2018 battery, surprisingly doing well

[D.J.]

I recently went on vacation for nearly a month ...

Left Jan 5th, and Jan 30th is my first day back at my car...

I have a BM6 logging battery voltage measurements every 2 minutes....
Voltage can be seen fluctuating with extremely cold temperatures we had.



Jan 22 was -16°C measured at the battery.

And to my very pleasant surprise, she fired up with relative ease today, after 25 days of being parked. Cranking voltage only dipped to 9.01v

I honestly was prepared and expecting to come home to a dead battery.



I even recorded this video (for the sound), expecting the battery to be not powerful enough to start the car.

Watch Stinger starting in the cold after 25 days | Streamable

Watch "Stinger starting in the cold after 25 days" on Streamable.

streamable.com

This was a very long post to simply say, my car started today, and I consider myself lucky. My original battery is 7 years old now, and I do nothing special to maintain it, other than disable ISG automatically every drive cycle

 

[Thomby]

I even recorded this video (for the sound), expecting the battery to be not powerful enough to start the car.

I make sure to click every @D.J. Toro video purely for the soundtrack.

On a more serious note, I'm conflicted between being pleased by how quickly/easily your 6 year old battery cranks over after a month in arctic conditions, and the fact that 12.0 volts is half empty.

As I've mentioned in other threads, my 2022 has never sounded slow/weak to crank, even after sitting, but decides to hang out at ~12.3 volts (~70% charge), low enough that Coasting won't activate. I'm 90% sure it's by design, but it seems odd to let it negate a feature, and I'd like to know whether it's to prolong battery life, or just eek out slightly better mileage.

 

[D.J.]

I make sure to click every @D.J. Toro video purely for the soundtrack.

This one was entirely unplanned...
My wireless android auto connected and was playing quicker than expected.

 

[Snowwhite]

one of the benefits of a trunk mounted battery is they are not exposed to the high temps in the engine compartment, and thus last much longer. Aside from limiting our spare tire size, the Stinger has an optimal battery location for weight distribution as well.

 

[Kelrog]

Wish I would have seen that BM6 device earlier, may pick one of those up soon. Unfortunately mine started dying over the past few months, and then 2 weeks ago, I had to get my wife to bring her car to my location for a jump to get it back up and going. I was no longer allowed back into my house unless it was replaced, hehe. I think between the GT2's extra bells n whistles, proximity door unlocks, and led grill lights I left on too often drained it too much.

 

[Landshark]

my batteries will typically last 7+ years. i'll throw them on the trickle charger every month or two to get a full charge.

with the Stinger, i disabled ISG pretty much immediately when i got the car (1k resistor mod).

 

[D.J.]

I recently went on vacation for nearly a month ...

Left Jan 5th, and Jan 30th is my first day back at my car...

I went on another vacation! This time 39 days between starts of my 2018 Stinger.. (May 26 - July 4)

This OEM battery is a beast.




I half expected it not to start..
I thought surely, after sitting for 39 days, this would be the end of it.

Battery voltage was 12.1 before turning the ignition on.

Watch Kia stinger started after 39 days. | Streamable

Watch "Kia stinger started after 39 days." on Streamable.

streamable.com

 

[D.J.]

I'm slowly reaching the end of its long drawn out AGM life... I'm not too confident it'll last all winter.

But I like to live dangerously, so I will find out the hard way.

 

[Snicklefritz]

2018 here too. I have no idea what the return stats would be. But when I forget to turn off ISG, and pull into the carport and put it in "P" it shuts off and turns back on again. Which is annoying of course, but the upside is that I know my battery is still strong.

 

[Snowwhite]

I wouldn't risk it much further. if you fry the alternator, replacement is difficult to put it kindly. replacing a battery a few months before it dies is just cheap insurance at this point on a 7 year old battery.

 

[Snicklefritz]

I wouldn't risk it much further. if you fry the alternator, replacement is difficult to put it kindly. replacing a battery a few months before it dies is just cheap insurance at this point on a 7 year old battery.

eight year old battery in two months. You think my battery is just going to go *kaput* without any warning signs?

