Low battery

daytona701 · **Joined:** Sat Oct 20, 2012 11:32 pm **Posts:** 99

Hi all, 2 year old Walmart battery. The Liberty was slow to crank first thing Thursday but ran fine all day with no issues. Friday barely cranked and wouldn’t start. Battery voltage was 12.2. Jumped started with my Cummins and had 14.6 volts at idle after disconnecting jumper cables. Battery load tested ok at Walmart and ran all day with no problems. Battery voltage was at 12.65 when parked at the end of work Friday. Saturday morning voltage at 12.2 again barely crank and no start. Jumped off again and did a couple of errands. Battery voltage at 12.4 when parked at lunch time. Figured there may be a circuit draining the battery. Disconnected negative battery terminal a set meter to 10 amps between negative cable and negative post. Every time the probes contacted the post/clamp the latch at rear tailgate would click with a blip of 3.5 amps on the meter which seamed strange to me. The rear wiper had stopped working some time ago. Was getting constant .24 amps as each fuse was pulled, then .10, then .04 and finally .01 after about 15 minutes. I’m assuming the drop in amps was the modules shutting down after driver door latch was secured in the closed position. When the skim fuse was pulled amps went to .00. I’m figuring battery replacement. Why does the rear hatch click when the negative battery circuit is completed through the meter? Thanks.

synthetic-oil · **Joined:** Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:03 pm **Posts:** 140

The only way to accurately test a car battery is with a carbon pile tester. I bought mine from Harbor Freight years ago. Here is the one I have: https://www.amazon.com/FJC-45115-Carbon ... B004SG308Q Harbor Freight still has a 100 amp for sale. I was having the same issues as you with my truck. Batteries Plus had one of those digital hand held testers. Keep tell me there was nothing wrong with the batteries. Went to Costco's and bought two new ones and problems fixed. Johnson Controls bought a battery plant and all their batteries suck. They used to brand their batteries for Costco under the Kirkland brand. I never had to buy new batteries as they would fail before the warranty expired. Costco now caries Interstate Batteries. I have a 9-year-old Odyssey 34-PC1500T and still going strong. I buy interstate batteries for everything else.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Sun Oct 16, 2022 11:49 am

Agree on the carbon pile tester, only true way to test load capability and condition of a battery.
In his (daytona701) case, it could be a bad or loose internal cell connector causing the problem and a electronic tester will not adequately test it for that issue.

As to batteries:
Most aftermarket car batteries sold in the U.S. are made by just three big companies that build them for retailers: Johnson Controls, which supplies more than half of the market; Exide; and East Penn. There are other smaller ones, but these are the big three.

Interstate batteries are made by multiple suppliers, with Clarios and Exide Technologies being the most likely.
Kirkland automotive batteries (formerly sold at Costco) were made by Johnson Controls.

ODYSSEY® batteries are manufactured by EnerSys Energy Products Inc.
American made in Warrensburg, Missouri, the largest industrial commercial battery manufacturer in the world.

Personally I liked the NorthStar Batteries and have several of them, but they were bought out and absorbed by EnerSys to limit competition.
My next battery will be an Odyssey/EnerSys unless something better comes along in the future.

turblediesel · **Posted:** Sun Oct 16, 2022 4:37 pm

The original Optima in my '05 lasted 3 years and still holds 12 volts for ham radio play. I've had 2 Interstates that each lasted 5 years in my CRD and still start my ford pick up. My newest battery, a 2016 Odyssey, never got used in the jeep and won't charge over 10 volts. I'm shopping for a new Interstate MT-34 but having no luck.

When my Jeep battery goes bad there are no warning signs; it just opens the rear glass when I turn the key instead of starting. The computers go stupid when they don't get good electricity.

I miss the days of "groan, buzz, click, nothing".

daytona701 · **Joined:** Sat Oct 20, 2012 11:32 pm **Posts:** 99

So I figured out my Harbor Freight scanner has feature that test battery and shows graph of test. Walmart replaced free under warranty. Odyssey battery sounds like a good replacement but free is sure nice.

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