[JakeH]

My wife's car has been in storage for a month or so & the battery died. I bought a die hard brand automatic battery maintenance box, hooked it up & got no blinking lights. According to the manual, the most likely cause is a dead cell & it recommends I have the battery checked. Before I yank the battery & drag it to autozone, is it really possible that a cell went bad already? Or did I maybe get a bunk maintainer box? The battery is only about 3 years old, duralast brand & it's never had problems before. What are the odds on this? Thanks!

 

[FFTR]

imo, yes it is possible a dead cell exists. It is not uncommon for batteries in AZ to fail in 2 to 3 years. Not sure of your location, but a 3+ year old battery could start to go bad no matter where you live.

 

[JakeH]

I'm in Houston, AZ heat with a side of Louisiana humidity

 

[Clint]

I've had batteries go bad as young as a single year old.
My personal preference is a Deltran Battery Tender, not sure who makes the ones for Sears.

Clint

 

[09eq]

Might recover battery if you use a regular charger to get a charge started and then use maintainer. I would try before buying new battery.

 

[FFTR]

Have you tried to jump start the vehicle?

If so, and it runs ok, Take it to autozone and have the battery checked. If its bad, pretty easy to exchange it in the parking lot.

 

[Skibane]

If the battery is allowed to run down complete - and sits that way for a while - it can easily kill a cell.

However, if you connected the battery maintainer before the battery ran down, it should have prevented this.

When you connected the battery maintainer, did you see any lights or other confirmation that it was receiving AC power and actually working?

Is the AC power outlet always turned on at your storage location, or is it on a timer or connected to the light switch?

 

[The other Sean]

Might recover battery if you use a regular charger to get a charge started and then use maintainer. I would try before buying new battery.

^ ^ ^ This. The maintainer may not be built to charge a battery, only trickle a little charge on top.

 

[20009]

I just replaced the battery on my truck. It's a 2013. I think with these 120 degrees heat, I would much rather change the battery on MY terms, when and where, than out on the desert a billion miles from nowhere. Just my preferance

 

[tumbleweed]

Why don't try the maintainer box on another battery and see if it works?

 

[JakeH]

Sorry, to be clear the one I got is more than just a maintainer, it's full size steel box with 3 modes. A 50-amp jump start, 10-amp fast charge & 2-amp trickle to maintain. Supposed to be fully automatic & it does get power from the wall. It'll stay on in 50-amp mode, but not enough juice to light the candle. Manual says switch to 10-amp for 15 minutes then try 50 again, but as soon as I switch to the other modes, the LED goes black indicating a fault. Most likely fault according to manual is a dead or sulfated cell. It's in my garage so we haven't had a chance to jump it with the truck yet, but I'm planning to check the charger on the rental car to see if the proper lights come on. If they do, then I'll pull the battery & run it down to the store for a swap. No way I'm doing that in the parking lot in 100 degree heat!

 

[Cusser]

Almost all batteries in USA are made by one company. You'll get significant trade-in through Autozone.

 

[JakeH]

Yeah, I worry more about the sweat & time outlay than the money. If I'm going to sweat like that I'd rather be mowing the lawn or fertilizing my tomatoes, but thanks for reminding me--I forgot I get cash back on those.

 

[travhale]

Is it a sealed battery? If not, have you checked the water levels? Low levels can reduce cranking power, and gives the symptoms of a dead battery.

 

[GTwannabe]

Terminals corroded? Nissan OEM battery is garbage.

 

[The_Pope]

Hah! I recently bought a jumper box that wouldn't jump a battery. Cut the thing open and the big cables weren't connected inside. Harbor Freight junk.

 

[JakeH]

It is a sealed battery, duralast brand, in an acura not my Nissan. I have already replaced my Nissan battery of course. The terminals are not corroded. The internal jumper box cables are definitely connected, it almost gets it to crank ita just not quite enough. It's more the inability to slow charge that worries me. Being a tech package equipped acura, it has Bluetooth, GPS & daytime running lights, plus any number of other high drain devices that I can't turn off, hence the dead battery so soon & 50 amps not being enough. The Dang thing is a giant computer.

 

[invasion08]

Get a meter and see how many volts it has.

 

[xichlo]

You should not let a battery stand, it needs to be run or maintained or plates will sulfate, Car needs to be driven at least 30 minutes or more every two weeks or less, if not possible run it on maintainer.

 

[JakeH]

Sulfated plate was listed right next to dead cell. Sounds like I need a freshy