We have a 2016 Crv Touring with about 90,000. How had the brilliant idea of jamming so much stuff under the hood that there was no room for a normal sized battery? The tiny battery that is supposed to fit the car is so small that I go through them like (insert analogy here).

Luckily, the warranties on the batteries last longer than the 18 to 24 months that those batteries last. My mechanic just swaps them out under warranty and it's not pro-rated, so it doesn't cost my anything except for the inconvenience and and the waste of time.

Does anyone know if there are other options? Battery technology has come a long way in the past couple of years. Is there some better battery that I should look into?

Paging Dr @williamsji 🙂

 

We have a 2016 Crv Touring with about 90,000. How had the brilliant idea of jamming so much stuff under the hood that there was no room for a normal sized battery? The tiny battery that is supposed to fit the car is so small that I go through them like (insert analogy here).

Luckily, the warranties on the batteries last longer than the 18 to 24 months that those batteries last. My mechanic just swaps them out under warranty and it's not pro-rated, so it doesn't cost my anything except for the inconvenience and and the waste of time.

Does anyone know if there are other options? Battery technology has come a long way in the past couple of years. Is there some better battery that I should look into?

Are you buying lead batteries or AGM batteries?

 

What is the symptoms that is causing you to have the battery changed?
Could it be due to a parasitic drain?
Did the mechanic test for this?
Is the alternator charging the battery?
Try running the car with the lights on?

 

All the right questions. The OP mechanic's business model sounds like the Goodyear model for tires.

 

I will respond to the quoted text below in this post, and will respond to your last paragraph in a separate post, to keep things reasonably short.

We have a 2016 Crv Touring with about 90,000. How had the brilliant idea of jamming so much stuff under the hood that there was no room for a normal sized battery? The tiny battery that is supposed to fit the car is so small that I go through them like (insert analogy here).

Luckily, the warranties on the batteries last longer than the 18 to 24 months that those batteries last. My mechanic just swaps them out under warranty and it's not pro-rated, so it doesn't cost my anything except for the inconvenience and and the waste of time.

Generally speaking, your model year should get 3-4 years life out of a 12volt battery. There can be a couple of reasons though why that might not be the case for you:

1) how often do you drive, and for how long? Infrequent driving is the number one early killer of starter batteries. Reason: normal parasitic drain from all the electronics in your vehicle will slowly deplete the battery, and if you do not drive enough the battery never really gets recharged sufficiently. The best practice to address this, without just driving to be charging the battery, is to invest in a smart charger/maintainer (I prefer NOCO5 for this) and simply connect it to your battery once very week or two for a good overnight saturation charge (which can take 12-24 hours depending on the condition of the battery and it's state of charge.

2) Do you have abnormal parasitic drain in our CRV? Normally, for your model year it will be around 30-40ma constant drain. Anything significantly above this will of course deplete the battery prematurely. Your mechanic can check and test for the parasitic drain on your particular vehicle to see if there is a higher than normal drain, which DOES happen if some piece of electronics does not power down properly when you park and stop your vehicle.

3) where do you live and what temperatures does your battery experience normally? It matters. Hot dry summer climates take a hefty toll on the life of a flooded cell battery, shortening life notably compared to more moderate climate conditions.

There is a great set of stickied posts at the top of the battery forum with a lot of information about all things CRV battery related, both nuanced and direct in terms of expectations with batteries. I encourage you to take some time to read through them.

 

Does anyone know if there are other options? Battery technology has come a long way in the past couple of years. Is there some better battery that I should look into?

Yes, you have a number of options popular with this forum community to address how to obtain longer battery life. There are two schools of thought about batteries: run them until they die and leave you stranded, OR nurture them a bit and prolong their life with some simple periodic tests and maintenance. Which path you follow is entirely up to you, but clearly at the moment you are in the first category.

1) a best practice, given Honda charging systems never really saturate the charge on the starter battery, is to simply do routine maintenance on your battery: A) if there are rectangular caps on top, pop them once or twice a year and insure electrolyte levels are normal (because they do dry out in flooded cell batteries). B) buy a low cost hand held battery tester, and test your battery once a month, as this will definitively tell you the quality and state of your battery (so you will see a weak battery coming months before it leaves you stranded). C) this one is the most beneficial to prolonging battery life...... invest in a smart charger maintainer and use it once or twice a month to saturate the charge on your battery and also lightly recondition the plates.

2) upgrade the type of battery you use. Flooded cell batteries are the least expensive to purchase, but come with built in failure mechanisms such as electrolyte evaporation over time. AGMs, while they cost more, they have no wet electrolyte so they are more rugged against mechanical stresses of bumpy road driving, they do not evaporate out, and they generally are a superior battery for the same size and class of battery, in terms of CCA and internal resistance.

3) your model would come stock with a Group 51R battery, which is by no means a small battery, but there are better options that can be fitted to even your model CRV. Honda has in recent years moved to bigger H5 (also classified as Group 47) batteries in all their new CRVs, which is about a 50% improvement in charge capacity and offsets the burden of normal parasitic drains well.

There are plenty of threads in the forum here discussing how to upsize the battery in your CRV. Generally it is pretty straight forward as follows: A) confirm the dimensional space available for the physical battery, and pair that with one of the standard batteries available off the shelf. B) purchase the appropriate tray required to hold the bigger battery and replace the OEM tray for the 51R with the new one. C) install new battery in the new tray (should be able to use the same hold down hardware in most cases). Forum members who have done this have generally reported both success and pleasure at the larger higher capacity battery. Do not be fooled though, a bigger battery simply gives you more days of sitting parked and still able to start the vehicle. It is not a silver bullet solution for infrequent driving for example... it just kicks the can down the road more than a 51R.

