You could just use Google? Look up lead acid desulfation, there are all sorts of odd charging schemes like pulse charging for lead acid. Try looking at a datash li ion charge controller, charging a battery isnt a generic process. This information really isn't hard to find (usually). If you want to figure out if there is any special lead acid maintenance functions you could try taking a look at patents, I don't know who makes the dc-dc but the usual suspects for this type of thing would be Panasonic, mitsubishi electric, and kehin(Hitachi, they are kinda the same thing now? I dunno the specifics about that). Just to make this clear, I really don't support putting li ion in place of lead acid car batteries, there really isn't a huge amount of practical benefit from what I can see.
12v Battery Replacement
- Thread starter Dan Albrich
- Start date
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I asked you to substantiate your claims.
JustAnotherPoorDriver
Well-Known Member
Just got back from my month and a half away (car left at the work parking lot since I live in the city) and came back to a dead battery as expected. Threw it on a trickle charger for a bit and it seems fine but given the fact that it's gone through COVID discharge and it's the original 2018 battery, decided to swap it out. Ended up getting the cheapest battery which was not the Costco but the Walmart value (~$70). Since I do no short trips in my car (every trip is at least an hour), I use it multiple times per week, and it's garaged or on a charger during the winter this seems like a reasonable risk, but I'll report back on whether it strands me.
JustAnotherPoorDriver
Well-Known Member
Just to record this here, The EverStart value in our group size, at least the one I got, starts with an EP serial number (so supplied by East Penn) but was made in South Korea. Brand new off the truck, date sticker looks to be about a month or two old
If I remember I'll post in about a year to update everybody on how it's doing.
If I remember I'll post in about a year to update everybody on how it's doing.
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Robert_Alabama
Well-Known Member
I haven't yet replaced mine, but was considering this same battery. Last time I looked it was in stock at the local Walmart. I think there is a good chance that this is the most cost effective option for you. Posts online will say that this battery has a low life, but the Clarity isn't very hard on a battery, so I don't know that it will be the case in one of our cars...
Our Clarity killed the battery twice while sitting around doing nothing. Other owners have reported the same. My anecdotal experience with conventional vehicles is that none of them have ever drained a battery while sitting idle for 6 weeks. More often than not, those batteries lasted 7-10 years, and some were replaced while they still had the ability to start a V-8.
Of course, a car with this gift will be able to drain an expensive, high quality battery with the same aplomb as it will a low cost battery of questionable quality. That said, the low cost option should perform adequately.
NorCalPete
Well-Known Member
I finally replaced the 12v battery in my 2018 Clarity. I haven't had any problems with it, but I noticed a little corrosion on the negative terminal, it's 7 1/2 years old, and my wife and I are heading out next week for a 10-day backpacking trip on Santa Rosa Island (Channel Islands National Park) -- I didn't want to deal with a potential dead battery when we returned to the car. My local replacement options were Walmart EverStart Value ($82, 1 year warranty), Plus ($121, 2 years), or Maxx ($154, 3 years); Honda OEM ($195, 3 years, then prorated to 100 months); or Costco Interstate ($124, 3 years). I opted for Costco because of the price/warranty, I've had good luck with those batteries in all of my other cars, and I'm not a fan of Walmart. I was surprised that the Honda OEM battery was so expensive compared to prices reported by others on this forum. For me, it wasn't worth the extra $71 for a Honda warranty that I'll likely never use.
BrianRC
Well-Known Member
Good job. I chose the Costco battery as well. The Honda OEM battery (which is also an Interstate) used to be competitively priced, but a few months prior to mine failing the price shot way up. The staff in the parts department were embarrased to tell me the price after I told them what Costco was charging for essentially the same battery.
We’re in the process of having the 12V replaced in the Jeep 4xe. After having the traction battery replaced we decided to give the car another chance. It didn’t take long for another annoyance to occur. The dash lit up with a Service HV Charging System alert and then gave instructions to press the brake pedal and push power to start. That did nothing after repeated attempts.
