Barry in Wyoming

How long should our cars be able to sit, unstarted, and still have the battery be able to start the car?

My car battery is flat dead after I've left the car alone in the garage for two weeks. In June, I charged up the battery and had it tested by Valley Motor Honda with one of the "fancy" load testing battery testers and it tested good. So far, once I've gotten the car started and battery charged I've never been left stranded.

My car was purchased 4 November 2000 so I'm 22 months into the battery warranty and not likely to get a free replacement from Honda.

I think the car's computer, my Honda alarm system, and my Alpine CDA-7876 draw enough juice with the car turned off to run down the battery. I've checked and my subwoofer amp does turn off when I turn off the stereo head.

I've priced "Group 51" batteries around Sheridan and I can get an Exide 84 month warranty battery or a Champion 72 month battery for about $55.00. These seem comparable to the Panasonic battery in size, "CCA" of 435 to 450, and of average quality.

Yesterday I replaced my 2 amp / 12 amp manual battery charger with a "fully automatic" 2 amp / 10 amp / 50 amp that can self cycle on 2 and 10 amps. It was on sale at K-Mart for $30.00! I'm thinking that my battery is really "within normal limits" but not as good as new, and I should just be sure to trickle charge the battery regularly especially when I'm not driving and avoid problems. However, I'm worried that my partial solution might leave me unable to start the car in an incovenient place sometime.

I'd welcome advice. I'm more concerned with battery reliability than with a light weight, high performance solution.

turbo_pwr

Hmm, I let my car sit for 6 weeks last winter with no problems firing it up. I don't have any aftermarket alarm or audio components. Maybe you could get something similar to this?

http://www.batterystuff.com/battery/priori...art_product.htm

Bought one of these for my sister when she moved away. She always seemed to leave something on in the car requiring me to jump start it for her while she was around. So I thought it would be a good investment.

Jaysom

I have had the same thing happen to me 3 times ... for what ever reason, the cars system was drawing 1.6 amps. That is enough to drain the battery in a few days. I would suggest taking a reading to see how many amps your system is drawing.

In my case, after I pretty much tested everything I could, I just disconnected the battery for 1 -2 days and reconnected it. For what ever reason, this seemed to correct the issue ?? My guess is that is was a stuck rely or something. Hope this helps and let us you what you find out.

Barry in Wyoming

I hadn't thought of that. Do you just put an ammeter in line with either lead at the battery post? I have an electronics multimeter from Radio Shack but no automotive multimeter.

Barry

cdelena

Mine crapped out in the Texas heat after 34 months and rather than fool with it I just bought another (a 72 month something) at the closest parts store. For $49 it is just not worth any additional effort to me.

xviper

Seems sort of odd that it can't sit for 2 weeks. There has to be something drawing on the battery more than normal. My car is a daily driver so I haven't left it for more than a day or two without using it but I have left cars sitting for 2-3 months and the they started up. I used to put a "battery tender" on vehicles that weren't driven in winter. In fact, my fuel injected Honda VFR motorcycle stated in the owner's manual to put on some kind of automatic charger any time the bike was not used for more than 2 weeks so as to keep the computer happy.
In the past, I've always found that stock batteries don't seem to carry me through to beyond the 3 year time frame but this could be due to the climate my cars have to live in.

yu888

Barry- i got my car alittle before yours and so far have not had a battery problem. I do not drive mine daily, and have left my car garaged for amny times over 3 weeks when i travel for work. Sounds like there may be something that is drawing power that shouldn't be. I would agree with Jaysom tha maybe a stuck relay is drawing power. Disconnect the battery for a few minutes and then reconnect and see if it dies again in a few days. If the battery keeps giving you problems though, I'd just buy a new one for the price. At almost 3 years, its about time for the stock battery to go anyways (from my experience with Honda OEM batteries). good luck.

Kwando

I had probelms with the OEM battery dying after the stereo install. I upgraded to a red top optima and have had no problems since. I believe the OEM batter is rated at 400 CCA's (cold cranking amps) and the optima's are at 850 CCA's.

Barry in Wyoming

Kwando, did your Optima fit in a "Group 51" space or did you modify the under-hood area to fit the battery in?

AusS2000

I also have problems if I leave the car to sit for a few days. I have a tracking alarm and reasonable stereo install and have a sitting current drain of 0.3-0.45 amps.

Another reason I have a problem is that I work from home, and the majority of my drives are very short distance. Cranking the engine takes a big chunk out of the battery and a short drive does very little to recompence. So Everytime I drive the battery is getting lower.

I'm looking for one of those hi-falooting battery chargers and am wiring my power outlet (previously called cigarette lighter) socket direct to the battery. I'll install the charger in the roof of my garage and have a 12V power plug on a retractable cord hangin down. When I drive into the garage I can reach up, pull the cord down and plug it into the outlet and then get out of the car and flick a switch and my battery will be on charge/conditioning.