You’ll need to get a new base for the battery to rest on and, if you wish, a new case that goes around the battery. Some have found that these items from a 2013 or so Odyssey work well and they aren’t expensive. A group 24F battery is slightly than a 35 but is another alternative.

 

. This is what i did when i upgraded to a series 35 AGM battery. I used both the Odyssey battery tray and wrap around case to protect the battery from engine heat.

 

Why do you want to change to a different size? I replaced the battery on my 2016 EX-L last week but the 3 year and 2 month old battery still works fine. My 2006 Mazda Miata has the same battery and the battery went bad in it and I put the new battery in the CRV and the CRV battery in the Miata. A suggestion by a member about a year ago caused me to check the acid level on the OEM battery about a year ago and one cell need topping off. I see no reason to get a larger battery because the OEM size works fine and the protective cover exactly fits the OEM battery. My CRV, MIATA, John Deere 345 and John Deere 2305 all use the 51R battery. Rural King has them in stock for $59 dollars and change.

 

Pretty much what I did. I took the 4 year old Honda battery out and put it into my John Deere 2320 tractor, then put a same 51R size Rural King battery - on sale for around $60 - in the 2014 Honda. The only reason I swapped batteries to begin with was because the much older tractor battery died. The 51R works fine for my Honda even when towing it behind the motorhome. I also checked the water levels and had to add some in the original Honda Battery.

 

In really cold climates the CR-V tends to crank slowly as the battery ages, especially when the vehicles sits outside unused for a few days in the deep freeze. My kid's replacement Honda battery is now 3 years old (the original battery died at 2.5 years old), so I too am considering moving to a larger battery with higher CCA and especially a much higher Reserve Capacity. For the modest cost for the larger battery and modifications, it's good peace of mind.

I also bought her a NOCO GB40 booster as a holiday present to supplement the jumper cables already in the car.

 

2012 CRV EXL AWD. It is my runabout and I tow it behind the RV. When the group 51 started to get slow cranking after 5 years old I replaced it with:

O'reilly Platinum Super Start Group 24R AGM.

I ordered the battery box/cover for a 2012 Honda Odyssey from my local honda dealer, I think it was about 25 dollars. It all fits perfect. I am a big fan of the battery type listed above and have used them in other vehicles as well with great success. They seem to crank the engine over faster than other batteries I've used. I'm happy with the setup.

 

Curious as to what motorhome you use to tow the Honda? Do you have a charge line connected to your Honda from the coach? Do you have a toad brake system installed in the Honda?

 

Sorry for the typo it was a battery box from a 2013 Odyssey. Here are the two part numbers:

31521-TK8-A00 Box, Battery

31531-TK8-A00 Cover, Battery

 

American Eagle 40'. I have the roadmaster towing system and the Roadmaster Brakeaway air brake system is part of that setup. No charge line installed and have found that taking fuse 19 and 20 out of the circuit allows for at least 12 hours on the road without worries using the 24R battery. I put switches in line where the fuses 19 and 20 were and put the switches on the dash where the blanks spaces are beside the Eco control switch.

 

12 hours on the road? Oh those were the days! Now we follow the 4x4x4 rule. 4 hours of driving, in the campground, set up and a cold drink in hand by 4 PM, and no more than 4 days in one spot!

Fleetwood Discovery here with a charge line.

 

I like your rules. We try to follow similar no after dark arrivals. No more than 6 hours on the road and prefer under 4. I sited 12 hours as that is the longest I've had the toad hooked without starting including stops etc. So I know this setup will carry my CRV that long.

Can I assume that with the charge line you don't worry about switching out or pulling fuses for #19 and #20?

 

Correct. No removal of any fuses. Sharon gets into the Honda and "runs it through the gears" while I hook the Honda to the coach. I get done right before she does, and I get in the coach so we can do the taillight, left/right turn and stop light check and we are ready to go to our next adventure. I incorporated the charge line in the electrical umbilical cord so all I have is one plug for everything.

This 2014 crv is our second Honda crv we have towed. The first one (2009) went about 60,000 miles behind the coach before we traded her in.

Happy trails, and we hope to see you down the road one day!

 

Ok folks, its my turn to contribute to the battery folder for our generation.
I've been expecting the battery on my 2016 Touring to fail soon since I bought in in May 2016. Yesterday morning it cranked incredibly sloooowly. A sure sign of impending failure, I packed my gooloo battery based jump starter and set off to work. This morning, enough juice to help the GPS lock into the next address I was visiting but no where near enough to turn over the engine. Gooloo to the rescue https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MLHPGY9/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_9fSaDbNR91JT9 Its frequently on sale and has plenty of juice.

I emailed one of my Client's (a Napa store) employees and asked him which one of two different batteries that I'd been looking at did they have in stock. Both as it happened. I got the size 35 Napa AGM https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NBP983585?partTypeName=Battery+-+Automotive&keywordInput=battery

Comes complete with a new battery tray that fits perfectly on top (before installation and underneath the battery after installation. No need to go and spend $$$ at your local Honda store.

Installation: Have a 10mm open/ring wrench and mole wrench. Remove the black caps (that hold wiring-mole wrench) off the battery tie downs. Loosen the tie downs enough to remove. It only orientates in one direction. Always be very aware of any metal including tools and don't let them touch battery terminals or ground from battery to bodywork.

Remove negative terminal then positive terminal. Remove battery. I found I had to drop in the new tray then the battery. Loosely position tie downs in place but do not tighten. Attach battery terminals. Positive terminal was easy, negative was a bit of a stretch until I pulled battery forward of where I'd positioned it. Tighten both battery terminals and then tie downs. Reattach black caps that hold wiring in place.

