I don't have an answer about the best battery out there, but you may want to check for parasitic drain issues if the battery is draining in a few days. That's not normal. Also you should be able to get a free warranty replacement on the battery from the dealer.

 

I have made an appointment at the dealer's for June 10th for an assessment. I called my local mechanic, and he said your battery running down toward 12.0 and below according to my multimeter is no problem. But when I read about AGM batteries on the internet, it said not to let them drop below 12.5 or so and stay there. I'm home from my camping trip and have it on the maintainer while I unpack and vacuum and air out the car. I had to leave the campground twice to give it a one hour drive to bring the battery up to full. A most frustrating experience!

 

I agree with @RAV4n'Odyssey the battery may be bad (should be covered by warranty), parasitic drain (sometimes difficult to track down). Could also be a faulty alternator or any aftermarket accessories that are draining power.

I just re-read your post--did you have to jump start the car at the airport or campground? Could one of the cabin/hatch lights remain on after the vehicle is shut off and doors closed?

What a pain to have to wait a week and a half for the dealer to look at the van. Is there another dealership close by that has earlier appointment availability?

 

Thank you for your thoughtful questions. In preparation for my 8 day camping trip, I had done the following: all interior light bulbs removed, key fob in a metal case, side doors set to manual, and every app I could find unchecked, but I'm not sure that really works. For instance, I uncheck Bluetooth every time I arrive home from a drive, but when my phone has Bluetooth on, the car looks for it. There have been no USBs plugged in. When you close the doors manually, a motor completes the closure. You can hear it. Also, when you open either of the front doors, dash lights come on and stay on briefly after closing the door, so I tried not using my front seats even though I'm used doing that while camping. Did I have to jump my car to start? No, I've been following it on a multimeter since I bought it new last December. The lowest it got at the campground was 11.8 and it started. Then I drove around for an hour. and it read 12.97 when I got back.

Here's another possibility, based on a phone conversation this morning with someone at the Interstate Battery Center in Williston, Vermont. The car has run down to ca. 12.2 to 12.4 about once a month since I got it. So I would put it on the Battery Tender, or drive it a distance. He said what I was doing was giving it a "surface charge," not bring it back to "true voltage." That I needed get it onto a real charger and do a slow charge for a longer duration, so it is at my local shop tonight and they will put it on their charger for the day tomorrow. Then I'll test it again in my driveway, leaving the doors and hatch open all day on any day when it isn't raining. He said you should connect to a maintainer when the battery is already fully charged. That you don't use a maintainer to bring a battery which is less than 75% back up. That the battery should stay at 12.6 or so, if it is new, which it is, for days at a time. It shouldn't be dropping.

My first low reading was December 29th, when it dropped to 12.4 after sitting in the garage for one day, temperatures in the 20s. I had given it a 30 mile drive on the 28th. Sure hope to be able to solve this.
Thank you again.

 

Without a doubt AC Delco is the best it is made by Johnson Controls who also makes the Wal Mart Batteries.

 

Clarios (formerly Johnson Controls) makes most car batteries including those for Honda, Optima, Interstate, Sears (Die Hard), and Autozone (Duralast) in addition to the ones you mentioned. Stryten and East Penn make the rest.

 

In my opinion and experience you can expect 3 years of service form any good battery sitting under a hot car hood and after that you are just pushing your luck.

 

@Barb3
Not knowing what model of ODY you are driving such as EX, LX, Elite, does make a bit of a difference. However I would say to get a AGM battery... my preferred brand is a Optima Yellow Top H6. Probably the most expensive on the market, but to me it is worth the money as I have had experience with them for 15 years plus. Not only used them in cars but engine generators for standby power and electronic equipment. AGM batteries can withstand more prolonged discharges than Lead Acid batteries. They should be charged at a slower rate than a lead acid battery. But they can hold a charge for a longer period of time than a lead acid. This all being said, the ODY is a very peculiar beast, it seems to drain the battery faster than most other vehicles, and they tend to have a parasitic drain on a battery more-so than other vehicles have. The ODY cannot keep the battery charged well if you make a lot of short trips or if you leave the ignition on for listening to the radio/CD/DVD/BLU-RAY or watch movies. Short trips of less than 20 minutes driving time should be avoided unless you are going to make a longer trip time in that same day. Most people in the ODY are replacing the original battery at the 2-3 year cycle, but now after replacing the OEM battery the first time waiting to see how long they will last if they are not using Honda battery.
Good luck with your choice, try not to use the ODY's sliding doors too much when camping or just leave them open if possible.

