What type of battery is out OEM panasonic?

[Mgltacoma]

I recently bought Noco genius5 battery trickle charger/maintainer. It has options to select type of battery to charges like AGM, Lithium etc. Do we know if our battery is AGM?
Do we also know if our oem battery has distilled water?
My battery model is 80D26L-MF Panasonic that shipped with the vehicle. It’s on its 5th year and doing fine so far. My car sits a lot in my garage due to international shipping, so I was trying to extend my battery life by doing the repair mode and use trickle charger. Most batteries are dead after 5 years, I heard some people got out 10 years or so from their oem Panasonic.
Thanks in advance really appreciate it.

 

[SlickTRD]

its a regular lead acid battery. so use the default settings (not agm).

 

[Mgltacoma]

Thanks mate. Do you know if these batteries need distilled water replenished? Or is it completely sealed battery? I am thinking about running the repair mode once every 6 months to make the battery last longer.

 

[HanginInUtah]

Thanks mate. Do you know if these batteries need distilled water replenished? Or is it completely sealed battery? I am thinking about running the repair mode once every 6 months to make the battery last longer.

Stock batteries (and really, almost all batteries unless it's for small equipment like ATV's or lawn tractors, etc.) do not need to have anything replenished. They are 'maintenance free' and are sealed. Trickle charging is great, but you don't need to do anything else other than make sure the connections are clean and tight.

 

[fkheath]

Thanks mate. Do you know if these batteries need distilled water replenished? Or is it completely sealed battery? I am thinking about running the repair mode once every 6 months to make the battery last longer.

Modern batteries do not need to have distilled water added.

Repair mode? On your battery charger? If it is what I think it is, don't used it on a good battery.

Also, be wary of "trickle chargers" for they can over charge a battery which will damage it. The smart battery maintainers, like what are sold in motorcycle shops, are OK for they will suspend all charging when the battery is fully charged.

How long does your 4Runner sit? If only a couple of weeks, or perhaps a month, you don't need to keep a battery maintainer on it.

 

[5thToy]

The stock Panasonic battery is not sealed. There are screw on gas relief caps for the cells. I usually loosen them during charging for good measure.

 

[Mgltacoma]

Modern batteries do not need to have distilled water added.
How long does your 4Runner sit? If only a couple of weeks, or perhaps a month, you don't need to keep a battery maintainer on it.

every 2 years my 4runner sits there for 3 months without being driven due to it being shipped to another country. Once a year it sits there for a month. In those cases using trickle charger is not possible only after when I get the truck back.
I will stick to NOT use the repair mode unless the battery has gone bad and need reviving.
Not driving for that long is really hard on the battery, I worry not driving for 3 months for every few years might do some damage. The batteries do not get disconnected during shipment so there is always small draw from onboard ECU etc.

 

[Mgltacoma]

The stock Panasonic battery is not sealed. There are screw on gas relief caps for the cells. I usually loosen them during charging for good measure.

Do you refill them with distilled water? My Panasonic battery screw on gas cap looks to be sealed, slightly different than older OEM Panasonic batteries. I might be wrong. I will need to post a pic of it here.

 

[Mgltacoma]

How often should I use my trickle charger(normal charging) to charge them? Should I only use them when I have not driven in awhile before driving it? Or is it good idea to use it everyday so your battery gets fully charged everytime.

 

[5thToy]

Do you refill them with distilled water? My Panasonic battery screw on gas cap looks to be sealed, slightly different than older OEM Panasonic batteries. I might be wrong. I will need to post a pic of it here.

I have not had to add distilled water yet on my 19, but I do check levels. FWIW, there are 6 screw-on caps on my stock battery. It looks like this: You can see the six gas relief / fluid fill caps.

Incidentally, I have the same Noco Genius 5 as you. But I also have a battery meter, so I check voltage and charge level before hooking it up. Noco's product information says it has overcharge protection, but I have seen other's argue that point so I'm not sure what to think about that.

 

[Saker]

I recently bought Noco genius5 battery trickle charger/maintainer. It has options to select type of battery to charges like AGM, Lithium etc. Do we know if our battery is AGM?
Do we also know if our oem battery has distilled water?
My battery model is 80D26L-MF Panasonic that shipped with the vehicle. It’s on its 5th year and doing fine so far. My car sits a lot in my garage due to international shipping, so I was trying to extend my battery life by doing the repair mode and use trickle charger. Most batteries are dead after 5 years, I heard some people got out 10 years or so from their oem Panasonic.
Thanks in advance really appreciate it.

If your battery is on his fifth year I would consider looking into replacement battery. Have you done a load test on it yet to see what kind of actual condition it’s in?

 

[fkheath]

every 2 years my 4runner sits there for 3 months without being driven due to it being shipped to another country. Once a year it sits there for a month. In those cases using trickle charger is not possible only after when I get the truck back.
I will stick to NOT use the repair mode unless the battery has gone bad and need reviving.
Not driving for that long is really hard on the battery, I worry not driving for 3 months for every few years might do some damage. The batteries do not get disconnected during shipment so there is always small draw from onboard ECU etc.

Years ago, when VW was manufacturing US destined cars in Germany, the shipping was a long time. They had a solar powered battery charger/maintainer on the inside of the windshield to keep the battery up to snuff. When the car arrived in the US, the solar panels were sent back to Germany to put in the next shipment of cars.

My 2000 VW Passat 4Motion was shipped that way.

They are sometimes still available: VW ICO915 687 Solar Panel/Battery electrical for car with plugs suction cups | eBay

 

[nglayton]

The stock Panasonic battery is not sealed. There are screw on gas relief caps for the cells. I usually loosen them during charging for good measure.

