Battery or radio on too long?

[SCOPESYS]

I'm pretty sure you're right, the Civics do not have a BMS.

There are non oem aftermarket "Battery Saver" solutions, that monitor the Battery Voltage, and shut off the battery if voltage falls too low - but I can see them having problems, by automatically disconnecting the battery, and causing "battery disconnect" issues... loss of stored data etc etc

Hopefully, all these flat battery issues are caused by failing Honda Batteries, and that when a new, non OEM battery is fitted, these problem go away.

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[myke]

Wouldnt the battery be under the 3 year warranty?

 

[fjrman]

My '16 LX sedan came from the factory with a 410 CCA battery made by Johnson Controls, the world's largest battery manufacturer. There are batteries available with a higher CCA rating.

This 51R battery is the same size as the one in my last Accord.

I have to believe Honda is using every cost effective method available to squeeze higher mpg's out of their cars. That includes playing games with the charging system.

Would be nice if they had a voltage readout on the display.

 

[SCOPESYS]

My '16 LX sedan came from the factory with a 410 CCA battery made by Johnson Controls, the world's largest battery manufacturer. There are batteries available with a higher CCA rating.

This 51R battery is the same size as the one in my last Accord.

I have to believe Honda is using every cost effective method available to squeeze higher mpg's out of their cars. That includes playing games with the charging system.

Would be nice if they had a voltage readout on the display.

You make a very good point...
Charging the battery requires power, and that power comes from the Gas.
The more you charge, the more Gas you use, and the lower the MPG.

That reminds me -- time to go any put the Battery Charger on the Civic, and see how much more charge the Battery will take, after being charged by the car running for some time yesterday.

 

[brianric]

Had test done on battery and alternator. Tests shows alternator and starter has no problems, battery marginal. Pep Boys wouldn't give me a written copy of the test results.

 

[SCOPESYS]

Had test done on battery and alternator. Tests shows alternator and starter has no problems, battery marginal. Pep Boys wouldn't give me a written copy of the test results.

Really -- how strange -- Advance Auto Parts test battery & Alternator for free, and their machine prints out a full diagnostic report. They go over with you, and then you get to keep it. Really !! What good does it do Pep Boys to keep it !!! CRAZY ...

 

[PhilF]

My mileage with Honda's batteries is different, other than a 89 Prelude that we ran 90k over 8 years before battery failure and a 2002 Accord that we traded in 2016 with 85k that we put a battery in at 7 years, have never replaced a Civic battery, most I kept 4 years and traded at about 80k, all were traded with their original Honda batteries. Fully aware the the newer Honda's are MUCH more electrically needy with a lot more parasitic loads on their batteries, My dealer does do a battery test with each service on both my Civic and my wife's Fit (which sits a lot, only has 6k or so) the Civic every 5k or 6 months, the Fit every 6 months. If I do have a battery that becomes marginal, I would replace it at the dealer with another Honda battery as, they have a Warranty that if you buy a replacement battery from them, it's warranted for as long as you own your car. In other words, it's the last battery you will buy for that car. They get about $100 installed, which includes maintaining the memory of the computer & presets using a battery that connects to the OBD plug while changing the battery. So I can't really complain about dealer service or price as pertains to batteries. I do think a AGM battery should have been used in the newer cars though, as I can see how it would have considerably better reserve with extended "Aux" usage and colder climates. If not a Honda battery for the above reasons, I'd probably spring for an Ultima AGM. I do take long trips where there are not a lot of services easily available, so I tend to be more aggressive with maintenance. A long career in Biomedical Engineering has shown me that a good PM plan is a prudent thing, and doing things cheaply is usually not the most economical or reliable.
Hope everyone's Holiday is Bright!

 

[SCOPESYS]

Looks like the Honda Civic does a good job charging the battery

Test.
Ran the car yesterday, about a 20 mile trip home at night -- Lights on.

Next Morning measured how much charge my Battery Charger needed to put back into the Battery to be fully charged (according to my Intelligent Battery charger - which I trust)

Plot of Charging current VS Time. By 100 minutes, battery was fully charged.

Note Time is a LOG scale.

About 1.7AH into a nominal 50AH battery

So battery was ((50 - 1.7) / 50) * 100 % Charged = 96.6 % charged at start of charging by the battery charger.

Looks pretty good to me ..
This assumes that battery has a nominal 50AH capacity, which may well be a big assumption for the Honda Civic Battery !!

If the Battery say had a 25AH Capacity, then it was still about 93% charged at the start of the charging.

