Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Are all new cars such battery hogs?

Bought a 2024 Honda Civic last year for the express purpose of taking road trips. It's a fine car to drive, rides smooth, quiet, handles well on the twisty mountain roads and gets great mileage, but in the winter it just isn't driven that much.

A couple months ago it had been sitting in the garage for about 3-4 weeks without being driven and when I tried to start it - nada, not even a click. Hooked up a battery charger and several hours later it fired up, no problem.

Last night I decided to drive it to go out to dinner, it was last driven maybe two weeks ago. Hit the starter button and you'd think I'd accidentally launched a nuclear missile. The headlights started flashing like crazy, bells going off and all kinds of dire warnings appeared on the dash - Problem with electronic parking brake, Problem with hold on hill brake system, Problem with stability control, Problem with Tire Monitor System - See Dealer.

That last part pissed me off - "See Dealer". How the hell am I supposed to see the dealer when it won't start?

Anyway, hooked up the ol' battery charger again and a few hours later it started normally. Apparently, you don't even have to have a dead battery to immobilize it, just one with a low charge.

Are all new computerized cars this much of a battery hog? Seems I'm going to have to take it out for a spin every week or so just to keep the battery charged.



Btw, after I hooked up the battery charger I got in my 2004 CRV and it fired right up, same as it always has for the last 21 years. Sometimes (as often as not, actually), I think technology takes two steps forward and three steps back.

It sounds to me like there's a stuck relay or something like that causing something to remain active after shutdown when it should all be completely deactivated.

I remember reading about ten years ago about a guy who bought a car at a giveaway price because no one could figure out why it drained batteries. He parked it and watched it and discovered that there was a switch or other device causing the headlights to turn on intermittently with no one in the car.

My 2018 F-150 sits for a few weeks at times and I've never had an issue. Maybe install a "twisty knob" battery disconnect? The two vehicles in Idaho have them and are on tenders for nine months with zero issues. I do the same for the three months we are north with my vehicles here.

Does it have auto start/stop?

If so when last driven is it driven in a lot of stop and go before being parked?

The onboard On Star or whatever you may have is always communicating, or at least trying to if it's in a garage. Just like a cellphone in a metal building, it keeps calling for Momma, and drains the battery faster. Just guessing, based on experience with comms devices that are "automatic."

It does have the stop on idle but turning that off is part of my startup ritual - buckle seat belt, start engine, take off brake and disable auto stop. When I do drive it, it's usually for at least an hour or more. We had a nice day a few weeks ago so I took it out for about a two hour trip around SW Idaho.

Obviously I haven't bought a new car in two decades so I'm not totally familiar with how they're supposed to act. Some of the new tech is pretty neat-o but a lot of the Nanny tech is a PITA. It's still under full warranty so if this is unusual I'll run it by the dealer and have them check things out.

Run it by. Can't hurt.

I bet they know more than we know.

New cars have tons of electronics and alarms, and cameras, and memory features, yes a month sitting without use would likely cause low voltage issues,

But you drove to the restaurant, and then it wouldn’t start…….

That seems unusual.

Jim;
Top of the morning, I hope that other than the vehicular issues that you're all well, warm and dry on what's been a bit of a wet and cool morning up here.

With the understanding that my data points are a few years old now as I've been retired for a bit.

When I was managing a storage facility for RVs, boats, classic and sporty cars, the more "anti theft" stuff a rig had on it, the faster it'd kill the battery.

One memorable lesson was a fairly new Corvette that had enough battery to let me unlock the door and get in, but that killed the battery sufficiently that I was locked inside...

Luckily I had my phone and the other fellow working there heard me yelling - windows up of course - got the owner's phone number and we were able to get me out. He came down with a battery tender that afternoon, we had a good laugh and he told me it'd done the same thing to him!

It and a BMW with a retractable hard top would flat kill their battery in 10 days without a tender.

