Something is draining my DH Platinum Battery!!

[JWaldz]

The past couple weeks I've noticed my truck is having troubles starting, especially after been sitting for a while. My DH Platinum should not be doing this especially since it's barely over a year old! This morning it was the worst I've heard it. It just BARELY cranked over.

I've got multiple accessories connected to it, but none that are on or that should be draining the battery while the car is off. The newest addition to my truck is my ScanGaugeII but I have a hard time believing that is the cause, especially since no one else has reported it causing this. I'm taking my truck to Sears, where I bought the battery, to have them test it. If it is the battery, they should warranty it.

 

[Inate]

If YOU haven't charged your battery yet, don't waste their time at the store.

Get a hold of a trickle charger in the range of 2-5amps and put your battery on charge over-night(at least 12-14 hours). If the problem persists over-night, there's an issue with the battery, or if it comes back but a week+ later on, then you may have an alternator issue.

I could get into this common issue more, but that's a thread for another day. If you don't have access to a charger, be open minded to the service clerk if/when they tell you it may just need to be charged.

 

[Doc2012]

I've got multiple accessories connected to it, but none that are on or that should be draining the battery while the car is off.

Start here. Go through EVERY accessory that you have connected to the battery. Inspect EVERY wire. If they're taped together, inspect the tape. Worst comes to worst, re-wrap the wires. Shrink wrap is usually pretty good. There might be a wire somewhere that is rubbed, and is grounding out.

The hint to ME that it's not your alternator is that the truck is still starting, even though it's having a hard time doing so. IF it were your alternator, the truck wouldn't even start. The battery would just get so drained that there is nothing that it would do, except click, and it would eventually stop doing that.

Sounds like you need a dual battery set-up man.....

 

[JWaldz]

Well, I had my lunch break so I went up to Sears and it tested out bad. Got a brand new battery through the warranty

Still weird why the battery would go bad so soon. I looked on my invoice and I got it in January. Anyways, I'm still not satisfied. I'm going to be checking over all my accessories tonight and order me a blue sea fuse block finally to clean it up.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Using your Scangauge, check the voltage reading with the engine off and the engine on. See what the readings give you.

You may have a parasitic draw. Eric The Car Guy via Youtube gives you a good run down on how to test for such:
How To Perform a Parasitic Draw Test - YouTube

 

[Evilmunkey]

I have to say its the DH battery also check the draw w/ the starter.

 

[TheDurk]

Going after a parasitic draw is what you do AFTER you have ruled out battery, charging circuit, and major connections.

Do: Voltage test with engine running. Needs to be 13.5V or more.


Charge battery fully and load test. If pass, leave connected overnight. Then repeat with battery not connected (reveals battery that discharges internally.)

Clean and verify all cable terminal connections and inspect insulation for any bubbling that would indicate hidden corrosion. Verify major ground connections especially firewall and the one by the diagnostic connector.

When your cranking is weak, do your headlights still come on strong? Check your starter connections, too.

If all this is good, THEN go hunting for a parasitic draw.

 

[Inate]

The fact that they just replaced it means nothing without an over-night charge.

Being that it is Sears I highly doubt that they used a carbon pile load tester on the battery which mean that your issue may still be prevalent. Hopefully they did though, I'm sure that Sears USA is different than their Canadian brethren.

I run a battery shop in Canada, we run into this daily. A dead battery(less than 12v) will always test bad, so testing it without attempting to charge it first is a waste of time. The problem is that we get people that kill their battery via playing the stereo, running the headlights, whatever, with the vehicle off. The alternator helps them limp along for a while but sooner or later it bites them in the butt and it is our(my shops) fault. Anyways, being the nice guys we are with our 5 year free replacement warranties, we just swap the battery on the spot, knowing full well(since we only use a carbon pile tester) that we can sell their old battery as a blemished one and recoup our costs. The difference is that we would take the time to educate the customer on WHAT happened, instead of just sending them on their merry way only to repeat history and see them in 3-4 months again.

The DH platinum batteries rarely fail with a bad cell(or dead short), odyssey put them into some pretty serious testing and Q&C.

Anywho, check your system, make sure that your charging system is pushing 13.5v idle to 14.5v+/- under throttle. Check your accessories for bad/incorrect grounds. Always a good idea with our trucks is to check for worn/split wires and tape/replace them. A short doesn't have to be 100% of the time.

Also, this could have been a compounding issue from months ago if you ever use your accessories when the vehicle is off. The alternator is NOT a good source to charge your battery. It's designed to keep a fully charged battery, fully charged. If you do any length of use in excess of 30 minutes without the truck on, then you need to put it on a trickle charge(1-5 amps) over-night(10-12 hours) to properly recoup the power loss and get back to 100%. The alternator will keep you limping along, but it will never fully recharge past a certain deficit.