 

[t792]

Bought my Civic on July 31, 2017 and already had to have my battery replaced (under warranty) this past November at 15,000 miles. I'm in AZ, though.

 

[ebhaynz]

My '16 LX sedan came from the factory with a 410 CCA battery made by Johnson Controls, the world's largest battery manufacturer. There are batteries available with a higher CCA rating.

This 51R battery is the same size as the one in my last Accord.

Just curious fjrman, have you had to change your battery yet?

 

[brianric]

Looks like the Honda Civic does a good job charging the battery

Test.
Ran the car yesterday, about a 20 mile trip home at night -- Lights on.

Next Morning measured how much charge my Battery Charger needed to put back into the Battery to be fully charged (according to my Intelligent Battery charger - which I trust)

Plot of Charging current VS Time. By 100 minutes, battery was fully charged.

Note Time is a LOG scale.

About 1.7AH into a nominal 50AH battery

So battery was ((50 - 1.7) / 50) * 100 % Charged = 96.6 % charged at start of charging by the battery charger.

Looks pretty good to me ..
This assumes that battery has a nominal 50AH capacity, which may well be a big assumption for the Honda Civic Battery !!

If the Battery say had a 25AH Capacity, then it was still about 93% charged at the start of the charging.

I sometimes wonder what Honda put on my 2010 CRV. I bought a 2012 Prius but kept the CRV. Found out real fast that if I left the CRV sitting for three days that I needed a jump to start. Ended up getting rid of the CRV because Honda dealer couldn't solve my problem saying there was no excessive drain on the battery. Makes you wonder what size battery was in that CRV. It was too bad that I had to get rid of that car because I really liked it.

 

[fjrman]

No, I have the factory battery. Performs fine.
38k miles

 

[HarlowQuinn]

Sorry but you definitely need to buy a new battery., this is another one of those little things that Honda does to piss off their loyal customers. OEM batteries used to last a lot longer, 4-6 years and now they don't even last 3.

Even though my battery has died on me like six times and only has 1000 miles on it they won't even replace it under warranty. Even if the car sits for more than three days the battery is completely dead and I don't even live in subzero weather. It sucks to have a brand new car that you can't rely on. In 30 years I've never had a car that I have less faith in starting in the morning.

 

[SCOPESYS]

Even though my battery has died on me like six times and only has 1000 miles on it they won't even replace it under warranty. Even if the car sits for more than three days the battery is completely dead and I don't even live in subzero weather. It sucks to have a brand new car that you can't rely on. In 30 years I've never had a car that I have less faith in starting in the morning.

"they won't even replace it under warranty. Even if the car sits for more than three days the battery is completely dead"
​

Either the Battery is "DEFECTIVE", or something on the car is drawing current it should not when the car is not being used.

Either way, the car will not start after 3 days of "non use", and they should be diagnosing what is causing that.

Or do they "Claim" that is "NORMAL OPERATION" ???

So, what is their reason for not addressing the problem.

Personally, I would not take that BS ..

Get something in writing from them.
If they won't put anything in writing, after you ask them why they will not address the issue, YOU put the situation in writing yourself, and get them to sign it.

If they wont sign it, you sign a copy and give it to them, and tell them you are taking the matter higher. (do not be specific, you don;t have to tell them exactly what you plan to do -- let them worry about that !!)

Make sure you have someone with you when you do this as a witness, preferably NOT a family member,

DO NOT THREATEN Them, just INFORM them of what you are intending to do.

If by then, they have not come to their senses, and addressed your problem, you might want to decide if you really want to waste time perusing it with Honda Corporate, or just go out to Sears, or Battery Warehouse, and get yourself a decent, Non Honda Battery, OR try another Battery for another car, if available, to see if that lasts more than 3 days.

One thing for sure, if your current Dealer will not work with you, it's time to go find one that will., You don't need this aggravation, especially over a battery !! !!

I would look at this situation as a good learning experience - and a test of your Dealer's response to Service & Warranty issues.
Better to find out NOW, on a Minor thing, that later on a major warranty item.

IF your Dealer is not meeting your needs, go find another one, and develop a relationship with them.

There is nothing that REQUIRES you to continue to use the Dealer you purchased the car from, if their SERVICE work does not meet your expectations.

(OMG, these Dealers Piss me off !!! -- all, nice and smiles and bending over backwards before you sign to purchase the car, and then after the sale, immediately it becomes YOUR turn to "bend over" while they ____________________ !!!!)

 

[latole]

scopesy write;

" Either the Battery is "DEFECTIVE", or something on the car is drawing current it should not when the car is not being used. "

100% right
See another stealer/ dealer

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