12v Battery - do it myself?

I meant Honda battery seems to be the best value given the warranty. I live in the desert southwest and batteries don't last long in the heat here :(.
The $70 Walmart battery only has a 1 year warranty and may be a good option in a moderate climate area.
 
JustAnotherPoorDriver said:
If you don't need a super strong battery (I drive only 1hr+ trips multiple times a week) you can get a $70 battery at Walmart.
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Under what sort of driving patterns might a Clarity owner need a super strong battery? And how would you distinguish the super strong from the normal strong or not so strong?
 
Landshark said:
Under what sort of driving patterns might a Clarity owner need a super strong battery? And how would you distinguish the super strong from the normal strong or not so strong?
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I presume, perhaps incorrectly, that cold cranking amps correlates somewhat with the ability to handle lots of short drives or long periods of not driving the car where you may not recharge the battery. For the most part though I agree. Which is why I bought a cheap battery it does not see you need a super high-end battery
 
I'd personally stick to what Honda decided that the battery CCA should be. Their engineers came up with that number for a reason. The 12v powers the lights, accessories, and high voltage contactors so there is somewhat of a draw.
 
The battery that @JustAnotherPoorDriver is talking about from Walmart is rated at 410 CCA and has a 1 year warranty for $69.74. I think it has plenty of CCA since mine has tested below 200 CCA for the last year with no issues (yet). It's over 6 years old now, so I'm living on borrowed time. If I replace it before it fails, I will probably give the $70 Walmart a shot and expect it to last 3 years...
 
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Joe17 said:
I'd personally stick to what Honda decided that the battery CCA should be. Their engineers came up with that number for a reason.
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I think there is possibly another motive for Honda, and that is commonality / mass production.
The battery used in the Clarity is the same one that is used in the Civic (and probably others too).
It makes a lot of sense to use a part that is already in other higher volume vehicles even if there is a degree of overkill for the Clarity.
 
JustAnotherPoorDriver said:
I presume, perhaps incorrectly, that cold cranking amps correlates somewhat with the ability to handle lots of short drives or long periods of not driving the car where you may not recharge the battery. For the most part though I agree. Which is why I bought a cheap battery it does not see you need a super high-end battery
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The 12V battery never cranks the engine on a Clarity. It powers up the electrical systems and once the car is READY to drive, the DC/DC converter sends a charging voltage to the 12V battery from the HV battery.

As far as leaving the car to sit for long periods of time, FLA batteries will self-discharge at the same rate regardless of the CCA rating. For some reason the Clarity has a propensity for discharging the battery when no one is looking. I’ve experienced it twice and many on this forum have as well. The car also has a knack for killing the 12V battery over a 2-4 year period, which in my experience is quite unusual, particularly for a battery that doesn’t actually start an engine. Ours lasted 4 years. A number of forum members replaced theirs after 2-3 years.

Going cheap is a viable option. That decision could lead to buying a $70 battery every 1-3 years as opposed to buying a $130 battery that has a full replacement warranty for 36 months and a pro-rated warranty for 100 months. Either option hardly constitutes a rounding error for most households, so it’s more of a convenience/comfort factor knowing the battery has a superior warranty.

FWIW: The employee at the Honda parts counter that I spoke with believes the Honda battery is manufactured by Interstate. The Interstate equivalent lists for $205 and has a 24 month warranty.
 
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Robert_Alabama said:
The battery that @JustAnotherPoorDriver is talking about from Walmart is rated at 410 CCA and has a 1 year warranty for $69.74. I think it has plenty of CCA since mine has tested below 200 CCA for the last year with no issues (yet). It's over 6 years old now, so I'm living on borrowed time. If I replace it before it fails, I will probably give the $70 Walmart a shot and expect it to last 3 years...
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My battery also is over six years, but I'll continue using it just to see how long it lasts. (The Optima Redtop in my T-bucket is at least 10 years old and still going strong.) I do carry a fully-charged portable jump-starter in the Clarity. I'm not sure what I'll replace it with -- probably another Honda battery, given how long the original has lasted. With five cars to maintain, I prefer longer-lasting replacement parts.
 
Joe17 said:
I'd personally stick to what Honda decided that the battery CCA should be. Their engineers came up with that number for a reason. The 12v powers the lights, accessories, and high voltage contactors so there is somewhat of a draw.
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The battery is being charged whenever the DC/DC converter is active, ie:READY Mode.

CCA is pretty much baked in the cake for a Group 51/51R battery at somewhere between 350-500. As mentioned previously, a battery that’s measuring 200 is doing the job.