 

@Barb3
Not knowing what model of ODY you are driving such as EX, LX, Elite, does make a bit of a difference. However I would say to get a AGM battery... my preferred brand is a Optima Yellow Top H6. Probably the most expensive on the market, but to me it is worth the money as I have had experience with them for 15 years plus. Not only used them in cars but engine generators for standby power and electronic equipment. AGM batteries can withstand more prolonged discharges than Lead Acid batteries. They should be charged at a slower rate than a lead acid battery. But they can hold a charge for a longer period of time than a lead acid. This all being said, the ODY is a very peculiar beast, it seems to drain the battery faster than most other vehicles, and they tend to have a parasitic drain on a battery more-so than other vehicles have. The ODY cannot keep the battery charged well if you make a lot of short trips or if you leave the ignition on for listening to the radio/CD/DVD/BLU-RAY or watch movies. Short trips of less than 20 minutes driving time should be avoided unless you are going to make a longer trip time in that same day. Most people in the ODY are replacing the original battery at the 2-3 year cycle, but now after replacing the OEM battery the first time waiting to see how long they will last if they are not using Honda battery.
Good luck with your choice, try not to use the ODY's sliding doors too much when camping or just leave them open if possible.

Thank you so much for the detail. I will study it thoroughly. Thank you.

 

Odyssey makes the best batteries. Seriously. They're about $300, but they last forever.

Optima was great before the Johnson Controls buyout and subsequent move of Optima production to Mexico.

 

I agree, Optima USED to be good, now they dont seem to be. I would have gone with a Odyssey battery if I couldn't find one a decent battery my local Costco but I did find one. I made a post about the difference in the Honda battery vs Costco Battery here: Optima Yellow Top - Exact fit replacement?

 

It seems that some of us have gone off course--I think the OP is talking about a model year 2022 Odyssey, so the battery shouldn't be 3-5 years old.

@Barb3 have you had problems starting the Odyssey or any other battery related symptoms aside from voltmeter readings? Unless there is a cell going bad in the battery or if it fails a load test I am not too sure how to interpret your voltage values.

 

Yes, it is a 2022 EX - purchased in December 2021. I've not had a problem starting the car yet, even on the 11.8 day last Sunday. I plan to type up my voltmeter log before going to the dealer on the 10th. It has dropped into the 12.2 to 12.4 range over 10 times over the course of the spring. Each time I've brought it back up either with a the maintainer or by driving for over 30 minutes. If the battery guy's advice is right, it sounds like I should be using the maintainer for when I predict the day will be sitting or doing short trips - in other words, use it pro-actively not after the fact. Still a car should be able to sit for a week or so without losing battery charge, don't you think?

 

Have you monitored other vehicle batteries as you have the Odyssey? The only time that I have ever checked the battery voltages is AFTER I have had a problem and that was to try to figure out if the problem was the battery or alternator. I wonder if the voltage variances that you have observed are normal behavior? The primary purpose of the battery in most vehicles is to start the vehicle, once up and running the alternator should recharge the battery as necessary and also take care of any electrical needs of the vehicle while underway. With newer onboard electronics there is always a small current draw, but if you haven't had any problems starting the Odyssey after short periods of inactivity I am wondering about the real world relevance of the voltage values.

Readings such as voltage values (just like medical lab values) should never be used to establish that a problem exists, but they can be used in the context of symptoms/problems to help find the diagnosis.

 

Optima yellow top working great for me after 4 years…

 

Just to be clear, you have had no issues starting your Odyssey?

You are just monitoring the voltage and think you have an issue?

Sounds to me you are worrying about a problem you don’t have.

The dealer is most likely not going to do anything since you aren’t having any issues other than you monitoring voltage and think something is wrong.

 

Just to be clear, you have had no issues starting your Odyssey?

You are just monitoring the voltage and think you have an issue?

Sounds to me you are worrying about a problem you don’t have.

The dealer is most likely not going to do anything since you aren’t having any issues other than you monitoring voltage and think something is wrong.

You could be right. We'll see.

 

My brand new AGM battery still drains after the car sits for a few days. I replaced my OEM AGM battery on my 2018 Elite thinking the battery turned bad. It is the parasite that drains the battery and Honda did not fix it. I now plug my car in a battery conditioner/charger when parked. I am thinking of investing in a portal jumper to place in the car for just in case.

 

Thank you so much for sharing, even though it is discouraging news. One poster said she had Honda replace the batteries three times and the last time worked. Did you pay for diagnostics for the parasitic draw? The car was new in December 2021, with less than 3,000 miles on it. My appt at the dealer's is this Friday. Have you had the car refuse to start? At 11.8 my car did start the other day.

 

You might also consider buying a jump start battery pack. Good for jump starting anything and they have USB ports to charge/run small devices like cell phones.

Having one of these small, but powerful boxes under the seat provides me with a level of comfort which far exceeds the cost - even if I never use it.

Andrew

 

Thank you for the idea.

 

Back in simpler terms one could undo the negative battery connection, but a test light between the negative battery terminal and the negative battery cable end which would result in a light. Pull fuses one at a time until the light goes out and you see where the drain is.

