One concern people have with battery terminals closer to the body panel is that it could become a safety issue if the panel is hit by something and it comes in contact with the positive terminal resulting in the car metal melting.

 

Captain Jim,

I quite appreciate your write up and your brave step in realising this process, you have saved lot of Hybrid owners from a nightmare. Mine is having the same problem and I going to try your steps, however I would need your email or any other way to reach you incase if I need any further assistance from you.

 

Just a general caution. AGM batteries are known to leak acid and such:

http://priuschat.com/threads/odd-and...#axzz3FeiMwehA

It doesn't make sense to use an AGM battery with no vent hole provision and wrong side terminals anymore. There are at least a few choices now with vent hole provision and correct terminal orientation that aren't as expensive as the OEM Panasonic:

1. Comaptible Exide Edge AGM with correct terminals and AH capacity.
2. Toyota Prius Battery (now with improved 45AH capacity and 84 month pro-rated warranty)
3. Other Prius batteries with 45 AH capacity (Exide Edge, O'Reilly SuperStart Platinum, etc.)
4. A compatible Optima battery with the vent tube provision? I don't recommend the Optima Prius battery here since it's 38 AH or so IIRC.

 

srivenkat

How about the OPTIMA REDTOP battery with SPIRAL SIZE of RT S-42? Do you think it will fit in for the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid? Am about to purchasing.

 

Scott, I wish I could say I'd never heard an account like your's before, but that isn't the case. Lots of folks either through ignorance or malicious intent will attempt to claim that a battery is manufactured by JCI, when it is not. Some people in the industry, even at the retail level, also take shots at the Optima brand, because it is the best-selling aftermarket AGM battery around. Even people representing AGM brands that are manufactured by a third party in China, that sell for a higher price than our products may attempt to claim our quality has suffered in some way.

I work in the industry every day and our company tests every battery on the market. Even with that base of knowledge, my focus remains with our own products and making sure our quality remains as good as it can possibly be. Those that attempt to gain market share by badmouthing competitors are welcome to pursue that strategy.

I can tell you that if any manufacturer had a defect rate of even 10%, they'd probably be out of business. Even at a rate that would put them out of business, there's still a 90% chance a single retail location selling that battery would still sell a “good” one and a 99% chance one of two batteries they sold would be good. By the time you get to 10 sales in a row (and decimal places) with claimed warranty returns, the odds are pretty steep that someone pushing a $300 battery as an alternative may not have a consumer's best interests in mind.

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

 

I would try the below which has a vent connection hole (make sure to request the vent elbow when you place the order) and has the right terminal orientation:

http://sepbatteries.com/exide-edge-fp-agm25-battery

Other options:

http://sepbatteries.com/exide-edge-fp-agm34-battery

or

http://sepbatteries.com/exide-edge-fp-agm51-battery

Good Luck!

 

The Exide Edge Group 25 is of the same size as Group 35 but the terminals are correctly oriented for the Camry Hybrid on the Group 25 which keeps the positive terminal away from the body panel which is safer in the event of an accident.

http://sepbatteries.com/exide-edge-fp-agm25-battery

 

srivenkat

That means the Optima Red Top battery as I described earlier won't fit in due to the size? The problem I have is limited availability of choices due to my location (Nigeria). I managed to get access to the Optima Red Top.

 

OptimaJim can correct us here, but I don't think Red Top is an AGM battery. I would look for a 12V AGM battery that will fit the current battery tray (you should be able to take measurements for the current battery) and then among available AGM batteries, select one that has correct orientation of the battery terminals and then further a vent hole. Sorry, I can't be of more help.

If no AGMs are available, then I guess you could use the Red Top as an interim arrangement but there are safety risks...

 

Does anyone know if this would also work for a 2008 Camry Hybrid? I've been scouring different boards and these 2007 recommendations are the closest I've come. Wanted to double-check that this battery would work for the 2008 before ordering it. Thanks!