Battery Died From P&G / FAS...

BudgetFitting · #1 09-23-2008, 03:09 PM

Today, my car would not start and I was stuck in the intersection. This was a great time to get out and push to gain a few free points

.

The car is 5 months old with 4,000 miles on it. The battery went dead, and I could not bump start since I was on an incline and could not get going down hill since it is a large 4 lane road with a cement divider.

AAA came out and jump started me, and told me the battery has only a 20% life left. For those who have not seen a Fit battery, it is tiny. The tow truck driver said it is the smallest car battery he has ever seen, even smaller than the prius (he said it looked like a motorcycle battery).

I coast over 2/3 of my driving miles, and always have my CD player on at a moderate volume, and I always have the air vent on (not the A/C). So, when I am P&G'ing all of these things are running off the battery, and since I only pulse for less than 10 seconds there seems to not enough time to recharge it (since I coast for over 20 seconds).

My question is this; how do you guys who P&G everywhere avoid dead batterys?

I know shutting off the CD player and air will help, but will it solve the problem so it does not do this to the new battery? I am just amazed how quickly the life of this battery went down.

jhu · #2 09-23-2008, 03:32 PM

do you have daytime running lights? do you live in the usa? if so, find some way to turn those off since they're not mandatory here (yet).

BudgetFitting · #3 09-23-2008, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhu

do you have daytime running lights? do you live in the usa? if so, find some way to turn those off since they're not mandatory here (yet).

Nope, no daytime lights. I also almost never drive at night, so I basically never turn on my headlights.

The only drain is the CD player, air vent, and occasional blinker.

fixedintime · #4 09-23-2008, 04:14 PM

Add to that the breaks when you use them.

Right Lane Cruiser · #5 09-23-2008, 04:39 PM

Brake lights can be significant. If no one is behind you give the e-brake a try. Also, does your car have electric power steering? That could be drawing it down as well.

The Insight came with a miniature battery from the factory as well. It is almost a cube! I found it was weak when the temps finally got low enough that the car wanted to use the auxiliary starter motor but didn't have enough juice to do it. I replaced it with a larger (Civic) sized battery.

lightfoot · #6 09-23-2008, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Right Lane Cruiser

Also, does your car have electric power steering? That could be drawing it down as well.

Ah yes I forgot, the Fit has EPS. Mike Dabrowski told me that the EPS on the Insight draws a lot of current (50A at times) according to his measurements. That may be your biggest problem. You might try disabling the EPS by pulling its fuse and seeing how you like manual steering. This can be done on the Insight.

Personally, these cars are so small I wish Honda would just set them up with manual steering and avoid all the fuss.

As for the trickle charger, I was thinking of that for protection for the battery. Leaving a lead acid battery discharged leads to sulfation, which can shorten the battery's lifetime. So topping it off at night may help with life.

As Wayne says, it won't help with the battery going dead in use, but at least you'll start the day with a fresh battery. If you get a larger capacity battery and you're lucky, it may last through your daily driving and then you can charge it up at night.

lnmcmahan · #7 09-23-2008, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BudgetFitting

Today, my car would not start and I was stuck in the intersection. This was a great time to get out and push to gain a few free points

.

BTDT! Twice!! PITA!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by BudgetFitting

My question is this; how do you guys who P&G everywhere avoid dead batterys?

Doh! That the main reason, I bought the SG! First I don't run ANYTHING that draws any juice, not even the fan in 100F+ weather. Second, at night I monitor VLT on one of my guages, and do N-ice on coasting when it drops below 11.3. I also put it in gear and get off the brakes at stoplights, and turn off my headlights if there is someone in front of and behine me.

Larry

CitrusInsighter · #8 09-23-2008, 08:10 PM

When you P&G, do you usually bump start after your glide or key start? Eliminating many key-starts will save our batter quite a bit if you aren't already.

Boston Man · #9 09-23-2008, 08:51 PM

Thats weird. I have the OEM battery in my 06 Civic and i listened to my radio with amp and sub woofer for ~10 minutes with the engine off. My car started up fine with no hesitation.

ksstathead · #10 09-23-2008, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boston Man

Thats weird. I have the OEM battery in my 06 Civic and i listened to my radio with amp and sub woofer for ~10 minutes with the engine off. My car started up fine with no hesitation.

Civic has bigger battery.

Also, were you in a FAS or parked? If the latter: No EPS draw. No CPU. etc. Much more current draw with engine on. Though the Fit battery would not last long w/ your sub...