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I guess what threw me off was how I was getting 12.4 voltage until Friday night, but the problem had been persisting for roughly a month. Is it possible something else is causing an issue or can a battery actually be bad without showing it?
Yes, a battery can be bad or poorly manufactured and you just proved it. Continuing to discharge a battery to within a hair of its life and then charging, discharging, charging, discharging repeatedly will also kill it. Doesn't sound like that was your issue at all from your other tests. You just had a bad battery and now all should be fine.
Is this a sign of a potential problem that may cause this battery to go out? Could anything besides an alternator cause the battery to eventually develop a bad cell? It was just so odd considering what I had read of the reliability of the battery I had purchased.
Yeah, it could have just been a bad replacement. The volt readings on a bad battery can be very misleading. That's why a load test will tell the truth. Don't sweat it unless this new one goes bad in a month. After you get several months into the new battery you will forget about all this. In my opinion (and some others), these cars are very hard on batteries. And if you live in a hot climate, it's not going to last long. Just consider it a consumable and hope to get 3-4 years from it. Longer than that and you're living right.
Back with a similar problem. Ultimately, I removed the battery and had it taken to Advance Auto Parts which is where I got it. Finally, they were able to detect a bad cell once I removed and had it taken inside for testing. I was given a replacement still being only about 6 month in to the 3 year warranty. Everything worked fine after this until...now.
I had my tint worked one a few weeks ago, and I went to pick up the car. When I went to start it, it would not turn over with only clicks. I would continue to try this until finally it came back to life. I attributed this to them having had the doors and all open, but still, it was weird considering they had drive the car back to the front of the shop for me to pick up just a few hours before it happened. It did not really happen again for a few weeks only noticing a slightly slow crank once or twice. It happened this past weekend. It was cold, but the car had started fine the day before and the morning of. I then went to move some things in and out of the car for about 15 minutes with some doors open. Nothing major. Went back to start an hour later and boom, back to square one, again. It wouldn't turn over with it seemingly coming back from the dead somehow.
This leads me to believe there has to be more of an issue than the battery itself, but goodness, how does this happen when the battery was fine after replacing just six months ago. If there was a further problem, I feel like it would have been noticeable just a short time, a week or so, before the problem came back to life after I had it replaced via warranty the first time. I have not had it checked out this time. Could it be something related to the fact that anything remotely out of the ordinary just ages this battery so quickly? From what I have read, it does seem to have these types of issues. I want to avoid going to the dealership, but at the same time, I want to avoid this happening for a month or two before the cell finally burst in the battery.
Yes, a battery can be bad or poorly manufactured and you just proved it. Continuing to discharge a battery to within a hair of its life and then charging, discharging, charging, discharging repeatedly will also kill it. Doesn't sound like that was your issue at all from your other tests. You just had a bad battery and now all should be fine.
Back with a similar problem. Ultimately, I removed the battery and had it taken to Advance Auto Parts which is where I got it. Finally, they were able to detect a bad cell once I removed and had it taken inside for testing. I was given a replacement still being only about 6 month in to the 3 year warranty. Everything worked fine after this until...now.
I had my tint worked one a few weeks ago, and I went to pick up the car. When I went to start it, it would not turn over with only clicks. I would continue to try this until finally it came back to life. I attributed this to them having had the doors and all open, but still, it was weird considering they had drive the car back to the front of the shop for me to pick up just a few hours before it happened. It did not really happen again for a few weeks only noticing a slightly slow crank once or twice. It happened this past weekend. It was cold, but the car had started fine the day before and the morning of. I then went to move some things in and out of the car for about 15 minutes with some doors open. Nothing major. Went back to start an hour later and boom, back to square one, again. It wouldn't turn over with it seemingly coming back from the dead somehow.
This leads me to believe there has to be more of an issue than the battery itself, but goodness, how does this happen when the battery was fine after replacing just six months ago. If there was a further problem, I feel like it would have been noticeable just a short time, a week or so, before the problem came back to life after I had it replaced via warranty the first time. I have not had it checked out this time. Could it be something related to the fact that anything remotely out of the ordinary just ages this battery so quickly? From what I have read, it does seem to have these types of issues. I want to avoid going to the dealership, but at the same time, I want to avoid this happening for a month or two before the cell finally burst in the battery.
Back with a similar problem. Ultimately, I removed the battery and had it taken to Advance Auto Parts which is where I got it. Finally, they were able to detect a bad cell once I removed and had it taken inside for testing. I was given a replacement still being only about 6 month in to the 3 year warranty. Everything worked fine after this until...now.
I had my tint worked one a few weeks ago, and I went to pick up the car. When I went to start it, it would not turn over with only clicks. I would continue to try this until finally it came back to life. I attributed this to them having had the doors and all open, but still, it was weird considering they had drive the car back to the front of the shop for me to pick up just a few hours before it happened. It did not really happen again for a few weeks only noticing a slightly slow crank once or twice. It happened this past weekend. It was cold, but the car had started fine the day before and the morning of. I then went to move some things in and out of the car for about 15 minutes with some doors open. Nothing major. Went back to start an hour later and boom, back to square one, again. It wouldn't turn over with it seemingly coming back from the dead somehow.
