3 batteries in 2 years, any ideas?

[Don M]

My car has gone through three batteries in the last two years. The only 'drains' to the system that I know of are the clock/radio memory and a streamlite flashlight charger hooked up in the trunk. This is the 2nd time it's been in the shop for this and oddly enough EVERY battery has died in early/mid November. My suspicion is that the shop is using a cheap battery as a replacement, because they said last time, the battery only has a one year warranty on it. I've never burned out batteries like this before and I seem to remember batteries have 1 - 6 year warranties on them, not jut 1 year.

Any ideas?

[Rsurfer]

Why is a shop replacing your battery? Do you mean dealership under warranty? It sounds like you have a short somewhere.

[Don M]

Why is a shop replacing your battery? Do you mean dealership under warranty? It sounds like you have a short somewhere.

Right now, I'm just under the one year warranty, so the shop has to replace it free, if I was outside of the warranty I would be buying a GOOD battery and doing it myself.

[Setec Astronomy]

The battery business has changed, FWIW. They seem to have gone away from the 5-6-7 year prorated warranties and have gone to 2 and 3 year free-replacement warranties. Still, a 1 years seems like it's a low end battery.

One thing to check is if that Streamlight charger is warm all the time, if it is, it's a drain on the battery, just like the "wall wart" battery chargers in your house. I have found that when I have cars with marginal batteries, leaving cell phone chargers plugged in (with no phone) or radar detectors on will have an effect on the battery within a few days.

I was a big fan of the Delco Freedom sealed batteries, but they don't make them anymore (victim of the Delphi bankruptcy). Sears has gold and platinum batteries that are AGM with the gold being sealed like the old Delco and the platinum fully sealed. I've also eyed up the Exide Edge AGM. None of these are cheap.

The November timeframe coincides with the onset of cold weather, it's usually that first really cold morning when you find out you've been driving all summer with a marginal battery.

[expdetailing]

A baterry drain-check warrants attention here, IMO. On YT, there is a channel called ericthecarguy, who explains how to do this with a relatively simple process. I highly recommend the video.

[Blade]

Frequent starts throughout the day, and short trips less than 10-15 minutes will drain batteries faster than usual.

[mbkite]

Ck current draw should not be more than 500 mili votes.
You can test the alternator for ac voltage leaking through battery can absorb some ac voltage but it will kill the battery over time
Ck ac voltage riding on top of the dc with an osiliscope

[jamesboyy]

You most likely have an excess draw on the system, thus two good test would be parasitic drop test, and or an voltage drop test to determine/pin point the excessive current draw

[FUNX650]

My car has gone through three batteries in the last two years. The only 'drains' to the system that I know of are the clock/radio memory and a streamlite flashlight charger hooked up in the trunk.

I'd definitely remove the aftermarket parasitic drain.

My suspicion is that the shop is using a cheap battery as a replacement

What kind of "shop" is this?!?!
A one-year-battery...wth!

Right now, I'm just under the one year warranty, so the shop has to replace it free, if I was outside of the warranty I would be buying a GOOD battery and doing it myself.

Going "outside" of their battery's one year warranty, and getting a good 5-year-battery and installing it myself...would be well worth it to me to not have this worrisome problem hanging over my head year after year after year.

Note:
Once you're back up and running...
If you don't have a multi-voltmeter:
Many Autozones/PepBoys will check your vehicle's
charging system for peanuts.

Bob

[swanicyouth]

Umm you have a flashlight charger hooked up to your car's electrical system and your wondering why your going through batteries ???