Since I drive a 2017, with lots of space around the battery, I will yield to other Gen4 CRV owners on comments and advice specific to upsizing the battery in your 2016, since you are correct the under hood space is fairly cramped, but I do believe folks have been refitting Group 24, and Group 47s into them, so there should be space with the proper new tray (Honda OEM tray for the appropriate battery, such as what is stock for the Odesseys).

 

<<C) this one is the most beneficial to prolonging battery life...... invest in a smart charger maintainer and use it once or twice a month to saturate the charge on your battery and also lightly recondition the plates. >>

This is what I've found works best. Twice a month I attach a BatteryTender to our 2010 CR-V and our 2010 Odyssey. This has made the batteries last a long time. On my BMW 1M, I was able to get 11 year out of the battery. I only changed the battery on the BMW because I thought I was running on borrowed time. I have a battery tender on the BMW whenever it is not being driven, as opposed to the twice a month charging for the Hondas. For both Hondas, I haven't had to replace the batteries in years. Before using the BatteryTender, I was replacing the batteries on the Hondas with some frequency.

Leif W

 

Great responses, thanks. I'm sure that there is some drain since I have an alarm system. Normally, I drive daily or every other day, averaging about 20 miles - some longer and have changed the batteries about every 3 years. The past two batteries have been less than 2 years. The key to this time, the car sat for about 3 to 4 weeks. My family members were supposed to start it and run it (I've got a cast on my right foot). So it drained (no surprise) but after jumping and running it to recharge (30 minutes) it wouldn't start - dead. I know that car batteries are different from say marine batteries - which are designed to be drained, but one discharge shouldn't damage it. Right?

 

If the battery was completely depleted sitting for those 4 weeks (entirely possible), then it's 50/50 if the battery can be recharged and restored to some level of working condition. A brand new 51R at saturation charge will deplete in about 5 weeks sitting. If the battery was not brand new, and not at full saturation charge (only doable really with a smart charger), then I would be surprised of the battery was not fully depleted (less than 3vdc) sitting those 4 weeks. Normal parasitic drain will trim 1.2amp hours per day off a battery, and 51Rs only have about 30 amp hours of charge capacity, so math suggests the battery was fully depleted.

The starter battery industry states that flooded cell starter batteries are only good for up to 8 full depletion events, with each depletion taking actual capacity and life span off the battery.

Personally, If a starter battery, for any reason, goes below 7 vdc I refuse to trust it and will replace it. Sometimes they can be reasonably restored using a smart charger with a special maintenance and restoration mode (battery out of the vehicle), but I personally just go for a fresh new battery.

 

Letting a lead-acid battery (includes AGM) go dead will substantially shorten its life. It may recharge for you, but the charge will not last (a few days, at the most, if the battery has any age to it). That's been my experience. Cheaper in the long run to get a battery tender and use it. Plus, those 51R batteries (if that's what's in your -V) are puny. Nowhere near big enough to deal with any extended no-drive times or sitting in the car listening to music. Think about also retrofitting a Group 24 or Group 35 battery in there...

 

Thanks. When you said retroFIT, how much customization are we talking about?

 

It can be done in less than a day, or maybe an hour or so, depending on how handy you are. I did a detailed writeup on it for a 2nd gen, but of course, I can't find it now. Do a search on "group 24" or "larger battery install" on this site, and you'll get a bunch of hits on threads where folks have detailed on different gens what's involved.

 

Tiny batteries aren't great for cranking, yeah Honda was dumb, but there is no reason you should be rotating out so many Lead/acid batteries.
I would check to see if your alternator is overcharging or understanding. Neither is good. Extreme cold? Extreme hot? Both are very tough on batteries. Does this car only do short hop driving or are you putting 20+ miles on it often?

 

OK, thinks. IO'll consider it

 

Not sure where you live, but it DOES matter in terms of battery life, even for a well maintained battery.

 

would you believe at the midpoint between Chicago and Milwaukee - the damn cold (and damn hot) zone

 

I'd check your alternator if you go through that many batteries that fast, in fact, I'd get the whole charging system thoroughly tested.

 

yes agreed, but I think it sat too long - that's no excuse for an undersized battery.

 

The 51R battery that the CR-V comes with usually does not last very long. It doesn't provide enough reserve capacity for a vehicle that has to run all of the bells & whistles, accessories, and onboard computers that the CR-V has.

After having to prematurely replace mine for what would be the 3rd time, (by "prematurely", I mean that it died before the 36 month warranty was up), I decided to upgrade and squeeze in the group 24F size battery, and I've never had a problem since. It barely fits, but it does just make it. However, the only thing you have to do first, is buy the larger battery tray that is for the Honda Odyssey. It's not too expensive if you Google the best price. I believe I got mine on Ebay, if I recall correctly. But, the matching, protective battery sleeve that fits over the battery, doesn't fit, so don't bother to buy it. No big deal though. You don't really need it. The only modification I had to make was on the new "Odessey" battery tray. I had to snip off some plastic on one side in order to make it fit. No biggie though.

So, I angled the battery ever so slightly so that it doesn't rub up against any other part of the vehicle. It comes very close though near the front in one spot, but it's not touching anything. Then you just carefully tighten down the battery bracket, so it's locked down & can't move around.

I went with an AGM type battery from Champion. It's easier to install an AGM, because you may have to tilt the battery a bit in order to install it, and a conventional battery might leak if you tilt it too far. It's a bit of a tight squeeze, but it will fit.

This battery has WAY more reserve power, and cold cranking amps than the stock 51R "tractor" battery!! You won't regret it! Just do it! It's SO worth the piece of mind it'll give you to not have to worry about your battery dying in like every 2 friggin' years, and leaving you stranded somewhere like it did to me 3 hours from home once!