Do you refill them with distilled water? My Panasonic battery screw on gas cap looks to be sealed, slightly different than older OEM Panasonic batteries. I might be wrong. I will need to post a pic of it here.

You can see on the side of the battery the water level line. You only need to fill them if the level is below the line. And only fill the cell that is low. Yes, if you must fill it use distilled water. I had one OEM panasonic battery last 8-9 years and I think I only had to add water once, in one cell. It was still running great when I pulled it, but after 8-9 years it's time to replace/upgrade.

 

[Smitty19TRD]

I have the NOCO Genius 5 as well. My 4r is not a daily driver and is only driven a couple of days per on average. I put the charger on it once a month in standard mode to top off the battery, then unplug it. If I've made multiple trips of an hour or more, I do not charge that month.

Most who drive an hour or more every day between starts rarely need charging as the OEM system will top off the battery.

Short trips use a lot of power to start the vehicle but aren't on long enough to top off the battery. For example the majority of my driving is only a few miles with multiple starts when running errands. If I don't maintain the charge, I would only get a couple of years out of my battery.

 

[Mgltacoma]

I have not had to add distilled water yet on my 19, but I do check levels. FWIW, there are 6 screw-on caps on my stock battery. It looks like this: You can see the six gas relief / fluid fill caps.

This is exactly how my battery looks like. I have seen older OEM Panasonic battery screw-on caps sticks out more than ours.

Not sure how you open ours up, I do not see flat head indent to screw them open for water fill. Notice here how older panasonic battery is slightly different opens up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4wawtDarX4&ab_channel=MrDabrudda

 

[Mgltacoma]

If your battery is on his fifth year I would consider looking into a replacement battery. Have you done a load test on it yet to see what kind of actual condition it’s in?

I have not done a load test, but I did use my multimeter 12V battery setting to test it. Without NOCO the battery is around 12.59V after driven. With NOCO it charges it until it reaches 12.9 - 13V. When I have the multimeter on while starting the car, the voltage does not drop below 10V as I learned from ChrisFixIT youtube that is one indication of the battery going bad. But because my multimeter is not fancy FLUKE brand it does not catch changing voltage in realtime that fast enough to say for sure.
Right now I am in Belgium and there are no US spec battery that fits. Batteries are pretty hard to get it shipped as there are many restrictions for shipping overseas. If I can squeze out another 3 years that would be awesome. I heard some people had their oem lasting more than 8 years(but I am sure those are rare).
I do carry Jumpstarter battery unit in the truck, in case when the battery does die, I have a way to jumpstart and keep it going until getting new battery. So hoping this NOCO 5 thing will help the battery to last little longer.

 

[5thToy]

This is exactly how my battery looks like. I have seen older OEM Panasonic battery screw-on caps sticks out more than ours.

Not sure how you open ours up, I do not see flat head indent to screw them open for water fill. Notice here how older panasonic battery is slightly different opens up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4wawtDarX4&ab_channel=MrDabrudda

I just twist them open by hand. If they are a little too tight for that the first time, maybe a set of channel locks grabbing along the long knurls.

 

[Saker]

If your battery is on his fifth year I would consider looking into replacement battery. Have you done a load test on it yet to see what kind of actual condition it’s in?

I have not done a load test, but I did use my multimeter 12V battery setting to test it. Without NOCO the battery is around 12.59V after driven. With NOCO it charges it until it reaches 12.9 - 13V. When I have the multimeter on while starting the car, the voltage does not drop below 10V as I learned from ChrisFixIT youtube that is one indication of the battery going bad. But because my multimeter is not fancy FLUKE brand it does not catch changing voltage in realtime that fast enough to say for sure.
Right now I am in Belgium and there are no US spec battery that fits. Batteries are pretty hard to get it shipped as there are many restrictions for shipping overseas. If I can squeze out another 3 years that would be awesome. I heard some people had their oem lasting more than 8 years(but I am sure those are rare).
I do carry Jumpstarter battery unit in the truck, in case when the battery does die, I have a way to jumpstart and keep it going until getting new battery. So hoping this NOCO 5 thing will help the battery to last little longer.

Understand.

 

[Mgltacoma]

I just twist them open by hand. If they are a little too tight for that the first time, maybe a set of channel locks grabbing along the long knurls.

Thanks for the tip. I used light to see how low the liquids were and they were about 1 inch under low mark. The battery is 5 years old and still holds charge and never had any problem. I am surprised how well it is doing considering how low the acid/water level is.

I am going to fill it up tomorrow to high mark and then use my Noco charger repair mode and let it desulfate and see if helps the battery to last another 3 years.

I will report back once this process is completed.

 

[Mgltacoma]

Here is the update:
I got demineralised water( apparently there is no distilled water here) and used plastic syringe and filled up the 6 valves in the battery.
Originally I thought the water level is well below low mark was wrong assessment from my part. After shaking the battery I can see the water level better and it was low but not that low. So I topped it up to high mark. The tricky part was trying not to get dirt particles falling into those valves. It was nearly impossible as I had so much dust stuck on lips of those caps. Anyways I had few dust drops and hope that wont matter much.

Once it was filled up, I gave it a good shake to mix it up and put my Noco 5 on repair mode and ran it for 4 hours. After that I ran regular charge and let it sit.

The video I referenced earlier in my post, the guy was doing this once every 6 months. For me I will do refill water and repair mode once a year. Let us see how long my battery will last now.
So far right after charge it is 13.6V and then when it settles in it is around 12.68V. Good enough for now.
Another interesting thing was that after disconnecting the battery for over night I was expecting the truck would lose its power window setting like 4th gen, but no they were still working. So I am little puzzled about that.
I also applied some fluid film on the terminals so it does not build up any acid.