This leads me to believe there has to be more of an issue than the battery itself, but goodness, how does this happen when the battery was fine after replacing just six months ago. If there was a further problem, I feel like it would have been noticeable just a short time, a week or so, before the problem came back to life after I had it replaced via warranty the first time. I have not had it checked out this time. Could it be something related to the fact that anything remotely out of the ordinary just ages this battery so quickly? From what I have read, it does seem to have these types of issues. I want to avoid going to the dealership, but at the same time, I want to avoid this happening for a month or two before the cell finally burst in the battery.
Bummer. Do you drive the car regularly and take longer trips or are they short trips around town and infrequently? Have you been using the trickle charger at all? As was stated earlier the charging algorithm is such that the battery is never really brought to a full charge to save the "environment"'
Bummer. Do you drive the car regularly and take longer trips or are they short trips around town and infrequently? Have you been using the trickle charger at all? As was stated earlier the charging algorithm is such that the battery is never really brought to a full charge to save the "environment"'
I drive it most every day at least 10 miles one way to work and 10 miles back. Smaller trips to grocery, gym, etc. that are much shorter in distance. This never happened the first three years I had the car, and the frequency with which I drive my car has not changed since I got it in the fall of 2012 with 32K. This first happened in December 2015 when I got the first battery. Then the issues I spoke of in this thread in July/August of 2016. Now, 2017 and it's back. The longest trips I take are anywhere from 2-4 hours 120-240 miles. That may happen once a month or so.
I have not used the trickle charger since I put the new warranty battery in this past summer/fall. I understand it may help, but at the same time, I am concerned that it happens to need it after not needing it the first three years I had it. Based on what I learned the first time around and from what you have said, is this something that is always going to be needed going forward? I sure hope not since it's somewhat of an inconvenience to have to pop the hood every night for this. What would I do if I didn't have a garage or anything? Or are you suggesting this is something that will help? I just figured it would give me an extra year from 3-4, maybe? But not prevent a slow death after just six months.
Maybe I am considering all of this incorrectly?? I've learned more about batteries over the last year than I ever thought/wanted to, ha!
...it's somewhat of an inconvenience to have to pop the hood every night for this.....
I set the trickle charger up so the connection is accessible from the outside in the cowl just above where the battery is and mounted the charger in the garage above so the charge cable reached. Every two weeks or so I hooked it up overnight to give it a full charge. The connection is also good to check the battery SOC.
I set the trickle charger up so the connection is accessible from the outside in the cowl just above where the battery is and mounted the charger in the garage above so the charge cable reached. Every two weeks or so I hooked it up overnight to give it a full charge. The connection is also good to check the battery SOC.
But this isn't something I should have to do not even having this new batter 6 months, right?
Any reason why it would happen again but not show signs of a problem after only a month or two? Like why 6 months? Is there something that would take longer to cause a wear on the battery?
But this isn't something I should have to do not even having this new batter 6 months, right?
Depends on what SOC you like to keep the battery at and how long you want it to last. The charging system maintains it at about 50% which won't help battery life and may occasionally fail to turnover depending on temperature and electrical system usage. Short trips are hard on batteries.
How were you able to set up the ability to connect your trickle charger to your battery via adjusting the cowl? Would it not create a leaking problem with rain and all? Do you have pictures?
maybe the battery isnt charging ?
you might wanna look in to that , maybe you have a possible problem with alternator. (which was a somewhat common issue on 10-11 models)
How were you able to set up the ability to connect your trickle charger to your battery via adjusting the cowl? Would it not create a leaking problem with rain and all? Do you have pictures?
No adjustments or changes necessary. I permanently attached the charging lead to the battery terminals and routed the wire around the hood hinge and under a rubber flap at the end of the cowl. It's all outside the cabin and no need to open the hood to access it. I don't have the car anymore but I posted some pictures in this forum if you search.
agree that you shouldn't have to trickle charge a new battery (even though I still do) and agree that if there was a parasitic draw it would have killed the new battery much earlier.
Perhaps the tint shop did wear down the battery and it's damaged now. Either way, you should still get it load tested to see if it's bad. Hopefully it is still covered by their warranty. Trickle charging a bad battery is just pushing the problem down the road.
agree that you shouldn't have to trickle charge a new battery (even though I still do) and agree that if there was a parasitic draw it would have killed the new battery much earlier.
Perhaps the tint shop did wear down the battery and it's damaged now. Either way, you should still get it load tested to see if it's bad. Hopefully it is still covered by their warranty. Trickle charging a bad battery is just pushing the problem down the road.
Yep, I completely agree. Thankfully, it is covered for three years was originally purchased December 2015.
I checked voltage once I got home from work and had let car sit for 30 minutes. Was going back and forth between 12.15-12.20 which i found to be odd once I started for the gym, and it actually started. It was slightly slow cranking but nothing bad by any means.
Leaving gym same thing but didn't check voltage. Just slightly slow crank. Tested battery tonight and hanging around 12.30. I have not charged tonight in hopes to see how it handles holding over night. Clearly, the issue isn't my alternator with it working just fine once car is going, but like you said, may not handle a full load once hooked up.
