would be OK to ventilate that space in the real world. For that matter, with the forced air ventilation of the main cabin going into the trunk (thus venting the trunk as well), any build of gas or corrosive effects form gas would be minimal without the vent tube.

 

After 6 years and 117k my original battery failed to start the car this morning. When I saw the the cluster lit up I thought I was in a scene from the matrix after an emp blast. It took a few tries to get the car to respond and shut off, but eventually it did. It responded normally the rest of the day but not wanting to take any chances I replaced it with an optima yellowtop. After powering on the car I got a "check hybrid system" message on my display, but about 4 power cycles and less than five miles later the messages cleared itself out. This optima was not cheap, but it was still less than the Toyota replacement would have been. Thank you to all that posted info on this thread. It made my decision a lot easier today.

 

Could you or Captain Jim describe in detail your method(s) of attaching tube lines to the round vents on the Optima D35? I have created a possible configuration, but must find a glue that bonds to both pvc and to the polyprophylene top of the batter - Loctite may have one.

The configuration I have come up with are two pvc sprinler elbows, wherein one end in each has an adapter for a 1/4" tube screwed into it. However, I have not yet found a "tube adapter" that goes from 1/4" to 1/8" which I think is what the Camry's standard tubing is.