On today’s motor vehicles I doubt that is feasible anymore given the amount of electronics on them

 

Back in simpler terms one could undo the negative battery connection, but a test light between the negative battery terminal and the negative battery cable end which would result in a light. Pull fuses one at a time until the light goes out and you see where the drain is.

It is incredibly easy to check for parasitic drain in modern vehicles, and anyone can do this with a basic multimeter. There is no need to pull any fuses or install a meter or shunt inline with the negative terminal.

All of the fuses have two tiny exposed metal tabs on the top. You are simply putting your meter leads across these terminals and measuring the millivolt voltage drop across the fuse. The voltage drop will be larger when there is a load across the circuit.

There are many youtube videos on this, here's one:

Keep in mind that the vehicle might be active for several minutes after opening or closing doors, so it might be necessary to sit in the vehicle for a while before testing circuits. Don't forget to test all of the fuse locations: under the dash, under the hood, in back by the tailgate, (other?).

 

Parasitic drain on my 2000 was about 300 mAh per hour, measured. The drain on my 2016 appears to be about the same. That means several weeks of parasitic drain before the car won't start, so I try to avoid this. My newer GM and VW vehicles seem to go longer without killing batteries, but full discharges WILL kill them. I think they are made to last just over three years as a design criteria. Maybe expensive Die hard batteries will last a bit longer. I have wondered about using deep cycle batteries, which come with shortened warranties. I have begun to think CCa's (cold cranking amps) is a sales gimmick. I think CCA's are increased at the expense of capacity and battery life.

How the battery is made determines these figures and of course, there's no way to find this out. I had fairly expensive (lead acid) marine batteries in my boat and they were serviceable for over seven years. They were made and sold by a local manufacturer.

As far as a recommendation goes, that's a hard one. The design, manufacture and longitivity of batteries seems to change by season and by geographical location, as does their durability. We are surrounded by hype and spin in today's world.

I may try a Duracell from Sam's Club for the cars the next time around. I have had a Duracell battery from Sam's Club on my lawn tractor (in Florida) for over three years, and it is still going strong. I have never had a six month lawn tractor battery last this long.

I think, if there were reliable reviews and clear choices, it would show up on this forum.

All I have seen is various testimonials about which battery to get, and mostly this seems to be pure opinion with nothing much to back up these opinions. Consumer Reports used to test batteries thoroughly, but they don't test very much at all any more, which is why after many years I dropped my subscription.

Online review sites are probably massaged by manufacturer and reseller "donations". I see where these "ten best" reviews evaluations for many products differ considerably, so I don't trust them. Maybe Amazon ratings could help figure this out. So - it seems as if choosing a battery has become a guessing game. OEM batteries may last longer than most others, but they can be costly. You might look towards Sam's Club, BJ's, Costco or maybe Walmart, where markups usually aren't excessive. Or look for deep discounts from holiday or other sales, and go from there.

 

It is a major aggravation to do but if you put an Amp meter in your battery ground path you can monitor how much power is being drawn. You either need a big enough meter to handle the loads or a smaller meter and a shunt. Do not let the headlights come on unexpectedly and blow your small meter, been there and replacement meter fuses can be hard to find and new meters are not cheap.

With the meter/shunt in place shut down everything and let the car go fully to sleep and check to see how much power it is still drawing. If you want to narrow down where it is being used you can start pulling fuses until the draw drops.

This is a huge aggravation to do but sometimes there is just no other way to find a power draw. I've done this to RVs more often than cars but it has found the problem every time.

 

The batteries installed from Honda are the same for the Pilot, Passport, Ridgeline and possibly the Accord. None of those models have the same power draw as the Ody. You’d be best to get rid of that battery even though it’s still under warranty.

The Odyssey brand battery has solid reviews, but I cannot find a local retailer anywhere that sells it. This is important because getting warranty replacement is crucial. I have had good success with NAPA as well as Super Start AGM from OReilly. Best part is, if it fails before 3 years, it’s a free replacement - just bring it in and they’ll swap it.

I think it would be wise to wire up a Noco Genius battery charger and let it live with the battery under the hood. Place the plug end for the wall or extension cable somewhere easy to get to so that you can plug it in periodically. I find charging my wife’s battery once a week does very well for it being a Honda battery.

As others have stated, Johnson Controls makes just about every battery out there. The other two manufacturers are Exide and East Penn/Deka.

 

It's best to make a good diagnosis first. Check out the battery. If it's not that, there may be loads that aren't turning off. I went out on Amazon and found a 0.01, .1, ohm power resistors. I soldered leads and clips to them. Then I disconnected the battery and put the resistor in series with the battery. Now I could measure the voltage across the resistor and calculate the current flowing. Just DON'T try to start the car. Even power resistors can't take this current. This is much more reliable than battery voltage.
Current=voltage/R.

