Help! Installed 12V Battery And New Battery Had Low Charge

[ArizonaEnergi]

Bought a new battery at AutoZone today, a Duracell R67.  Installed it and starting charging at 2amp and it was showing a very low, maybe 20% charge and 5v.  After an hour it's up to 50%, but stuck there.  Autozone said it should have been charged and recommended a trickle charge, 2amp, for as long as it takes.  They will exchange it if it's defective but what a hassle to take it back out.

 

Anyway, what's been others experiences with charging a new battery.  A few lights are flashing and it texted me it had a low battery but is this normal to tart out so low.  Seems like a good idea to make sure the battery is fully charged before installing.  No telling how long its been sitting in Autozone.

 

UPDATE:  4 hours later the 12v batt is at 100%.  I suspect the battery had a low charge due to sitting on the shelf for a year or two. 

Edited April 18, 2021 by ArizonaEnergi

[SnowStorm]

A few notes:

• 20% charge wouldn't be 5 volts as that would be dead, dead, dead - way below 0%
• Modern multistage chargers can show a constant 50-70% charge for a long time (hours) during part of the charge regime. I've seen mine at 67% for hours, then finally go on up to 100%.  At only 2 amps it could take quite a few hours to get past that plateau.
• I would think a new battery should be well above 20% charge when you buy it but I have no idea how well these stores maintain them.
• Again, the battery age parameter in the car has to be reset or your new battery won't be charged properly.

[ArizonaEnergi]

Thanks for those insights.  I was waiting until the first charge was done to reset the battery age parameter, so I assume the existing parameter for the 5 year old battery may have impacted the charging of the new one.

 

Although it's unlikely we'll still have Max in four years when this battery fails, I think doing a quick charge before a new battery is installed might be a good idea.  The C-Max was making all sorts of clicking noises from a box under the hood while this charge was going on.

[cr08]

Based on the clicking noises heard my guess would be it was indeed low enough that the various systems couldn't be powered up on battery alone and with the charger added in it was all fighting trying to get enough juice in to bring the battery up but also power up the rest of the car too. Given this and if its been sitting on the shelf as such, I'd definitely keep a very close eye on it after you've given it a solid trickle charge and resetting the life counter in the vehicle.

If you do find you have to exchange it, I'd invest in a cheap voltmeter/multimeter and check the battery while in the store before you even check out with it. Very cheap insurance against a dud especially if the store isn't doing their due diligence on these. They shouldn't read anything below 12.00v sitting unused. Anything less can impact their usable life.

[jzchen]

When I changed the battery in our C-MAX Energi (which I'm afraid is no longer with us) I had difficulty finding the correct size.  I ended up driving 20 - 30 miles away to get it, I believe size T5.  I brought a small inverter and battery charger with me and was charging it on the way home.  By the time I reached home it was fully charged, before installing it into the car.  I hadn't ever done that before, usually just take and install.  I used ForScan to reset the battery life, it took me a couple of days to figure out how to reset it....

[ArizonaEnergi]

Yesterday the new battery charge level was at 54% according to my charger so I set it at 2amps and charged it for 18 hours.  Every hour it went up 1% until I quit checking a bedtime and this morning it was at 100% and 12.6v, based on a voltmeter in the 12v socket, aka cigarette lighter receptacle for you youngsters.

 

So we have trips today and will see how the battery responds and hopefully I  will not have to remove and return it.

 

Thanks for the help.  I also now have FORScan loaded on a laptop if it is needed.

 

BTW, I see in the owners manual there's a procedure I haven't seen mentioned to be done after replacing the 12v battery.  It's on page 293 for my 2013: 

 

1. With the vehicle at a complete stop, set the parking brake.
2. Shift the transmission to P (Park).
3. Turn off all accessories.
4. Step on the brake pedal and start the vehicle.
5. Step on the accelerator to start the engine.

6. Run the engine until the engine reaches normal operating
temperature. While the engine is warming up, complete the following:
• Reset the clock. See Clock in the Audio System chapter.
• Reset the radio station presets. See Number block in the Audio
System chapter.
• Reset the power windows bounce-back feature. See Resetting the
Bounce-Back Feature in the Power Windows section.
7. Allow the engine to idle for at least one minute.
8. If the engine turns off, step on the accelerator to start the engine.
9. While the engine is running, step on the brake pedal and shift the transmission to N (Neutral).
10. Allow the engine to run for at least one minute by pressing on the accelerator pedal.
11. Drive the vehicle at least 10 miles (16 kilometers) to completely
relearn the idle and fuel trim strategy.
Note: If you do not allow the engine to relearn the idle and fuel trim
strategy, the idle quality of your vehicle may be adversely affected until the engine computer eventually relearns the idle trim and fuel trim strategy.

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by ArizonaEnergi