12v battery dies every 9 months

9 months after I bought the car, the 12v battery died and was replaced under warranty. 9 months after that, same thing again.

Each time, the dealer charged the battery, said it was o.k., but wanted to keep it for 3 days to be sure. Each time, after 3 days, the battery was below spec and replaced under warranty.

The 12v battery warranty is only 2 years (prorated + labor after that). So another 9 months from now, my warranty will have already expired.

Has anyone else had this problem and found a solution? Thanks.

There's a lot of threads on battery proplems, try the search function. Sounds like you have an issue in the system that charges the battery, not the battery itself, if new batteries die right away.

I just left a reply on your other thread before I saw this one.
Yes my 2014, 3 months old and 3k miles, just had the battery replaced by the dealer. I typically drive it every day and charge it every night. One day last week I didn't drive it. I came out that evening to go to dinner and it would not start. I determined that it had a bad cell internally. The dealer confirmed it and replaced it with a 84 month Nissan battery (longer warranty than the factory one).
That is all they did with mine after checking/clearing all the codes. I think there may be a TSB on earlier models that deal with the 12V battery. Not sure though.

I will say that 12V lead-acid batteries are pretty robust. If they are being overcharged, the electrolyte in the cells will be low (easy to check). And if they are being undercharged they will come right back up when charged correctly. The easiest way is just to take it to an AutoZone or Advance and they will put it on a computer that charges, measures the internal resistance, discharges, etc. They will be able to tell you in a few minutes if it is good or bad. So will a good dealer.

Four possibilities:
1. Cheap batteries that fail early.
2. Car charging too long, or with too high a voltage.
3. Car charging not long enough, or with too low a voltage.
4. Something drawing current when the car is off.

All of these if left unchecked (9 months?) will ruin a battery. Take it to the dealer if you suspect the car is the cause.

One tip: minimize the amount of time that the car spends plugged-in but not charging. What that mainly means is to not leave the car plugged in for days at a time (over a weekend, for example). The reason is that the car uses a lot more 12V when plugged in and if it's not actively charging then the 12V is being discharged. Lead-acid batteries prefer to rest at full charge. Repeated "deep discharge" is not tolerated well by most automotive 12V batteries.

A hardwired batter maintainer would also appear to be in order here. I use one and I'm still on the original battery after 15+ months. I top off the accessory battery once or twice a week.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I just ordered a cigarette lighter voltmeter to see if I can find an interesting pattern over time. (Equus Innova 3721 from Wal-mart) And so I can see if DNAinaGoodWay's pushing the stop button on the EVSE to charge the 12v works for me too.

I figure I've got a few months to decide on a remedy (and maybe Nissan will give us a firmware fix before that).

So far I've gotten firmware fixes for: level-2 charging, passenger airbag sensor, and grabby brakes, so I'm hopeful.

csites said:

I just ordered a cigarette lighter voltmeter to see if I can find an interesting pattern over time. (Equus Innova 3721 from Wal-mart) )

Click to expand...

I never even heard of these until I looked them up. Why would you get that?

The outlets aren't hot (live) when the car's off. When you take the car out of OFF mode, you're either putting an extra load on it or the voltage would be way high in READY as you'd be have help of the DC to DC converter.

If you want to measure the voltage of the 12 volt battery, do it at the battery itself.

I've had my car 2.7 years.
Same OEM 12 VDC battery.
No battery maintainer: No Problem
Go away 2 weeks at a time (not plugged in): No Problem
Left it plugged in 5 days: No Problem

Run my Inverter off the 12VDC (Car set to ON) :No Problem.

Sounds like you have a problem for sure in the charging system.

I would recommend a data logger similar to http://www.mccdaq.com/usb-data-acquisition/USB-500-Series.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This would allow for recording 32,000 voltage readings and transfer to a PC for analysis. By sampling every minute the 32,000 readings provides 22 days of recording. The sampling interval is selectable for longer or shorter recording times.

Sounds cool, but how do you monitor the 12v battery over USB? Isn't USB limited to 5v?

Nekota said:

I would recommend a data logger similar to http://www.mccdaq.com/usb-data-acquisition/USB-500-Series.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This would allow for recording 32,000 voltage readings and transfer to a PC for analysis. By sampling every minute the 32,000 readings provides 22 days of recording. The sampling interval is selectable for longer or shorter recording times.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I didn't realize it was switched. Hopefully it will have limited use at least. My wife and I are not likely to pop the hood multiple times per day for several months.

cwerdna said:

csites said:

I just ordered a cigarette lighter voltmeter to see if I can find an interesting pattern over time. (Equus Innova 3721 from Wal-mart) )

Click to expand...

I never even heard of these until I looked them up. Why would you get that?