Remove tools from engine bay, start engine. The GPS on my Touring had to acquire the satellites again with took about five minutes. Once acquired the car's clock reset from 2012. Return the old battery back for recycling. Recycle old battery tray and plastic cold cover (?) from factory battery.

Factory battery had 410 CC (group 51) new battery 640CCA. Why the AGM not the cheaper lead acid? The AGM is an inch shorter than the lead acid I was considering. That made the AGM the winner in my book due to limited length of battery cables.

Cheers

 

Ok folks, its my turn to contribute to the battery folder for our generation.
I've been expecting the battery on my 2016 Touring to fail soon since I bought in in May 2016. Yesterday morning it cranked incredibly sloooowly. A sure sign of impending failure, I packed my gooloo battery based jump starter and set off to work. This morning, enough juice to help the GPS lock into the next address I was visiting but no where near enough to turn over the engine. Gooloo to the rescue https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MLHPGY9/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_9fSaDbNR91JT9 Its frequently on sale and has plenty of juice.

I emailed one of my Client's (a Napa store) employees and asked him which one of two different batteries that I'd been looking at did they have in stock. Both as it happened. I got the size 35 Napa AGM https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NBP983585?partTypeName=Battery+-+Automotive&keywordInput=battery

Comes complete with a new battery tray that fits perfectly on top (before installation and underneath the battery after installation. No need to go and spend $$$ at your local Honda store.

Installation: Have a 10mm open/ring wrench and mole wrench. Remove the black caps (that hold wiring-mole wrench) off the battery tie downs. Loosen the tie downs enough to remove. It only orientates in one direction. Always be very aware of any metal including tools and don't let them touch battery terminals or ground from battery to bodywork.

Remove negative terminal then positive terminal. Remove battery. I found I had to drop in the new tray then the battery. Loosely position tie downs in place but do not tighten. Attach battery terminals. Positive terminal was easy, negative was a bit of a stretch until I pulled battery forward of where I'd positioned it. Tighten both battery terminals and then tie downs. Reattach black caps that hold wiring in place.

Remove tools from engine bay, start engine. The GPS on my Touring had to acquire the satellites again with took about five minutes. Once acquired the car's clock reset from 2012. Return the old battery back for recycling. Recycle old battery tray and plastic cold cover (?) from factory battery.

Factory battery had 410 CC (group 51) new battery 640CCA. Why the AGM not the cheaper lead acid? The AGM is an inch shorter than the lead acid I was considering. That made the AGM the winner in my book due to limited length of battery cables.

Cheers

Great write up rocky!

One thing to contribute in addition ... when I change out batteries on these modern vehicles I jumper cable parallel a battery before I remove the old one... thus keeping power to the vehicle and avoiding any system resets. There are inexpensive battery tenders that are sold that will do this too.. but since I have two cars in my garage.. I just jump one to the other (unless the bad battery is totally dead and shorted, which is rare as I will replace it when it is below 30% life**). Have to be mindful of the positive connection and not let anything short.. but easy to do as long as you apply attention to detail.

** I check our batteries monthly using this tester.... which I have found works really well: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0ARG3X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 As soon as I see the battery go to 30% remaining life ... I replace the battery.

 

Interestingly on my CRV, no head unit settings, GPS addresses etc were lost. But you are right for most cars that's necessary.

 

Both my 2008 and 2016 crv did not lose any settings after doing a battery swap. But I did them quick thou. Probably less then 2 minutes of no power.

 

I just found a setting it didn't save. The seat position setting.

 

there is a cheap cable called a Memory Saver that plugs into a jump box or there are even simpler ones that just hook up to a 9volt battery that will help you save your radio presets and stuff if everyone is worried about that.

 

For reference, here's a handy battery size chart:

Here are some other helpful threads on the topic:

https://www.crvownersclub.com/threads/51-battery-replacement.185770/

https://www.crvownersclub.com/threads/larger-group-24-battery-install.35034/

https://www.crvownersclub.com/threads/3rd-gen-crv-bigger-battery-upgrade.192589/

Should be enough info in all that for anyone with any year CR-V to figure out what works best in their situation. It's all good reading.

 

I performed the Group 35 battery swap into my Northern US 2016 CR-V originally equipped with a Group 51R Battery.
It's very straight forward and the tray is pretty secure. Since the stand in the CR-V does not have the same accommodations for the pins in the Odyssey tray (31521-TK8-A00)
you must make do with what is there. I did not purchase the battery cover, as a result there is a bit of extra room in the tray where the battery could move. Some spacers may be desirable but I have not had issues with movement. The pictures show how I oriented and placed the tray and hold-down. Note how the J-hooks are oriented and put them back the same way they came out and the factory hold-down bar will work fine. The short leg of "J" points toward the driver side on both hooks.
All pictures are oriented looking from the front of the vehicle
Original Tray

Tray Removed

Odyssey Tray 31521-TK8-A00

Fully installed and bolted in

Let me know if something is unclear.

 

I did what Valkokir did for my 2016 CR-V.
The 24F battery and Odyssey tray was cheaper than the 51R battery. I got the 24F when Walmart had them on special for $95.00 with 5 year pro-rated life. Shop e-bay and Amazon for the best deal on the battery tray.

 

I just ordered the same NAPA Legend 51R (East Penn battery) for the 2016 that our shop put in the 2012. It's a really good battery. The Honda battery specs are overrated -- or don't 'hold' their specs as long as other manufacturers. East Penn batteries are actually underrated.