That^^^^^^

Before you apply cables back on, use those:

https://www.google.com/#q=battery+te...64427954157556

And soak them, as in - soak them - in dielectric grease

https://www.google.com/#q=dielectric...54074241372683

Even regular butter will do, in case you can not find it.

What I do next is, after poles are cleaned, is to apply thick dielectric grease coat to poles; loosen cable clamps enough for terminal to slide all the way down onto the felt pad, with some downward pressure; only THEN snug the bolt. Reason being, battery poles are normally slightly conical. Due to vibration, terminals slowly work themselves up on poles, resulting in minor gap inside, causing bridge gap and corrosion.

Then, I spray terminals over with battery sealant:

https://www.google.com/search?biw=19...cUI2kCx8&pbx=1

If not available, even several coats of hair spray will do.

But keep in mind - you need to make sure that your traction battery is properly charging 12V battery. If it is not the case, you will be tossing money at this issue for years to come. That can only be determined by an automotive electrician. Or a smart guy with good voltmeter.

 

Also, be prepared to this situation: as you remove battery cables for cleaning, after everything is reassembled, you will see warning lights on dashboard. This is normal. You will need to shut down and turn system back on 3 times in a row, and then warning should go away.
All the best.

 

thanks for explaining all of this in so much detail, however i am the least of people confident in opening up things that i know hardly know about and i do not have any of the tools that is required there to do this, so i think i will give this a miss because i am sure i will make matters worse!

on another note, i have been thinking long and hard of how/why after so many good months of no problems with the camry hybrid i get the battery issue, i had have put all the lights off in the interior of the car also unplugged my two cameras and gps from the cigarette lighter, however i did keep the scangauge connected.

I had a sneaking suspicion that it could be to do with the scangauge and as an experiment, i disconnected my scangauge last night before bed, i went to the car this morning and opened the drivers door and it made all those sounds like it would (if the car was fully charged) i then started the car and presto, the car started immediately.

however i came back in and did a google search "Scangauge and 12v battery" and the first this i came across was this link.

http://priuschat.com/threads/i-think...battery.81124/

i remember doing the same thing, i opened the door to through in my sunglasses and then closed the drivers door and then went inside, the next morning the lights on the car would come on faint but the car wouldnt start, so i am suspecting that scangauge was left on as per the link above.

I do not want to get ahead of myself, but it could be something to do with the scanguage i have. I will continue to measure the volts of the car throughout today, however not with scanguage but with a meter and the battery.

I will report back.

 

ok I may be on to something here!

this is what i think has happened!

in early November, i took my car in for the scheduled service. At the service i am sure the technicans there must have used the OBD port (where my scangauge is plugged into) to diagnose any problems) they must have unplugged my scangauge and then after they were finished, plugged the scangauge back in.

Now by doing this, the SG11 had defaulted and the fuel type on the SG11 has resetted to GAS.

Then the car sat in the garage for 3 weeks.

I just a a look at the SG11 manual and this is what is states

"Set the Sleep Event
By default, the ScanGauge will shut down when it sees 0 RPM. This may not be the desired setting if your vehicle is a Hybrid, which will report 0 RPM when the vehicle
is stopped. When you select HYBRID in the fuel type
(TYPE) parameter in the Basic Setup procedure (see page 11), ScanGauge will automatically set the Sleep Event parameter to NO COM.
When using ScanGauge with the Sleep Event parameter set to NO COM, there is a small risk that the vehicle’s ECU and ScanGauge will stay on and drain the battery. You must be sure the ScanGauge goes to sleep properly when the engine is turned off. "

So I have a feeling the above has taken place and has been the reason for the drain on the battery.

I even went and plugged back the SG11 to see what it defaults at, and sure enough, it defaulted as GAS instead of HYBRID.

Anyway i will monitor the voltage and perhaps drive it around for a few days without the SG2 connected and see what happens.

 

ok, so it put an end to that theory, this morning i tried to start the car but wouldn't start, called your local breakdown service and they jumped started the car for me, i straight away took it to my local toyota dealer where they said they had a battery in stock, after 1 1/2hrs a new battery was put in my car. First thing i did was to check out the battery and they put in a NS70 Toyota Battery, after some internet searching i found this link,

http://thebatterybase.com.au/Century-NS70-Battery.html CCA610.

I then had a closer examation and i see that the tube is not connected to the battery so i suppose this is not that important?

Anyway this battery has a 2 year warranty on it,

the cost $35 labour
$164 battery.


http://postimg.org/image/kn9j9pz51/

 

on another note: i was looking at the paperwork of this vehicle and it states "production date" 1 March 2010 and delivery date was "29 September 2010". So it was sitting at the dealers lot for over 6 months, don't think this would have benefited the 12v battery as well.

 

1. Rid of Scangauge. You have Android phone? Install Torque app and buy cheap Bluetooth adapter from ebay. Much superior to SG and will NOT drain any battery.
2. Tube is to went hydrogene gas out of deep cycle OEM battery. If they replaced is with one that does not have provisions for ventilation, they had nowhere to connect battery vent to. If they replaced with OEM Panasonic one, they should have connected the vent tube and temp sensor.
3. Man, why don't you simply buy a Battery Tender and have it connected? ebay works even for Au. 20 bucks or so.

 

http://torque-bhp.com/
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw...ender&_sacat=0

 

never thought of using the ob2 bluetooth adaptor, thanks for this, yes SG is now old technology! I am not going to worry about the battery anymore, I have a new one in there now, should last another three years at which time i will probably trade in my car for the next camry hybrid.

 

Don't have the manuals so can not speak with authority, but in trying to figure out 12v/drive battery/alternator relationship, I measured 12v battery voltage with car off, 13.1V, with car on but gas engine not turning 12.7, with engine/alternator operating, 14.4v.

When my daughter comes home she likes to see if she can drive the last few blocks on battery only (gas engine off), and when she succeeds, 12v battery voltage is often as low as 12.2v. So pardon my skepticism about the drive battery constantly charging the 12v at least on our '09 TCH.

I have a BatteryMinder on all my other cars and attach the Camry (kept outside the garage) as often as possible and so far no problems. I have personally resurrected dead-takes-no-charge batteries with the BatteryMinder so I am a believer.

I will rest easier if I can be directed to some documentation that states 12v is charged by drive battery and not the alternator.

Jeff