Dead battery(s) iForceMAX

[Will721]

Just an idea for those that park outdoors, solar chargers are quite cheap. I use them on all equipment and vehicles that don't get driven. $30 from the ol harbor of freights for a cheap panel. Probably have 10 of them at the house. Cheap insurance, just hook up to the battery and toss on the windshield or mount to a roof rack.

Alternatively, there is also a company that makes a "solar hood" for our trucks which is a bit more expensive but has that form factor and permanent. I plan on running one on my Tacoma in the future.

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[iono11200]

My 2025 TRD Sport Premium has 172 miles on it and has also failed to start after sitting in my non-heated but enclosed garage for a few days. In fact even in the summer it seemed "sluggish" when starting. Granted I have not driven it much but its currently sitting in my garage with a trickle charger attached. The first time I attached the charger it took nearly 24 hours till it reached a full charge.

 

[TacoFreak]

My last post on this. I understand parasitic draw and how much power all vehicles use today when they are turned off. But that isn't the primary problem with the hybrids. The problem is that my truck never charges its 12 volt beyond 12.1 volts no matter how often or how far I drive it. I can charge it to 12.9 volts with a charger, but the truck can not maintain that, even when I drive it every day. All of my other vehicles have kept their batteries at 12.6 volts or above and they could go for a very long time before the battery was dead.

Everyone but Toyota says that is not an adequately charged battery. When the battery is basically depleted all of the time it does not take much to kill it, even small current draws that would normally be fine.

I have my solution and good luck to everyone else, because Toyota does not care.

 

[gpburdell]

And this is a bullshit attitude toward science and engineering. It’s not a plug in electric vehicle. My wife’s Infiniti needs a trickle charger because parasitic draw is reality: you don’t drive it for a couple weeks, need to do 1 of 2 things: disconnect the fucking battery or put a maintainer on it. Not rocket science.

Okay Mr Science and Engineering….

How many milliamps parasitic draw is needed to drain a fully charged LN3 battery to below 20% SOC in two weeks?

What is considered a normal amount of parasitic draw, and what is considered excessive?

I know these answers… if you do then post the answers.

Why does it only affect some modern vehicles and not others? Apart from some defective batteries, non-Hybrid Tacomas don’t seem to have this issue? Why is this? Why are non hybrid Tacomas apparently immune?

My wife’s 2024 doesn’t suffer from this parasitic draw yet has all the same remote app over LTE features. Please explain why this isn’t an issue for her Ford?

For the past 30 years I’ve owned vehicles with parasitic draw. Security systems, keyless entry, cellular app based remote start, dash cams, whatever.. All handled 2+ weeks just fine without needing trickle chargers

If you’re happy grabbing your ankles to take a bullsht excuse from a dealer that’s your business. We won’t judge. My experience and knowledge says they’re just giving you excuses.

 

[gpburdell]

I understand parasitic draw and how much power all vehicles use today when they are turned off. But that isn't the primary problem with the hybrids. The problem is that my truck never charges its 12 volt beyond 12.1 volts no matter how often or how far I drive it.

Exactly. When the 12V SLA battery isn’t kept above ~50% SOC, even a normal/expected amount of parasitic draw will create problems.

I’m just surprised that some people are happy to accept that as “normal” from Toyota.

 

[jackvz]

None of us are happy about this but what can we do?

 

[gpburdell]

None of us are happy about this but what can we do?

In many cases not a heck of a lot other than publicize the problems widely. Post here and TacomaWorld and wherever else including Toyota socials.

Maybe if more potential buyers (like me) choose not to buy…. I for one was very interested in buying a hybrid OR to replace my 2017, but this issue has me sitting out. Word gets around and enuf people avoid the hybrids, maybe Toyota corporate takes notice.

If I already owned one with this problem, and got this BS from Toyota, I’d get an assessment from a properly certified independent mechanic and start Lemon Law proceedings.

 

[Taco Ji]

My truck is my 3rd vehicle so it’s not my daily and I live in the NE. I avoid driving it around this time of the year due to the salt so it’s currently parked in my garage with a ctek trickle charger hooked up to it. Mine is a hybrid so I connected the power to the passenger fuse box that has the red plastic cover over the terminal. According to the manual this is where you connect the jumper cables to start your truck so I think it’s where you should connect the trickle charger as well. So far so good.

 

[CanadainTRDpro]

After owning my 2024 Tacoma TRD PRO for 1.5yrs with multiple times dead battery Toyota finally replaced the battery with a new one. The cranking volts were too low

 

[jackvz]

Curious if you are seeing a voltage above 14 when you are driving? I used BlueDriver ODB2 to see what the voltage is and it was reading 14.3. Surely that is enough to charge the battery?

 

[Taco Ji]

Curious if you are seeing a voltage above 14 when you are driving? I used BlueDriver ODB2 to see what the voltage is and it was reading 14.3. Surely that is enough to charge the battery?

Can’t you also see your voltage in the dash information section too? Mine always stays at 9volt

 

[Jt2024]

I’d get a remote battery disconnect before fcking w/the NiMH. Why would I void my warranty dinking & dunking with a high voltage closed system. 288V boss, good luck making that step down converter to charge your 12v battery. There’s already one on the truck, takes up a 1/3rd of the engine compartment SMH. You drain the NiMH it’s a tow to the dealership, whereas if you drain the 12V you just need to jump it or trickle charge overnight.

Drive the truck or disconnect the battery. Also a security layer against CAN-BUS attacks. It’s what I do on the old ram, that battery is living its best life.

Every modern vehicle deals with parasitic draw in some form or another. Computers on wheels

UPDATE TO MY LAST POST:

Dealer replaced the 12V Battery and no issues since. I do not drive much and it sits for weeks and starts, no problem.

 

[jackvz]

Can’t you also see your voltage in the dash information section too? Mine always stays at 9volt

Sure but I wanted to see if the number pulled from the ODB2 port would be different

 

[Taco Ji]

UPDATE TO MY LAST POST:

Dealer replaced the 12V Battery and no issues since. I do not drive much and it sits for weeks and starts, no problem.

You should attach a trickle charger otherwise that new battery will go soon too.

 

[gpburdell]

UPDATE TO MY LAST POST:

Dealer replaced the 12V Battery and no issues since. I do not drive much and it sits for weeks and starts, no problem.

good to hear, but I’d suggest checking resting voltage a couple hours after driving. Make sure it’s keeping the 12V properly charged - otherwise you’ll prematurely kill the new battery.

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