When the flat bed arrived we had to jack it up to put dollies under the wheels before dragging it out of the garage because the parking brake would not release. Long story short the dealer diagnosed low voltage on the 12V. Why these cars throw every code in the book and flash numerous alerts but can’t display a low 12V battery alert is almost beyond comprehension. The service department informed me that this fabulous battery that didn’t last 4 years costs $550. Yesterday I told them to go ahead and install it. Then I did some research and found that a 94R/H7 AGM battery costs about $250. So I’ll pick it up today and I’ve asked them to remove the $550 battery and put the old one in the back of the Jeep.
They wouldn’t match the price from Mopar Parts Online, which had a list price of $304 and a sale price of $227.50. They said their cost is more than the wholesale price online. It pretty embarrassing that a dealer pays more for parts than what a consumer pays. This is the final straw. We’re getting a quote from Carvana today.
When the flat bed arrived we had to jack it up to put dollies under the wheels before dragging it out of the garage because the parking brake would not release. Long story short the dealer diagnosed low voltage on the 12V. Why these cars throw every code in the book and flash numerous alerts but can’t display a low 12V battery alert is almost beyond comprehension. The service department informed me that this fabulous battery that didn’t last 4 years costs $550. Yesterday I told them to go ahead and install it. Then I did some research and found that a 94R/H7 AGM battery costs about $250. So I’ll pick it up today and I’ve asked them to remove the $550 battery and put the old one in the back of the Jeep.
They wouldn’t match the price from Mopar Parts Online, which had a list price of $304 and a sale price of $227.50. They said their cost is more than the wholesale price online. It pretty embarrassing that a dealer pays more for parts than what a consumer pays. This is the final straw. We’re getting a quote from Carvana today.
Joe17
Active Member
It sucks that you are having so many issues with the Jeep, Jeeps, Stellantis, is no longer a good product. Yeah , it makes no sense why there is no low 12v battery warning is it is so critical to the operation. I bought one of those little lithium battery jumpers to keep in my clarity in case of another 12v issue.
David Towle
Well-Known Member
Smart selling it to someone like Carvana. You dont want an angry buyer coming to your door after a breakdown.
Jeep is near the bottom, based on a JD Power study. Ram is just below Honda and above both Ford and GMC. Just a bit of data for those throwing the s#it blanket over all Stellantis products. It may be necessary to add few other brands to the complaint list. See below. We’ll be moving up the list with a Toyota.
I also carry lithium jump packs in our vehicles. My previous experience with a weak or dead battery in a PHEV (Clarity) is that the car is DOA. Nothing works, doors won’t unlock, dash will not illuminate, etc. In this case the doors unlocked and the dash illuminated with a warning about servicing the Hybrid Charging System. It even suggested pressing the brake pedal and pushing the Power button to start the car. On the surface it did not appear to be a 12V issue and it took the service department quite a bit of time to figure it out. They had the car for a week. We got it back yesterday after they installed the $260 battery that I provided. The new battery has 800CCA compared to 700CCA for the original.
David Towle
Well-Known Member
Lots of JD Power data I see is just first year, but this VDS is over the first 3 years so I think it likely is a useful tool for comparison. Except for Kia/Hyundai.
Robert_Alabama
Well-Known Member
Hard to tell a lot from the brand reliability. You need to research the specific vehicle you are interested in, especially if it is an EV or PHEV. Dodge has had numerous problems with the Charger Daytona EV, especially the 2024 models. Control arms have been problematic for the front wheel drive or AWD versions of the Chevrolet Blazer, Cadillac Lyriq, and Honda Prologue, as well as numerous software glitches. Many/Most of the Chevrolet Bolts prior to 2022 had battery replacements under recall. If you search used for any of these vehicles, you see several low mileage ones that are manufacturer buy-backs. I think the Charger Daytona EV is a great looking car, but I can't get past the reliability question. I've been fortunate with both the 2018 Honda Clarity (75k miles) and the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV RWD (32k miles) as neither has given me any problems (yet)...
In my experience it’s a forgone conclusion that a PHEV will be more problematic than a conventional vehicle. The Jeep may have set a new standard, but the Clarity isn’t without its own set of special problems and peculiarities. Some aren’t even PHEV related. Honda ranks below the industry standard for some reason. Maybe their electrified vehicles have brought them down or maybe most or all of their vehicles are less dependable these days.