12v Battery Replacement

My 12 volt batter on my 2018 Clarity has an battery state indicator window. In the 3.5 years that I have had the car, the indicator has remained "OK". I check it with every tire rotation and it's always the same, OK. I assumed that everyone's Clarity 12 volt batteries would be the same. Do yours not have this feature?battery12v.webp

My wife's 2017 Honda CR-V's battery failed just after the warranty expired. It did not have any sort of monitoring window.
 
DaleL said:
My 12 volt batter on my 2018 Clarity has an battery state indicator window.
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This indicator is really just a measure of the State of Charge for the battery. It is a simple hygrometer measuring the specific gravity of the electrolyte.

There are a lot of things that can go wrong with a battery that this will not detect. If your battery gets discharged (because the lights were left on or some such) you could tell at a glance that it is discharged with this, but you probably knew that already.

It will not predict whether the battery is approaching end of life.

Battery outlets, and repair shops can perform an electrical load test which measures the internal resistance of the battery and will give a much better indication if it is in the process of failing.

In spite of all good intentions and tests, a battery will often fail suddenly without any warning. You can routinely replace it after a prescribed number of years to lessen your risk of a sudden failure. Everyone has to gauge their own comfort level when deciding whether to replace a "good" battery, or just wait until it fails and deal with the consequences.
 
Don't forget that the OEM battery has its own warranty, separate from the car. After the 36-month bumper-to-bumper warranty expires, there's still many months of warranty on the 12V battery that will pro-rate against the cost of a new one.
 
rodeknyt said:
Don't forget that the OEM battery has its own warranty, separate from the car. After the 36-month bumper-to-bumper warranty expires, there's still many months of warranty on the 12V battery that will pro-rate against the cost of a new one.
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Corect me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that the original battery is only covered for the 3 years / 36K mile period.

If you purchase an OEM replacement battery from Honda, then that battery comes with a 100 month warranty. The first 36 months of which it is covered 100%, and then the remaining 64 months are pro-rated.

It's odd that they dont have the same coverage on the original battery, but that's the way they do it !

Maybe the longer replacement warranty is an incentive to purchase a replacement battery from Honda rather than your local Walmart. It's actually not a bad deal.
 
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The dealer replaced the 12V battery in my new 2020 Clarity before I picked it up in August. The car sat for a few months and it was as dead as a stone. Car had 290 kms (185 miles) There must be a draw on it all the time.
 
MrFixit said:
I would not have expected that a battery failure would show up like yours while driving...
When actively in RUN mode, the HV battery charges the 12V. I suppose the charging process will cycle on and off, and with a bad battery, maybe you effectively get a drop-out at the moment the charging process cycles off, triggering the dreaded Christmas Tree on the dash.
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Same happened to me, just on a city road rather than an interstate. Had almost arrived at the grocery store and the big warning "STOP NOW OR YOU'LL EXPLODE AND EXPERIENCE DOOMLY DEATH" thing popped up on me.

MrFixit said:
Corect me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that the original battery is only covered for the 3 years / 36K mile period.

If you purchase an OEM replacement battery from Honda, then that battery comes with a 100 month warranty. The first 36 months of which it is covered 100%, and then the remaining 64 months are pro-rated.
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When my battery failed the dealer replaced it with something (I haven't bothered to ever look) and said it'd only be covered for the remaining portion of the initial warranty. Odd if it was a new OEM battery it wouldn't include the new warranty :(
 
My experience after driving for many years:
a) the battery is on borrowed time after 4-4.5 years in both cold and warm climates. Sometimes you get luckier, sometimes you don't.
b) dying batteries sometimes give warning, sometimes not.
c) batteries typically require charging/replacement at very inconvenient times/places, and especially after sitting idle for a few weeks.

For $150.00 +/-, a preemptive battery replacement with the timing and vendor of my choice represents better value to me than tempting fate and trying to wring the last dollar out of it.
 
A 12V lead acid battery can be murdered in a few months if properly neglected. Expect it to self-discharge about 10% each month if there are minimal parasitic loads. The Clarity battery will not issue the standard “slow to crank” warning as a traditional ICE vehicle.

The last battery I replaced had a 7 year warranty. It lasted 6 years and 11 months. The battery in my truck may be more than 11 years old. I believe it has not been replaced since we bought the current house, 11 1/2 years ago. A lithium jump pack allows for the use of the battery to the bitter end. When it dies, jump it and drive to the nearest auto parts store. The kids there will replace for you.
 
The original Honda battery (same one that the Civic uses) is just an old fashioned FLA (not even an AGM) battery. It is rated at 500 CCA, and has a Reserve Capacity (RC) of 85 minutes. That RC equates to approximately a 35 Amp-hour capacity.

You can purchase Lithium Ion replacements for lead acid batteries. These have built-in BMS circuitry so they will charge properly with a standard alternator (or other lead acid charging system).

I was curious whether it would be worth considering one of these as an 'upgraded' replacement. The trouble is the cost. It seems like by the time you get to the ~35 amp-hour capacity, the cost is in the $500-$600 range. The Clarity definitely doesn't need 500 CCA, but you may not want to reduce the energy capacity of the 12V battery because of accessory demands, parasitic loads, etc...

I know 12V Lithium Ion batteres are making inroads with marine and RV applications, but perhaps not [yet] for automotive?

Does anyone have any direct knowledge or insight with 12V Lithium Ion replacement technology?
 
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MrFixit said:
I know 12V Lithium Ion batteres are making inroads with marine and RV applications, but perhaps not [yet] for automotive?
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It was around 10-15 years ago that I became aware of LiOn batts in motorcycles.

In the performance motorcycling world, weight is everything just like in performance bicycling. Not only is a lighter bike faster for the same horsepower but it handles and stops better too. The best part in many cases is it’s free by simply removing unnecessary parts. After that it starts getting expensive real quick; high tech materials (CF, magnesium, titanium, etc) replacing cheaper, heavier metals is typical.

LiOn batteries fall into this category. Not widely adopted due to costs. Early DIY attempts that included using cells out of hand tool power packs often had issues with BMS or the lack thereof. As previously stated, weight reduction was the big reason followed by better cranking power in a small package.
 
Learning a lot from this discussion. I've noticed that the power windows on my 2018 Clarity (22,000 miles) seem to go down and up at a slower pace than in the past. Might this be an indication that the 12 V battery is on its last legs?
 
Landshark said:
Have it load tested. That will give you a definitive answer. If it’s weak, head over to a Honda dealer and get their replacement with the 100 month warranty.
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I dont think it is batt related. You can test it by opening/closing the window with the car on and then off. see if there is any speed difference. If there is no difference then it is not battery related. I had similar issue with other honda in the past. The windows slow down as the car ages. It gotten so bad the dealer had to replace the window track.
 
fotomoto said:
It was around 10-15 years ago that I became aware of LiOn batts in motorcycles…

Not widely adopted due to costs.
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I’ve used a few in motorcycles and have one in my Light Sport airplane.

One other drawback - a single case of completely discharging the battery can destroy it. But in my plane a lead-acid battery weighs in excess of 15 lbs, and the lithium-iron is less than 3. That 12 lbs difference lets me carry 2 extra gallons of fuel. I installed it in 2014 and it’s still going strong!
 
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