The outlets aren't hot (live) when the car's off. When you take the car out of OFF mode, you're either putting an extra load on it or the voltage would be way high in READY as you'd be have help of the DC to DC converter.

If you want to measure the voltage of the 12 volt battery, do it at the battery itself.

Click to expand...

csites said:

Sounds cool, but how do you monitor the 12v battery over USB? Isn't USB limited to 5v?

Nekota said:

I would recommend a data logger similar to http://www.mccdaq.com/usb-data-acquisition/USB-500-Series.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This would allow for recording 32,000 voltage readings and transfer to a PC for analysis. By sampling every minute the 32,000 readings provides 22 days of recording. The sampling interval is selectable for longer or shorter recording times.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

The 12V monitor on Leaf Spy (Bluetooth) is pretty accurate c/w trickle charging every month or 2. Assuming you get 14V from the Leafs charging system measured at the battery posts.

The USB plug is used for both voltage measurement and data transfer. The data logger collects voltage readings while in logging mode. When you want to read the accumulated readings stored in the logging device, you remove the logging unit from the voltage being monitored and plug the logging unit into a USB connection on a computer and a software program reads the stored data.

This unit does not provide for real time monitoring over the USB data connection. And you are correct that USB operates from 5V but when the USB is disconnected from the 5V, an internal Li battery supplies the power to log data for typically 2 years. This particular model measures voltages up to 30V, has a on board real time clock to timestamp each reading. The data is exportable as CSV (comma separated values) into a spreadsheet or you can use the supplied data analysis tool.

csites said:

Sounds cool, but how do you monitor the 12v battery over USB? Isn't USB limited to 5v?

Nekota said:

I would recommend a data logger similar to http://www.mccdaq.com/usb-data-acquisition/USB-500-Series.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This would allow for recording 32,000 voltage readings and transfer to a PC for analysis. By sampling every minute the 32,000 readings provides 22 days of recording. The sampling interval is selectable for longer or shorter recording times.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks. So is there 12v available to the unit via the USB port, or do I have to get 12v there by some other means?

Nekota said:

The USB plug is used for both voltage measurement and data transfer. The data logger collects voltage readings while in logging mode. When you want to read the accumulated readings stored in the logging device, you remove the logging unit from the voltage being monitored and plug the logging unit into a USB connection on a computer and a software program reads the stored data.

This unit does not provide for real time monitoring over the USB data connection. And you are correct that USB operates from 5V but when the USB is disconnected from the 5V, an internal Li battery supplies the power to log data for typically 2 years. This particular model measures voltages up to 30V, has a on board real time clock to timestamp each reading. The data is exportable as CSV (comma separated values) into a spreadsheet or you can use the supplied data analysis tool.

csites said:

Sounds cool, but how do you monitor the 12v battery over USB? Isn't USB limited to 5v?

Nekota said:

I would recommend a data logger similar to http://www.mccdaq.com/usb-data-acquisition/USB-500-Series.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This would allow for recording 32,000 voltage readings and transfer to a PC for analysis. By sampling every minute the 32,000 readings provides 22 days of recording. The sampling interval is selectable for longer or shorter recording times.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

The unit comes with two alligator clips that attach to the dust cover protecting the USB plug and connect to the voltage sense terminals. The unit I use is 503 http://www.mccdaq.com/usb-data-acquisition/USB-503.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and shows what comes in the box. I grab an "always on 12 Volts" from the fuse panel just inside the drivers door with one of those fuse tap connectors and use the provided red and black alligator clips. A direct wire from the the fuse tap to the screw header on the USB 503 cap would make for a more permanent installation but in either case follow safe practice to protect the live battery connection from shorts to ground. I use this USB 503 monitor on other cars to check why the battery goes dead and how large of a PV panel is needed to trickle charge the seldom used ICE battery. It's not a replacement for a voltmeter but if you want to monitor DC voltage up to 30V over an extended time it is a practical solution.

csites said:

Thanks. So is there 12v available to the unit via the USB port, or do I have to get 12v there by some other means?

Nekota said:

The USB plug is used for both voltage measurement and data transfer. The data logger collects voltage readings while in logging mode. When you want to read the accumulated readings stored in the logging device, you remove the logging unit from the voltage being monitored and plug the logging unit into a USB connection on a computer and a software program reads the stored data.

This unit does not provide for real time monitoring over the USB data connection. And you are correct that USB operates from 5V but when the USB is disconnected from the 5V, an internal Li battery supplies the power to log data for typically 2 years. This particular model measures voltages up to 30V, has a on board real time clock to timestamp each reading. The data is exportable as CSV (comma separated values) into a spreadsheet or you can use the supplied data analysis tool.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...