mfanatic325

hehehe it's the aZn way of doing things
Gotta stretch every dollar lol!

But just another thing to note: it seems the previous owner of my car put in the same type of battery into the car. Only time will be able to tell whether or not that may be the cause of the premature wear on the battery itself. The date stamp was from 2015, so it basically crapped out within 2 years...pretty short life. Albeit, it definitely wasn't driven all the time, so that may have expedited the deteriorating process.
With this current Walmart EverStart H6, I'm going to trickle charge whenever it's parked at home in the garage. I typically only drive once or twice per week anyhow. I just gotta do some research and find the best/easiest method for quick disconnects, etc.
I definitely don't want to have to keep popping the frunk all the time, just to put it on trickle

mfanatic325

So I didn't drive the car at all for a week. It's just been sitting in the garage, unlocked the entire time. This morning, the car was unresponsive to the key's remote buttons, no matter how many times I tried to lock/unlock the doors, or pop the frunk, etc. However, when I went to manually open the doors, the car had power and everything. It started up just fine too, upon the very first try.

Is this normal? Or is the battery in my key perhaps low/weak?

"02996ttx50

the remote went to sleep, is all. or whatever it is that causes this to normally occur. ( unless it's still dead? )

if i were you, i'd lock the car when parking for any extended period of time as it puts the dme to sleep. i even dbl click the remote to disable the cabin motion sensor, but that's probably just superstition lol.

one other thing: if you spend the $60 on a ctek 3300 ( same as the PORSCHE CHARGE-O-MAT - gotta love that name straight up jetsons - ) then you can use the "comfort adaptor" that plugs into the cig socket, and just leave the thing connected anytime you park. you can just run the cable through the doorjamb where it meets the front qtr panel. no pinch, it's a cinch.

it's worth swapping tricklers, for that feature alone.

Carlo_Carrera

Yes, that is normal. It is part of the car's energy savings and security modes. It is detailed in the owner's manual.

mfanatic325

Well...crap.

The new Walmart battery JUST exhibited the exact same behavior earlier this morning.

In seemingly the same scenario/fashion:
- rainy season
- been driving the car a decent amount
- all cold-starts just fine until this morning
- parked car in garage overnight
- voltage drops to 11.6V (not enough to crank the car over)

However, the only saving grace this time around was that when I put my portable jumper up to the battery, car started up just fine. The LAST time this happened with the other battery, even the jumper was no help

Looks like I'm going to have to send it in to get diagnosed for power draw somewhere. Any idea on common areas to look at first?

mffarrell

Have you tested the charging system? If you have a volt meter it's pretty easy. It's hard to imagine that much current is being drawn over night, unless of course there is something left on like a trunk or engine lid light.

You can also connect an amp meter in series with the battery to determine if current is drawing down the battery.

mfanatic325

I'm not too knowledgeable with electrical work, so I'll be sending it in to the dealer to have a master tech diagnose it.

For what it's worth, I don't have an engine-lid light. And my frunk light is now an LED bulb, which turns off just fine when I close the frunklid.

I'm also confused as to why it draws enough to drop the voltage down to 11.6V overnight, from presumably over 12V normally. And also more confused as to why it would exhibit this type of behavior all of a sudden, even after having driven the car recently, with perfectly-fine cold starts.

mffarrell

More than likely, something is causing a significant current draw, thus battery voltage can be < 12V overnight. For me this would easy to track-down. Where are you located?

mfanatic325

San Francisco South Bay Area, in California.

mffarrell

Oh, I just moved from the East Bay to S. WA. There are others here than can help you in the BA.

What does your voltmeter on the dash indicate when you are driving? It should indicate around 13V-14V most of the time.

mfanatic325

I'll check it next time I drive it. But times in past have shown 13/14V for sure, which means the alternator is working fine. Just the random overnight draw is worrisome for sure

mffarrell

When my alternator failed, it would display 13-14V, then drop to 12V (no charging), so check that. It's going to be very obvious, once the electrical system is troubleshot.

I would post for help. There is guy on Renntech, Ahsai, that lives in SJ. I am sure he would help you out if you ask him.

Carlo_Carrera

Could possibly be the regulator. It is a common failure.

mfanatic325

Oddly enough, the car's been fine after that one instance.

I HAVE however started to do the double-click of the key when locking the car. I also started to take out the USB phone charger which I had sitting in the cigarette lighter power outlet. Although I don't think it draws much power, perhaps it's what's causing the random voltage drop overnight.
I look at the dash voltage gauge now everytime I jump in the car and before I try to crank it over. So far it has been sitting right at 12V everytime from a cold start. While engine is running, alternator seems fine, pumping out 13.1V on average. Will report back of any other findings.

"02996ttx50

good idea!