Is it possible that the issue/setting off of the battery with what happened at the tint shop can technically cause a battery to "go bad" or create the bad cell? I haven't seen where these batteries are prone to this. Especially since it has happened twice, I am starting to believe otherwise. What are your thoughts?
voltage does move around as the battery recovers after use. Best to test when battery is disconnected from car and sitting overnight. Of course that isn't convenient so an alternative would be to pop the hood in the evening (if you keep it garaged) and then open in morning and check. That way you aren't opening a door to pop hood and putting a draw on the battery.
But even then voltage only tells part of the story. The battery's ability to store amps is what makes a difference use after use. I chased a bad end of life battery in my W212 around for months because it could start my car for the most part but couldn't start the car if I kept the electronics on for 5 minutes after turning car off. That's when I learned that the load test out of the car where they can measure the amps is best.
As far as the tint shop goes, if they drained the battery it could have damaged a cell. If they had trouble starting they just hook it up to a charger to give it a boost. After you drive away, it's your problem. I had a detail shop do that do me. These batteries (well most batteries) aren't supposed to get that low. The damage comes from not keeping them charged enough. That's one of the arguments behind why the supposed fuel saving charging system is hard on batteries - if you keep the SOC too low most of the time the battery will have a short life. Whereas keeping a higher SOC will extend useful life. As if using more batteries is more enviro friendly than using more gas. Of course hotter climates are harder on battery chemistry anyway so depending on where you live the life may not be long anyway.
voltage does move around as the battery recovers after use. Best to test when battery is disconnected from car and sitting overnight. Of course that isn't convenient so an alternative would be to pop the hood in the evening (if you keep it garaged) and then open in morning and check. That way you aren't opening a door to pop hood and putting a draw on the battery.
But even then voltage only tells part of the story. The battery's ability to store amps is what makes a difference use after use. I chased a bad end of life battery in my W212 around for months because it could start my car for the most part but couldn't start the car if I kept the electronics on for 5 minutes after turning car off. That's when I learned that the load test out of the car where they can measure the amps is best.
As far as the tint shop goes, if they drained the battery it could have damaged a cell. If they had trouble starting they just hook it up to a charger to give it a boost. After you drive away, it's your problem. I had a detail shop do that do me. These batteries (well most batteries) aren't supposed to get that low. The damage comes from not keeping them charged enough. That's one of the arguments behind why the supposed fuel saving charging system is hard on batteries - if you keep the SOC too low most of the time the battery will have a short life. Whereas keeping a higher SOC will extend useful life. As if using more batteries is more enviro friendly than using more gas. Of course hotter climates are harder on battery chemistry anyway so depending on where you live the life may not be long anyway.
Well, sounds like I know what I need to do. You have confirmed pretty much all of my thoughts around this. I greatly appreciate it. I know what I'll be doing this weekend. Hopefully, the test tells me/them what is needed to get the new battery.
Here's my guess.... the installers at the tint shop listened to music using your audio system while they were working and ran your battery down. How much voltage is your alternator providing? SOC won't tell you if there's a bad cell or how many amps are available. It only determines if the battery is charging, holding a charge, and to what level. I would fully charge it and then measure it daily until it drops down to 50%....then it shouldn't drop below that if you're driving enough. It's too coincidental to have two new batteries with bad cells back to back (but not impossible) but load testing it will tell you.
Here's my guess.... the installers at the tint shop listened to music using your audio system while they were working and ran your battery down. How much voltage is your alternator providing? SOC won't tell you if there's a bad cell or how many amps are available. It only determines if the battery is charging, holding a charge, and to what level. I would fully charge it and then measure it daily until it drops down to 50%....then it shouldn't drop below that if you're driving enough. It's too coincidental to have two new batteries with bad cells back to back (but not impossible) but load testing it will tell you.
I agree with you, that's why I am conflicted with this. I don't believe the alternator is the issue. Seems that it works fine considering it is fully charging while the car is running. I have been accessing the voltage readings before I take off and it stays around 14.3 for the first reading and around 14.1 for the second reading. I believe that would mean the alternator is acting as it should in powering the battery?
i have noticed that my voltage when im driving is constantly around 12.6 volts +/-
but after i started using a trickle charger about 2 months ago when it started to be cold outside , my voltage been at around 14.6 constantly. idk is it just me? my imagination? or cold weather? or actually the trickle charger influenced somehow.
p.s. before i couldnt even listen to music for more than 3 min my battery was dying , and i had problem starting the car , it felt like it might not start.
but now i can listen music in the car for much longer.
maybe im just trippin , but speaking from what i observed.
p.s. : i did have my alternator changed by dealer due to long cranking time and not charging the battery properly ( they were aware of this issue).
It appears from those readings that your charging system is working fine. You referenced the state of charge readings on your battery a few posts ago. Here is a SOC chart. You picked up readings in the 12.15-.20. Realize that this is a battery at 60% charge or less. 12.7 is full charge.
07-31-2016, 03:05 PM
