[SteelCloud]

I bought our van used with 35K miles and about 4 years old. The battery for 12 volts was the original one from Chrysler. I got the service manual and opened up the back to take a look. I found a shop here that sold the premium version for a reasonable price with free installation. This did take a bit of calling around.. a few shops wouldn't touch it.. a few were out of stock on the battery. But I did find one.. and when the guy went to install it, I had to warn him he need the torex drivers.. and had to take the battery management off first etc. The shop notebook had zero notes on this job. Most importantly is that he didn't know that opening the front door would have enabled the HV system which in turn would have to tried to charge the low voltage battery while he as working on it. Regardless, we got through it and no issues. The old battery had signs of swelling on the sides that I couldn't see while it was mounted so it was a good thing I decided to be proactive. Good for 4 more years

This is what I ended up putting into the 2017 - Batteries plus Bulbs warranties the battery for 4 years.. no pro-rating. It fails, they replace it. Period.
Duracell Ultra Platinum AGM 760CCA

 

[JamesB]

Thank you Sir for this post/Thread, the title doesn't do it justice for the trove of special care needed when attempting to change that battery. And you are pointing us to a very worthy successor.

 

[Badge56]

What 12v battery in Hybrid? H7

 

[SteelCloud]

What 12v battery in Hybrid? H7

Yes.. H7 is the size. 650 cranking amps was the original rating on the battery. The new replacement is sealed and doesn't need the vent tube attached unlike the old one.

 

[Karolski [PL]]

My original chrysler AGM from Pernambuco (no joke) didn't last a year when I found it swollen. Replaced that one with suggested by system Varta D54 (none AGM). Fits perfectly , it is lower than ori so better acces to nuts if needed without taking plastics out . And it is half price of mentioned above battery. I personaly don't trust fully sealed battery packs - there is no escape of gasses they may occure...

 

[SteelCloud]

An interesting blog on what an AGM battery is why it matters - didn't know myself till I ended up needing one

What is an AGM battery? | Greenlight by Interstate Batteries

Lots of new cars sport AGM batteries. But what are they? Here’s the big deal.

www.interstatebatteries.com

 

[SteelCloud]

Also, a very interesting observation. A lot of folks including myself seem to have a possessed change oil light.. darn thing won't stay reset and keeps whining about needing new oil even when it's been changed. Pulling the battery and adding the new one seems to have reset a few systems and one of which was that stupid light. It's been off all week. The engine/battery use log is now accurate again. I did lose all the date up to the day the battery was swapped. Makes me wonder what else was reset

 

[Karolski [PL]]

Also, a very interesting observation. A lot of folks including myself seem to have a possessed change oil light.. darn thing won't stay reset and keeps whining about needing new oil even when it's been changed. Pulling the battery and adding the new one seems to have reset a few systems and one of which was that stupid light. It's been off all week. The engine/battery use log is now accurate again. I did lose all the date up to the day the battery was swapped. Makes me wonder what else was reset

I didn't lose that data (hybrid driving history) when replacing battery, although I've lost it when RRT 62 and 63 (software update) were made.

 

[drocketman]

Also, a very interesting observation. A lot of folks including myself seem to have a possessed change oil light.. darn thing won't stay reset and keeps whining about needing new oil even when it's been changed. Pulling the battery and adding the new one seems to have reset a few systems and one of which was that stupid light. It's been off all week. The engine/battery use log is now accurate again. I did lose all the date up to the day the battery was swapped. Makes me wonder what else was reset

My 2018 PacHy sat on the lot for 4 months before I purchased it new. I proactively replaced my 12V with a new champion AGM H6 four months after purchase. This was the size called for and that came in the van. The Champion has a 4 year free replacement warranty and comes with the vent that is intended and recommended for the vehicle. The official proper replacement procedure is to pull the HV disconnect prior to replacing the 12v battery. This is to insure that the HV system is OFF and cannot energize the 12v battery charger. I elected to do a hot swap of the 12V battery instead with matched voltages on both the new and old battery to avoid any high interconnect currents while avoiding loss of 12v memory dependent stores. The vehicle never saw loss of 12v supply during my swap so no memory loss occurred. Although updates or recalls at the dealer for other issues did reset my oil life to 100% "unintentionally" during the first year of ownership. The Champion battery is still performing well today, in spite of the overcharging that the PacHy routinely does.

 

[SKPacHy]

And for a look at the bleeding edge of 12V automotive applications, here’s what Tesla is moving to. The Pacifica would need much better 12V management to use something like this, but this is a huge win. Much smaller and over 20 pounds lighter.

 

[SteelCloud]

Yeah.. I saw this in my news feed. After having to go and jump start my father-in-laws Tesla because the 12 volt battery died, I had to question who in the heck decided putting the jump points behind a non-friendly semi-removable grill was a good idea :/ It was that experience and reading what happens to the PacHybrid when it's 12 volt system dies that led to my pre-ememptively replacing mine. I wish there was something like this for a retro fit.

 

[SKPacHy]

Yeah.. I saw this in my news feed. After having to go and jump start my father-in-laws Tesla because the 12 volt battery died, I had to question who in the heck decided putting the jump points behind a non-friendly semi-removable grill was a good idea :/ It was that experience and reading what happens to the PacHybrid when it's 12 volt system dies that led to my pre-ememptively replacing mine. I wish there was something like this for a retro fit.

It’s crazy how many 12V issues Tesla’s have had as well. Lead acid is just not a good technology for batteries that need to be managed. They are just too susceptible to unexpected failure in the context of an EV or PHEV. Lithium cells are much more appropriate for such a “managed” application, as long as cold weather operation is accounted for. It’s not unusual to hit -40C/F where I live, so they still need to work in that scenario. Nights that hit -30C can last for weeks. Lead acid will work even in those temperatures. It’ll be interesting to see if there are any cold weather problems with this setup. At -40C/F it’s not unreasonable to expect that the vehicle needs to be plugged in, EV or ICE. (All new ICE vehicles come with a block heater installed by default where I live) So I imagine those problems can be managed.