If you find current flowing out, you can start taking fuses out to see what's happening. Note that a bad battery will self discharge over that time period even if disconnected.

 

My new ‘19 Odyssey left me stranded 4 times in the first two years of ownership. It got progressively worse as time went on and after the 5th time I switched to an optima yellow top battery. No issues since then and as a bonus cold starts became more effortless.

I would go with optima, deka or odyssey (brand not Honda) batteries in a heartbeat over anything else.

 

Something is wrong with your vehicle or battery. Hopefully the dealer can find it. I would put a DC clamp on ammeter to look for a parasitic drain, but not everyone owns a meter. Check your battery charging alternator for excessive drain. There could be something else in the car or electronics draining the battery. One solution to stop the drain is a battery disconnect switch. We had one on a garaged classic car that wasn't driven in the winter. There are a variety of switch designs. If you have a bad battery hopefully the dealer will just replace it.

As for best battery, I would echo others in this thread and recommend the Optima and the Odyssey batteries. I can buy the Optimas at a discount through work and have them installed in three cars. No problems, they last a long time, they provide great starting current, though I don't let them go dead. The sale to Johnson controls and move to Mexico could have affected quality or build, but we have a large fleet of Optima's at work and they hold up better than any wetcell on the market. We aren't seeing a big problem with the batteries and we have thousands in use. The odyssey's are also excellent batteries. They use a similar lead and plate acid chemistry as in the optima batteries, but have a stack of plates instead of a spiral wrap of plates. the stack of plates give the Odyssey battery more plates for the same volume compared to an optima. Both batteries have extremely low self discharge rates which lets them sit in the vehicle unused for many months if the battery is disconnected from the vehicle. Battery charging alternators are known to have a small amount of leakage that adds up over time. Both batteries also have very low internal resistance which gives them the great starting current and also leads to very high charge rates if even partially drained. I've talked with factory reps from both companies at trade shows. You should be good with either brand.

 

and its the Odyssey brand AGM batteries manufactured by Enersys. If cost didn't matter I would by an Odyssey battery.

 

I don't believe the battery is your problem. The problem is something is drawing current when the car is off. As this is a 2022, it is still under warranty. I would take it to the dealer and let them figure it out. Your car should be able to sit for weeks and then start up without a problem.

 

I agree, but the OP has never had an issue not starting, He is just monitoring the battery voltage and "thinks" it is getting too low. Hopefully his van is fine and he is just making himself nervous.

If the van would not start after sitting for even a week, something is wrong and causing a draw.

We had a strange issue with my wife's Infiniti that would be perfectly fine for months then you would run into the store for 10 minutes and come back out and was dead, completely dead. Would not start, no lights but if you tried to crank the dash would freak out and then dead as a door nail. This happened 3 times in 4 years and the dealer replaced the battery under warranty each time. the last time it happened I decided to just disconnect the battery, wait about 10 minutes and reconnect the battery and it started like brand new. So the car itself was doing something very strange.

 

The first thing you need to do is find out if the battery and alternator are doing their job. Don't wait, take it to the nearest auto parts store and have them test the battery and alternator. Why would you wait a week for the dealership appointment?
If the battery and alternator are good, then keep the dealership appointment, or better find a local auto repair shop that specializes in electrical problems.

Take the logical approach by starting with the diagnosis of the battery and alternator, then move ahead based on those findings.

 

-- with a new car u wouldn't first go to an indy shop specializing in electrical, u'd simply get the dealer to fix the problem-- this is Honda brand, with actually some of the best electrical engineering on the planet, vs many other car brands and engine brands for various machinery. And if they can't fix the problem and it's a car disabling problem, then in most states it becomes a lemon buyback or similar deal, such as Honda trades u for a brand new car, straight across.
One thing at a time.

 

Buy 12$ battery desulfator from amazon, place red & black wires on obvious places on clamps of your trickle charger(from amazon too)while trickle charger is attached to battery terminales. ez- peezey., run overnight to trickle charger turns off. if your battery wasn't in too bad of condition, you've now rejuvenated it . i've done this to my original factory battery 5 times, it's worked 5 times, i have a 9 yr old battery, for real. aloha! [best battery is 90$ one from walmart]

 

is that a better idea than using a smart-charger which does the same thing supposedly? They are under $40, for good brands, iirc, such as Battery Tender brand.

 

The 3/36 warranty doesn't get extended if the battery is replaced under warranty.

 

The walmart battery in the larger capacity, or the medium capacity, made by johnson controls, is the best deal on the best battery, with generous core charge, easiest place to buy and return . The Odyssey brand expensive battery is a complete joke!

 

Having used most brands on the market in off-roading and pulling trailers, I have found Odyssey batteries superior to every brand I've used.