Our 40th anniversary Mustang - 2004 - would kill a battery in about 6 weeks with the anti-theft stuff, so even if we didn't drive it, I'd go start it in summer and then pull the battery in winter.

When I was working at a GM dealership, most of the rigs would sit on the lot for a month without needing a boost, but even the Denali's then didn't get too crazy with anti-theft stuff.

A note of caution to anyone who buys a newer battery charger as well is that many of them are now "smart chargers" and if the battery is completely flat, the smart charger does not recognize it as a battery and won't charge it at all.

We'd give the battery being charged a wee bit of juice with booster cables from our forklift, which would then allow the smart charger to recognize the battery and we were good to go.

It wasn't optimum however, but there it is/was.

For sure I'd take it to the dealer, have them run a diagnostic and if it comes up clean, you might want to consider a battery tender.

We put one on the little diesel tractor that mainly gets used for cleaning the driveway so it's only started every few months. Prior to putting on the tender it'd eat a battery every 3-5 years, but it's been at least 7 years on this one now - with the tender on it.

Hope that helped and was useful for you or someone out there.

All the best.

Dwayne

Kenneth;
Morning sir, I trust all is well as can be in your part of the edge of the map.

Somehow I missed that part and indeed if we can drive it any distance at all and then the battery is flat, there's an issue.

Could be the battery itself too.

There seems to be a whole lot of sub par battery problems up here as of late.

Our son in law has been fighting with a couple batteries in his Forester, to the point where we'll likely switch brands this fall and see.

The alternator tests fine, but although the battery tests fine according to the parts store where he got it, it seems to have very limited power when it's even remotely below freezing.

Good catch and comment sir.

Dwayne

Diesel truck can sit indefinitely - absolutely no electrical load until one turns the key.

'97 Mustang GT needs to be driven at least every other week, or the battery is too flat to cold-crank.

OEM Security and Monitoring systems.




GR

Parasitic draw is a common problem with Honda and not just the CRV but civic as well.

There are various causes of the parasitic draw. On the CR-V, Honda has identified the VSA (Vehicle Stability Assist) modulator as a potential culprit.

According to Honda, the VSA software logic may not shut down correctly, causing the VSA modulator to continue drawing 350mA of current even when the car is off. This amount of current is more than enough to drain the battery within a few days.

Garandimal;
Morning sir, I hope other than the Mustang battery issue that the day's behaving for you.

If you're able to run a battery tender on that GT, I'd be surprised if it didn't solve the issue for you.

Up here even with our Canadian exchange and all, we can usually get into a decent one for under $50.

While I'm not entirely sure just how a tender keeps the battery happy, they most certainly do that according to a number of them we saw being used at the storage facility.

For sure it's a pain unhooking it before you fire up, but it gives us a chance to check the belts, hoses and fluids while were there...

That's what I kept telling myself anyways.

All the best.

Dwayne

Just pull a cable off the battery if it's going to sit a while, or install a switch to isolate the battery.

Our 2018 Honda CRV has some kind of a recycling fan associated with the fuel tank that runs occasionally after the engine is shut off and it sits for awhile. I've heard it running several times when I've gone into the garage for one reason or another in the evening. I looked it up on the www but can't remember the explanation for it. We've let the vehicle sit at the airport for two weeks at a time and so far that hasn't been enough to drain the battery but I would imagine it could as the battery ages.

If the car gets locked how does one get back in?

I don't know about On Star, but digital phones remain in two-way contact with the nearest tower and if the tower thinks the phone isn't responding with sufficient signal it will command the phone to crank up its transmit power. That means if you're in a metal building that attenuates your phone's transmit signal responses to the tower it will drain the battery faster. Whether or not On Star is in constant contact with each subscriber is a question I cannot answer, but that may be something to consider.

Draining a battery too low will damage it. It's a common problem with RV batteries but also with starting batteries. If it gets down to 10.5 V, it's considered fully discharged. Don't let it get any lower or it will be damaged.

Drivers door should have a key to unlock power locks if the battery is dead.