I could be misremembering, but it seems our 2019 came with a 350 CCA battery.
 
Landshark said:
The battery is being charged whenever the DC/DC converter is active, ie:READY Mode.

CCA is pretty much baked in the cake for a Group 51/51R battery at somewhere between 350-500. As mentioned previously, a battery that’s measuring 200 is doing the job.

I could be misremembering, but it seems our 2019 came with a 350 CCA battery.
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310 I think. I probably have a picture of it somewhere.
My 2024 battery

My 2024 battery

Walmart EverStart value bought late August 2024 in New York
This is the new battery. Picture was taken August 19th when I replaced it, and the battery was apparently a month old at that point (They actually had to unload it off of the truck for me as it had just come in that day). Made in Korea 410 CCA
 
Sam's club has now updated their battery install policy and will install one in a Hybrid as long as it is easily accessible.
Got mine installed today for $120+tax in their Doorbuster sale (Duracell with 3 year replacement warranty).
 
Landshark said:
Going cheap is a viable option. That decision could lead to buying a $70 battery every 1-3 years as opposed to buying a $130 battery that has a full replacement warranty for 36 months and a pro-rated warranty for 100 months. Either option hardly constitutes a rounding error for most households, so it’s more of a convenience/comfort factor knowing the battery has a superior warranty.

FWIW: The employee at the Honda parts counter that I spoke with believes the Honda battery is manufactured by Interstate. The Interstate equivalent lists for $205 and has a 24 month warranty.
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My battery started acting up now at the 4 and a half year point. Went to the Honda dealership and the battery that they sold for $130 six months ago is now over $200. Close to $250 with tax if you have them install it. I opted instead for the Costco Interstate 51R for $130. You can do the installation yourself in 20 minutes and then bring the old battery back to Costco within 45 days to recover the $15 environmental deposit.
 
My 2018 Clarity's original battery was still going strong but since it was going on 7 years old I decided it would be smart to replace it before a trip. Advance Auto Parts is closing most of their stores and batteries are currently 50% off. The 51R size is clearly not popular because I went to 3 stores and they were cleared out of a lot of stuff already but all had multiple batteries that size left. $110 for the Diehard Gold 51R 500CCA battery, replaced it myself in under 5 min.

Price is in store at the closing locations only. They also had good quality rear brake pads and filters for under $5, the brakes and most other parts are 90% off.
 
MarkClarity said:
FYI Walmart has 4 versions of the 51R battery, Value, Plus, Maxx, and Platinum. The Value is the $70 one with lowest but sufficient CCA.
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I just picked up the $109 one yesterday. I had the car on "start/stop button twice w/o brake" for like 30 mins listening to the radio while I was putting in a new dashcam then the car started to throw all sort of error messages. Checked the batt and it was down to 11.9 volt. Not too bad but I figure it's time.
 
Went ahead and joined @JustAnotherPoorDriver and @David Towle with the $70 - 1yr Walmart battery. Car has 70k miles on it and the battery was nearly 7 years old. Last test was July 2024 at 191 CCA. I'm soon going to have to leave it for a couple of weeks and wanted it to start when I got back, so I went ahead and replaced it. I was probably running on borrowed time anyway, but I've had zero issues with the car behaving badly with the old battery.
 
Robert_Alabama said:
Went ahead and joined @JustAnotherPoorDriver and @David Towle with the $70 - 1yr Walmart battery. Car has 70k miles on it and the battery was nearly 7 years old. Last test was July 2024 at 191 CCA. I'm soon going to have to leave it for a couple of weeks and wanted it to start when I got back, so I went ahead and replaced it. I was probably running on borrowed time anyway, but I've had zero issues with the car behaving badly with the old battery.
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For the past 2 weeks, I forgot to drive my 2018 Clarity with a 1-year old Honda 12V battery. I paid the price. This afternoon when I pushed the On/Off button, the dashboard lit up briefly, but then went dark. I was left with a blinking red On/Off button that wouldn't respond to pressing. When I got out to hook up my 12V charger, my Clarity beeped at me with derision (mistakenly believing I was getting out while it was turned on).

My Clarity hates me and my MINI Electric.
 
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Robert_Alabama said:
I'm soon going to have to leave it for a couple of weeks and wanted it to start when I got back, so I went ahead and replaced it.
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In my experience, the Clarity displayed a unique ability to drain its 12V battery while at rest, like no other vehicle I’ve ever owned. A period of a few weeks will likely not result in a drained battery. However, repeating that cycle or exceeding the time period could cause battery damage that results in a premature failure. An easy solution is to use a Battery Tender, or similar device, for such occasions.
 
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