indawire

My '02 is a daily driver so it's never an issue. But- we left it in the airport parking garage for a week for 10 days and it turned right over so I can't complain about the drain issue. The Costco battery is 20 months old.

Bon

Our group 48 batteries have around 75 amp hours of capacity. With a 100 milliamp continuous load the battery will last about one month until it's discharged.

To measure your own SC's parasitic load just disconnect either the negative or positive lead from the battery and then connect a multimeter between the battery terminal post and the battery cable. The multimeter and its leads must be set for DC amps setting. Usually there is a 10-amp setting. This setting will give you sufficient accuracy for most situations. Remember to turn off all interior lights etc, of course.

I measured my SC and I see about 800 milliamps draw for the first 10-20 seconds and then it drops to around 160 milliamps. I'd say two to three weeks garage time is about what I get if I don't charge my battery by driving or otherwise.

I have "heard" that 100 milliamp continuous is an expected current drain on our SC's. I have added an early generation LuxLink to my SC and that's why my current drain may be higher than average. Of course many cars draw much less than 100 milliamps but I don't know of anyone on this forum that has measured less than 100 milliamps.

FLYCT

My 2008 measured 47 ma parasitic drain.

Bon

Aahhh, one of the lucky late model owners. With a good battery you certainly can let yours sit a month and crank it up. Nice.

NOsburn

Going to break down and put a new battery in my 02 SC430. What is the best one out there for replacement?





NOsburn

SlvBullet

iTrader: (8)

See rcent post from Bacardi11

"I have had my Qdyssey Battery for 71/2 years. Just replaced it. They are the best battery I have ever own. I know the price 275.77 shipped. number 34R-PC1500 perfect fit.This battery went dead many many times just sitting just jump and go. I know a lot of money at first. But it paid for it self. 850 CCA Deep Cel"

I replaced my OEM battery with a glass matt dry cell deep charge battery and it takes a lot longer to drain. Good recommendation to prevent too muchndrain if the door or trunk doesn't close completely is chaning the bulbs to LEDs ... 168's ... Very easy swaps.

There is too much electronics for a standard liquid acid battery!

bacardi11

iTrader: (1)

NO
the Odyssey 34R-PC1500 fit perfect

FLYCT

The best one is the one you choose.

If I were in the market for a new battery I would choose one below in the following order

• Costco Kirkland about $78 Fitment code #10, for a group 48 Battery.
• Sam's Club Duracell Group Size 48 (H6) 2 year warranty $109
• Autozone Duralast Duralast Gold 48H6 battery $151 before discounts 3 years free replacement plus 2 years prorated
• Autozone Duralast Platinum H6-AGM, an absorbed glass mat (AGM) battery $162 before any discounts, 3 years free replacement plus 2 years prorated
• Lexus OEM 00544-MFH60 about $155 Warranty consists of 2 years free replacement plus 5 years prorated

Costco, Sams and Autozone install for free Lexus charges for installation.

sorka

When you use the ammeter make sure you set it to DC. Even a high end Fluke 87 Mk V like what I have, you still have to specify AC or DC amps and it's AC amps by default. When I first did this, I measured 8mA until I realized that I hadn't set it for DC. When I did that, it measured 48 mA about a minute after I closed the circuit as it takes the car a little while to settle down when the various controllers first see current.

With the meter attached between the negative terminal of the battery and the negative cable, I pulled each fuse. It turns out there was no smoking gun. One, of them, can't remember, was taking about half of that and the rest of it was spread out over about 6 other controllers.

Black31385

I trust dry cell batteries. Optima Red top. Had it in my LS for 7 years and still going with no issues. Knock on wood

NOsburn

• Autozone Duralast Platinum H6-AGM, an absorbed glass mat (AGM) battery $162 before any discounts, 3 years free replacement plus 2 years prorated.

This is AutoZone's best, so have put it in. Will see how it works....

NOsburn

aflygurl

I have the same drainage problem in my 03. Found that turning the auto light switch off when not driving for days at a time will orevent drainage. I will check tomorrow. My car is stored on bad weather days.

Harold57

aflygurl, are you referring to the headlight "auto light switch"?

mrblister

I would think that the auto headlight switch can only be active once the ignition is turned on.

sorka

We do the same thing and see the same result when the battery was marginal. But I've also measured the current draw with my scope and there's no difference while the car is off and the headlights are off.

The reason it makes a difference is that few minutes of the headlights being on after you turn the car off and get out will drain a marginal battery quite a bit.