[ROBSRTL]

The new battery went dead again. I just went out and bought a battery tender. I hope it works. This battery goes dead after 4 days parked.

I would suggest Ctek brand battery tenders.

You also may want to look for the draw on your battery. Something is drawing it down. Should be able to let a new vehicle sit for four days and not worry about it not starting.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[zroger73]

Driving only 8 miles is not enough to keep the battery fully charged.
Once a week, put a battery maintainer on to fully charge the battery. This will be good for the battery and you!

I drove a 2006 Accord, 2007 Ridgeline, 2008 G35, 1999 B2500, 2009 Silverado, 2009 Civic, and 2010 Ridgeline 3.8 miles to work. None of those vehicles ever experienced battery failure during that time. Ironically, the 2010 Ridgeline's battery did fail after I moved and my commute increased to 15 miles.

The new battery went dead again. I just went out and bought a battery tender. I hope it works. This battery goes dead after 4 days parked.

Something is definitely wrong causing excessive current consumption. A healthy vehicle and battery should be able to sit for at least two weeks without the battery discharging.

 

[Nittany]

The new battery went dead again. I just went out and bought a battery tender. I hope it works. This battery goes dead after 4 days parked.

There is something wrong in the electrical system. A battery tender is fine and not an issue, but you need to get this to a competent mechanic and have them trace where the draw on the battery is.

 

[hondopark]

sounds like you got some gremlins...

 

[snakebait6]

sounds like you got some gremlins...

Hey wait a minute, I had a 1974 Gremlin and had no problems with it.

 

[zroger73]

Hey wait a minute, I had a 1974 Gremlin and had no problems with it.

My parents had an early-70s Gremlin. My mom loved that car, but it fouled out spark plugs every few thousand miles and neither the dealer nor my father or grandfather (both mechanics) could figure out why.

 

[stevem5215]

You were lucky! Gremlins were junk lol.

Steve who's RL2 battery will hold at the airport parking lot for 2 weeks. But at that point it's starting to get "sketchy" if it'll start.

 

[zroger73]

I would recommend Ctek MX5 I believe the number is. I have two of them. Work wonders.

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After seeing recommendations for the CTEK chargers (especially the MUS 4.3 and MXS 5.0), I started doing some research to see if I should ditch my collection of Deltran Battery Tender chargers in favor of some CTEKs.

I was intrigued by the desulfation and recondition modes. It seems I can find YouTube videos from electronics geeks demonstrating that these features do NOT work and haven't been able to find any evidence that they DO outside of monetized reviews. So, I'm sticking with my Deltran products that have served me well for years. In my experience, once a battery is dead, it's dead. Even if it can be temporarily recovered to buy some time, I'd rather just replace it instead of getting stranded.

 

[stevem5215]

I don't have any physical or chemical proof that it works but like Politics works "I believe it works" and here's why.
When I measured my CCA/AH capacity prior to running a desulfination mode on my Steiner battery (now 9 years old remember) it was around 425 or so on capacity test (which is a IR reading actually). After the desulfination run on it the capacity was 50 CCA higher. IMO this is due to the rejuvenation of some portions of the battery from having more plate contact for a lower IR reading from the tester.

So, read into that what you will. It's of course IMO.

Steve

 

[zroger73]

These videos helped me decide.

 

[stevem5215]

Roger, I noticed during his tests that he NEVER actually puts it into (RECON) mode. Says all that blah blah blah about how it's not doing this or that but never actually puts it into recon.

Whatever. I do believe I've seen this one before as someone on the TractorbyNet forum posted it years ago.

Steve - maybe it works maybe it doesn't Seems like it does though based on my tests.
And BTW he never measures internal resistance, all he does is a load test on a unknown quality battery. Again a fail IMO as a battery that's used long term you can maintain it better by checking it's capacity and recon once a year (or so).

 

[ridgeandline]

The new battery went dead again. I just went out and bought a battery tender. I hope it works. This battery goes dead after 4 days parked.

There's gotta be some parasitic leak on electrics. Check fuses.

 

[speedlever]

I'm not following how fuses lead to parasitic leaks. Am I missing something here?

In other news, chalk me up as another CTEK fan. I have a couple of them too.

 

[ridgeandline]

I'm not following how fuses lead to parasitic leaks. Am I missing something here?

In other news, chalk me up as another CTEK fan. I have a couple of them too.

Using the fuse box to check for parasitic leaks. There's plenty of Youtube videos for that.

 

[zroger73]

Yes, recon is the Battery desulfination mode.

According to CTEK, it appears the desulfation step and recond[ition] mode are mutually exclusive.

STEP 1 DESULFATION
Detects sulfated batteries. Pulsing current and voltage, removes sulfate from the lead plates of the battery restoring the battery capacity.

STEP 6 RECOND
Choose the Recond option to add the Recond step to the charging process. During the Recond step voltage increases to create controlled gassing in the battery. Gassing mixes the battery acid and gives back energy to the battery.

 

[stevem5215]

Maybe that's why the CCA is higher after RECON mode. Not due to the desulfination step.

Steve

 

[FrayAdjacent]

I'd want to know what voltage the alternator/charging system is providing across the battery (not out of your 12V cigarette lighter) while the engine is running. If that's low, something's wrong there. I'd want to know what the battery voltage does a while after the engine shuts off, and I'd want to know what happens to it over a few days.

I would not suspect the battery is the issue, it's a symptom. Either the charging system isn't doing a good job charging the battery up or something is slowly draining it... or both.

The charging system being an issue could be something like a bad ground or another bad connection issue. A lot of current has to be carried to/from the battery and bad connections could limit that, preventing adequate charging.

 

[zroger73]

I'd want to know what voltage the alternator/charging system is providing across the battery (not out of your 12V cigarette lighter) while the engine is running.

For reference, the Ridgeline's charging system outputs from 12.5 to 15.8 VDC in 0.1 volt increments depending on the condition of the battery.

 

[Cbayman]

Sounds like parasitic draw. Make sure the key FOB is not stored within range of the vehicle or it won’t go into sleep mode. My favorite you tube mechanic, SMA, recently posted a video on parasitic draw.

 

[Sparkland]

I own a 2017 RTL-T with 23,000 miles. The battery went dead for the third time today. It is over 4 years old, so I am probably running on borrowed time. The OEM Panasonic battery, in my sons 4Runner, lasted over ten years.