[odymanout]

Ody Owners,
I was about to take the van out for a week-end drive and couldn't unlock it using the remote. Opened door manually and none of the electronic equipment would work and engine wouldn't start. So I say to myself, "Hmmm battery dead somehow?" I pop the hood and start to jump the battery w/ my other car and then the horn beeps like crazy and the light flash, so I back off there and think I better read the manual first. Couldn't find nuthing to help in the manual, so I call my dealership up and ask what I'm doing wrong. They have me insert the key in ignition and look for blinking light, but there is none so they offer to send a technician out to my house to look at the car. I said , wow, I'm glad I bought locally. So they send the tech out and he look at the battery and says' "dead battery".
We jump the car, and this time he tells me to turn of the horn by hitting the "unlock" on the remote transmiter. Van started, technician left, and owner felt grateful to the dealership ( Sam Linder's in Salinas,ca.)
and inept at not having handled a dead battery by himself!
I was surprised that out battery ran down just 3 months after I bot the van. WE've been using the van just about 1 or twice a week for the last 2 months driving about 5 miles back and forth. We haven't bothered to shut down the nav system, but I suspect the combination of an electron sucking nav unit and light useage not allowing the battery to fully charge gradually drained the battery. At least I hope thats what it is and not a faulty charging system. Any other ex nav owners drive their vans once or twice a week?

 

[nemogira]

Well I haven't been a NAVI owner that long but from what I've seen (driving the Ody every other or so week) I don't notice any difference in it's charging capability. And I haven't had a dead battery yet (knock on wood). I pretty much drive the Odyssey as much as you do because:

1) California gas prices suck!
2) I on/off carpool with a co-worker to work.
3) I take a ferry boat into San Francisco when I go to school.

And that just leaves the weekends...which I mostly spend my time moding the Ody than driving it. My suggestion is to either make sure the interior lights go out when you exit the van (or just switch them completely off), or maybe search the site for the topic "Dead Battery". This has been brought up before - mostly due to the interior lights.

-Nestor

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2000 CCS EX-NAVI

 

[Intrepid175]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by odymanout:
Ody Owners,
I was about to take the van out for a week-end drive and couldn't unlock it using the remote. Opened door manually and none of the electronic equipment would work and engine wouldn't start. So I say to myself, "Hmmm battery dead somehow?" I pop the hood and start to jump the battery w/ my other car and then the horn beeps like crazy and the light flash, so I back off there and think I better read the manual first. Couldn't find nuthing to help in the manual,
</font>

You don't mention whether your Ody is an EX or LX. If it's an EX, I'm a little surprised the owners manual doesn't address this. I installed the Honda factory alarm system on my LX. The instructions manual that came with the alarm stated that the system would activate when the battery was reconnected if the alarm system was armed when the battery was disconnected. This assumes a thief disabled the battery while stealing the car.

In your case, the battery draining over time was interpreted by the alarm as a disconnect and as soon as you applied power by jumping the battery, the alarm started hollering. That's when you simply disarm the system with the remote.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2"> I was surprised that out battery ran down just 3 months after I bot the van. WE've been using the van just about 1 or twice a week for the last 2 months driving about 5 miles back and forth. We haven't bothered to shut down the nav system, but I suspect the combination of an electron sucking nav unit and light useage not allowing the battery to fully charge gradually drained the battery. At least I hope thats what it is and not a faulty charging system. Any other ex nav owners drive their vans once or twice a week?</font>

I think you're absolutely right here. Only driving one or two times a week for short (5 miles or so) isn't enough for the charging system to keep the battery properly maintained. There are a number of plug in battery chargers that are taylor made for your situation. The "Battery Tender" by Deltran is an excellent device that's designed for just that purpose. Some models, if not all, even come with a quick connect harness that you can easily plug into. I did a web search on Yahoo and found plenty of references. This is a well known charger and you should be able to find it just about anywhere from your local parts store to WalMart, the web, etc.

One last recommendation offered with due respect. If one to two trips a week at about five mile per trip is all you normally drive, then you are treating your car to what is probably the most destructive kind of driving you can do. The engine and drive train never get fully warmed up in such a short distance, regardless of what the temperature gage on the dash says. A periodic trip of 20 to 40 miles would do a lot of good if you can find the means. In the mean time, keep track of the time interval recommended between oil changes. For me, mileage is the indicator of when I need to change oil but for you, time is going to be much more important.

FWIW,
Drive Safe,
Steve