12 Volt Battery need to be replaced

[Valente]

Took my 2018 Clarity in for an oil change today and was told by Honda dealer that my 12V battery is low and should be replaced. He cautioned that I would someday soon not be able to start my car. I'm afraid of being stranded somewhere and having to call a tow truck. I am at 65,000 miles and he said it should be replaced around 75,000 mi. He quoted a price of $250. I went to Costco and they said a new battery is $75 but they don't install batteries. I would try to install the battery but there's a lot of wires around the battery and am afraid of shorting out the system. Has anyone replaced their 12V battery?

 

[Landshark]

The Honda replacement battery carries a 7 year warranty, pro-rated after 3 years. $250 sounds a bit steep. HondaPartsNow.com sells the battery for $100. And a mileage interval recommendation for a battery is nothing short of nonsense. Also, consider getting a lithium jump pack.

 

[MrFixit]

Not long ago, someone had a detailed post about how he changed the 12V battery (with some photos and lesson's learned).
I am having trouble finding it however... Anyone else remember that post?

 

[JFon101231]

Nope but in general, if you can pop the hood you have 50% of the knowledge required to change a battery. YMMV

 

[Fast Eddie B]

November will by our Clarity’s third birthday. I plan on replacing the original battery then. Will likely have over 60,000 miles by then, though as others have said, mileage is a lousy standard for battery replacement. It’s just cheap insurance against an inconvenient failure down the road. I usually get mine at Walmart, mainly because there are so many around in the case of a warranty issue. Another advantage to retiring the original battery early is that it can be used as a spare/backup/jump starter or just a handy 12v power source as long as its charged on a regular basis.

 

[insightman]

Not long ago, someone had a detailed post about how he changed the 12V battery (with some photos and lesson's learned).
I am having trouble finding it however... Anyone else remember that post?

I couldn't find it in the archives for this forum, but I found this set of videos. These videos don't reveal any special tricks (other than using a battery tender to avoid interrupting power to the car's electronics).

 

[rodeknyt]

I couldn't find it in the archives for this forum, but I found this set of videos. These videos don't reveal any special tricks (other than using a battery tender to avoid interrupting power to the car's electronics).

One of the compact lithium jumper units also could be used to maintain power during a battery replacement.

 

[vicw]

Not long ago, someone had a detailed post about how he changed the 12V battery (with some photos and lesson's learned).
I am having trouble finding it however... Anyone else remember that post?

You probably weren't referring to my post, but I did replace the 12v battery, and commented on my experience, about the difficulties I had with the task, in my Post #21,in <https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/i-guess-i-haven’t-been-driving-it-enough-car-won’t-start.9249/page-2>
.

Regarding the cost of the battery, my Honda dealer charged me about $140 for the part, and it does come with a 7 year warranty, with proration, as @Landshark described. Having done it, I wouldn't recommend it for the average older person, with no one available to help pull the wires out of the way. I would happily pay to have it done next time.

 

[MrFixit]

You probably weren't referring to my post, but I did replace the 12v battery, and commented on my experience, about the difficulties I had with the task, in my Post #21

Yes, this was what I was thinking of... I remembered your discussion about trying to keep the power on during the swap (something I likely wouldn't bother with).

 

[bpratt]

I recently had the dealer replace my 12 volt battery. The battery was $139.80 and the labor was $20.00. If I were you I would find a new Honda dealer!

 

[vicw]

Yes, this was what I was thinking of... I remembered your discussion about trying to keep the power on during the swap (something I likely wouldn't bother with).

Yes, I agree it's not worth worrying about the power disconnect. After going through the initial warnings confusion that follows the removal and restoration of power a few times recently, I found I could just let the car go through its parade of warnings, and let it settle in, with the message for me to drive carefully - then drive a mile or two, and then run the Tire Recalibration, and drive a bit more.

 

[vicw]

I recently had the dealer replace my 12 volt battery. The battery was $139.80 and the labor was $20.00. If I were you I would find a new Honda dealer!

I got the same price for the same battery, but I didn't ask for a quote for the replacement.

I'm stunned that your dealer charged you Twenty bucks to replace the battery. Having actually done it myself, I would happily pay that, or perhaps twice that before doing it myself again.

 

[Valente]

November will by our Clarity’s third birthday. I plan on replacing the original battery then. Will likely have over 60,000 miles by then, though as others have said, mileage is a lousy standard for battery replacement. It’s just cheap insurance against an inconvenient failure down the road. I usually get mine at Walmart, mainly because there are so many around in the case of a warranty issue. Another advantage to retiring the original battery early is that it can be used as a spare/backup/jump starter or just a handy 12v power source as long as its charged on a regular basis.

Thanks for the tip. I tried Walmart this morning and they installed a "51R" type battery. Cost was $131 which included tax and installation and took about 10 minutes. The Walmart battery has a 3 year warranty. They tested the car afterwards to see if everything was OK. Everything seemed OK. However, there was an error message on the LCD screen that said something like "Power was disconnected please press the power button for 2 seconds to restart power." This was confusing. I kept pressing the power button for 2 secs and the error message wouldn't go away so I drove to Honda dealer and they pressed the "audio power" button (not the power start button) and everything returned to normal. Duh.

 

[MrFixit]

FWIW,
Around here, the major auto parts stores (AutoZone, Advance Auto) will install a battery for free if you purchase it there. I thought Walmart did it for free too, but I'm not as sure of that. In most cases, it really is a trivial process (@vicw - I don't mean to minimize your hands-on experience) !!

 

[vicw]

FWIW,
Around here, the major auto parts stores (AutoZone, Advance Auto) will install a battery for free if you purchase it there. I thought Walmart did it for free too, but I'm not as sure of that. In most cases, it really is a trivial process (@vicw - I don't mean to minimize your hands-on experience) !!

I agree, it is usually a trivial process. What makes the replacement on the Clarity more difficult is the stiffness of the assembly attached to the Positive terminal. It is a handful pulling it out of the way to accommodate the removal and replacement of the battery - which makes the job more difficult, unless you have a second pair of hands to hold it out of the way.

 

[Dan Albrich]

I also don't want to get stranded, but it seems to me in some ways our 12v batteries should be more forgiving than normal. I just mean that we don't require our 12v battery to crank anything. And to second the small lithium ion jumper kits (i.e. found online like amazon etc.) -- this should be enough power to turn on the car's 12v system, which can enable the traction battery.

 

[Valente]

I was just told by my Honda dealer that a red battery light would go on as a warning that the 12V battery is low and needs replacing. Had I known this I would've waited to replace the battery.

 

[MrFixit]

I was just told by my Honda dealer that a red battery light would go on as a warning that the 12V battery is low and needs replacing

I don't buy this... It is not really possible to identify a 'bad' 12V battery without measuring the internal resistance.
It is very unlikely that the vehicle can do this and thus, the first indication of a failure will be the inability to start... Not a warning light.

 

[Landshark]

I was just told by my Honda dealer that a red battery light would go on as a warning that the 12V battery is low and needs replacing. Had I known this I would've waited to replace the battery.

Have your Honda dealer read the manual so as to better understand the vehicle.

 

[bpratt]

I was just told by my Honda dealer that a red battery light would go on as a warning that the 12V battery is low and needs replacing. Had I known this I would've waited to replace the battery.

My battery was dead one morning in early March. I never got any warnings from the car, it just would not start that morning.