 

[Ah GetFd]

It's lead acid technology and the failure mechanism is a corroded positive plate. The positive plate also grows in a lead acid battery so eventually a break somewhere else may occur. This particularly is a problem in Sealed lead Acid batteries as the movement of the plates has to be managed by the seals installed in the battery without it leaking.

The corrosion of the positive plate actually occurs during charging.

The best bet is to replace before failure and I would think that you could get 10 years out of a sealed lead acid battery in line with what telcos do in Cell Phone base stations. The proposed replacement is usually about 7.

The advantages are the plates are probably thicker than the old flooded style lead acid batteries which had wafer thin plates so the AGM batteries will simply last longer.

Without revisiting the previous posts I made on this subject AGM is not rocket science. It stands for "Absorbed Glass Fibre Mat" (AGM).

It is simply the blotting material used between the plates that absorbs the sulphuric acid electrolyte in a wicking effect that keeps the plates moist at any angle. AGM batteries are quite often laid on their side for compactness in confined space.

Lead acid batteries go through what is known as "sudden death" That's where a corroded plate suddenly breaks off usually by the previous start where a high current breaks whats left of the corroded plate.

This is why in many applications requiring critical support they use Nickel Cadmium Flooded batteries as in Nuclear or Coal Power stations to control switchboards as Nickel Cadmium gradually deteriorates but it does not experience sudden death.

 

[D.J.]

I'll just continue to keep an eye on my battery, cranking speed is actually quite good.

I do measure the voltage and temperature, every 2 minutes.

Here is today's voltage.




And here's the last 5 days

 

[Snicklefritz]

In every experiential way, my c. eight year old battery acts like it did brand new. I forgot this afternoon to turn off ISG - had my wife in the car distracting me with conversation, etc. I pulled over to park at a curb and had auto hold engaged as usual, and the green "A" in the green circle appeared on the dashboard and the engine shut off. I cussed the danged thing, but the interesting thing was that the engine stayed off until I decided to push the ISG button OFF, then the engine lurched back ON - that didn't feel good, I hate ISG with a passion. But the battery is obviously really well charged.

 

[Snowwhite]

eight year old battery in two months. You think my battery is just going to go *kaput* without any warning signs?

that can happen. i'd be more worried about it shorting out when it does, and frying the rectifier or voltage regulator on the alternator. good luck getting to the alternator, the book requires engine removal, although a guy on youtube did it from underneath by removing the subframe and the passenger side control arms with the engine in place.

 

[D.J.]

Today, after 7 Days of rest..

Seems my very old battery takes about 2 days to come to a resting voltage of just over 12... And then stays there



Today's cranking voltage was 9.11V.
Sounds only slightly slow to crank, at -3°C (27°F)

 

[Snicklefritz]

Two days ago, the multi-point inspection on both the '18 and '19 "battery performance" got green boxes. Of course, they didn't test them beyond starting and stopping the engines - I don't know, maybe they put a meter on and look? In order to inspect the fittings, attachments, cables and condition of the storage space, they would have to remove everything from the hatches, including the spare tire. So, we know "they" don't do that. If I was going in with a dicey battery I'd remove all the hatch stuff first, and tell them to inspect everything then replace as needed.

 

[Thomby]

forgot this afternoon to turn off ISG

Resistor trick takes $0.50 and 5 minutes, and you never have to think about it again...I've had mine in there so long I completely forgot about ISG.

Seems my very old battery takes about 2 days to come to a resting voltage of just over 12

Put a battery tender / trickle charger on it, you monster. You can even put a little pigtail connector on the jump points, tucked under the rear of the hood or grille so you don't have to open the hood to get to it.

 

[D.J.]

Put a battery tender / trickle charger on it, you monster. You can even put a little pigtail connector on the jump points, tucked under the rear of the hood or grille so you don't have to open the hood to get to it.

I think it's just nearing its natural end of life...

Battery age 95 months = 7.9 years (according to the door placard)