Battery issue... Common?

[gturner008]

Looks like I'm on my 3rd Honda battery, last one fitted in March. Is it common to have batteries fail? Mine does not hold charge and it's only 6 months old. Granted - the car does very few miles - but frustrating having to get it changed. Anyone have similar issues.

[Pride]

Looks like I'm on my 3rd Honda battery, last one fitted in March. Is it common to have batteries fail? Mine does not hold charge and it's only 6 months old. Granted - the car does very few miles - but frustrating having to get it changed. Anyone have similar issues.

I fiitted a Honda battery 4 years ago and have done roughly 2-3000 miles a year with absolutely no issues.:)

When parked up in my garage I always without fail hook it up to a c-tek digital pulse battery charger as recommended by Kaz and many others.

If you don't use one then without hesitation I suggest you get one but also make sure you don't have a rogue discharge problem on the car as this would definitely cause a battery to go faulty over a short period.

[NZNick]

For the battery to fail within 6 months indicates a problem with the battery - take it back to your Honda dealer for a free replacement. If they find that the battery is ok, it points to a problem on your car - alternator perhaps?

[havoc]

I'd second the trickle-charger / conditioner approach...I've had the same battery now for ~5 years, and for the last 2 years my car's been used more infrequently than I'd like.

If you're not using one, how often are you using the car? If every >2 weeks or even less frequently, then it's possible you're draining the battery right down each time which will reduce life.

Other ideas:-
- Alternator as above
- Hungry alarm system - a poorly-fitted or badly-designed alarm could chew through the mA

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Honda battery is nothing special and just an ordinary car battery.
The charge-discharge cycle is done through chemical reaction so the life expectancy depends heavily on how it is going to be used.

It doesn’t like to be at hot environment and since it’s a chemical reaction, the number of charge – discharge cycles, the rate (speed) and level of charge/discharge are the main factors influencing the life of the battery.

With modern generation of ordinary car batteries, if looked after properly, it could serve you for about 5 – 8years and some NSX owners are using it for more than 10 years.
Over the long term usage, battery internal structure could fail suddenly under vibration so after using it for many years, one may want to consider replacing it before it fails all of a sudden.

For the ordinary battery, the worst thing you can do is to discharge it too far (to the level you need to jump start the car) or frequently discharge it at high rate and repeat charge - discharge cycle frequently in short time frame.
For example, the battery on delivery van is generally at short life as the engine needs to be started many times every day and the starter takes out so much current while cranking. It also tends to be multiple short distance journeys per day.

I haven’t checked recently but Honda battery used to come with 3 years warranty so if you didn’t flatten the battery by not driving your NSX regularly and the battery just simply died in 6 months, then you should be able to have it replaced at free of charge.

It’s very rare for the Honda battery (I think it’s manufactured in France for European Honda market) to fail but it did happen to me while servicing one NSX for another owner.
The battery was purchased from my local Honda dealer about 15 months ago so just asked them the warranty procedure and all they wanted was the VIN/Reg.No. and then they carried out the proper battery test and confirmed that it was internal failure (it takes charge but couldn't pass the drop down test) and replaced it with a new one at free of charge.


By the way, how did you check your battery or how did you confirm that it didn’t hold charge?

Kaz

[darock]

It seems that battery quality has degraded substantially over the last couple of years. Especially "premium" brand ones suffer from early death. Don't know if they changed something the way they are built like the handling of lead or so. May well be due to environmental reasons.

I know several people with batteries that did not last a single year. All of them were Banner or Varta brand. Common brands around here.

I use Exide batteries as replacement for many years now and I did not have any issues so far.

Bernhard

[gturner008]

Thanks everyone. Took the battery to Honda who checked it. Said the battery was faulty and will replace FOC.

I trickle charge it, but even when out of the car on full charge - the battery did not retain enough charge to crank the engine. I'll make sure the new one is always on trickle. Cheers. Gary

[darock]

... I'll make sure the new one is always on trickle. Cheers. Gary

There are some battery specialists who say that these trickle chargers can also ruin batteries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdZES5CQz9I
I mean this video surely is supposed to promote the ctec stuff but I researched that and what they say is true for cheaper electronic charging devices. I was also warned by the battery specialist I bought the new battery for my CRZ from that cheap chargers can ruin the battery. They also only sell the Ctec products. So might be worth checking, how your trickle charger works and what it really does.

I just have a basic old charger with an amp meter on the front. I leave the battery in the car during summer, not doing anything with it. I just unplug it on my Triumph when I leave it parked for longer because Lucas "Prince of darkness" electrics. In the winter I take the batteries out and put it in my basement. I charge it every one or two month until I see the amps drop on the charger. Sometimes I check it with a voltmeter. I never let it drop below 12,4V. The battery in my Triumph is 10 years old and still starts the old grumpy tractor six just fine.

Bernhard

[NSXGB]

Best option I have found is to drive the car regularly. :)