Any 12v battery issue with RX 450h+ plug-in hybrid?

[MrBee]

Hi

I have a 2020 RAV4 HEV and I'm thinking of getting a new RX 450h+

The Rav4 has an issue with the 12v Battery going flat, normally in winter, after 2/3 weeks of not using the car. 

I just wondered if this issue is present in the RX? 

Many thanks 

[ColinBarber]

15 minutes ago, MrBee said:

I just wondered if this issue is present in the RX? 

Yes, same on all Toyota/Lexus hybrids unfortunately.

[MrBee]

Many thanks for the quick response. It is annoying.

This December we were away for a bit and did not use the car for 3 weeks. The 12v was so flat that the jump start booster did not work. Had to put it on a Battery charge overnight. 

That could be a real pain if you left the car in a long term car park for a winter holiday.

[Barry14UK]

I suppose if your car was away while you were on a long winter holiday and safely locked away, you could leave alarm off or disconnect Battery accepting what that would entail or best of all leave on trickle charge if facility exists.  The only other way I can think of would be to couple up to another Battery temporarily.  I am not sure it would need to be same type and could be smaller to boost capacity for an extended period.  In summer you can fit a solar panel but probably not sufficient for winter.

It may be that you could get a friend to charge the car from the hybrid Battery using the prescribed Lexus procedure.

[JapFanMan2021]

Coincidentally, just yesterday I found that if you leave the tailgate open for 4 hours you will have a dead Battery ☹️ Unbelievable that the three lights in the boot are not on a timer!

[Tom,]

 After two weeks in the cruise car park at Southampton last November/December - no problem starting.

[ColinBarber]

4 hours ago, Tom, said:

 After two weeks in the cruise car park at Southampton last November/December - no problem starting.

Two weeks shouldn’t be a problem on a healthy Battery, although it would have discharged the Battery to a point where it would start to damage it and therefore the capacity may have been diminished. Three weeks is when you start to run into problems. 

[GSLV6]

I'm on my 3rd deep cycle 12v Battery in 45K miles.  They get replaced every 3 years as that's all I get out of them and they're not cheap!  My last one was fitted 2 years ago and is still going strong.  I've learned from the past so invested in a better charger/conditioner which keeps it in better health.  If there's the odd week I don't use the car, I hook it up to the charger (a Cetek charger) and it seems to be the only way to get them to last. If you run them dead flat a few times, it doesn't do them much good so better keeping them in a healthy state to avoid issues.