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It's not only about voltage. Have the battery load tested,
Why was the battery replaced originally? Was it the original Mitsubishi battery? How long did the new battery reliably start the car?
All batteries lose some capacity when it gets colder. How much, depends on many factors. As sock puppet said, it's not about voltage only.
I'd recommend you to test it. My wife's car battery did exactly the same and even though I could have just pulled out the voltmeter, we drove to AutoZone, and I let the guy do the testing - since I know, his tools are way better than mine. We discussed the numbers as we were reading them together. We both concluded her battery was fine, but it was her alternator that wasn't working to capacity.
Please read this thread from the OS forum. Perform the basic test with a multimeter described in post #2 there. You may have a parasitic loss somewhere or a faulty battery. If you get the described voltage (13.5 V or above) with the engine running your alternator is fine.
A portable car jump starter from ebay ( for example like this one) is a good investment regardless as it will prevent you from being stranded with a failing battery.
Hello Guys - Regretfully anyone changing their lead acid battery to lithium in any ICE, EV or PHEV is making a major mistake. Do not believe all the false claims by so-called EV lithium battery vendors selling lithium to replace lead acid batteries in EV's or PHEV's. Ev's to include the Outlander are not designed to operate using a 12 volt lithium battery. For the most part the stock 12 volt battery has more than enough sufficient capacity to run the minimum loads in a EV or PHEV. If your having battery problems just replace the lead acid battery.
The reason manufactures use lead acid to begin with is they can operate in frigid weather while a lithium battery will not. 12 volt lithium batteries are designed to totally shut down at 0 degrees F to prevent damage called plating which occurs when you charge or discharge a lithium battery below zero degrees F. Therefore if you switched, get ready for winter. There are temperatures sensors in all lithium batteries which prevent charging below 32F and shut the battery down from even discharging at 0F. If you purchased a battery which works below 0 degree F, the vendor tampered with the batteries BCM and defeated this function. If defeated, the battery will only last 1-2 seasons before it is damaged beyond use from plating a permanent damage that occurs in frigid weather.
The second problem is you stand a good chance of damaging the cars 400 to 12 volt down converter which charges the standard lead acid battery since the converter is now operating at different amperage and voltage than what it was designed for. If the down converter is damaged it's on your dime!
Another problem is Lithium 12 volt batteries work at different resistive levels as well as much higher voltage than lead acid battery. Therefore, the EV's charging circuit is shutting down when the lithium battery is around 27% SOC since it thinks it's fully charged. Having said that, since the lithium battery is only charged to 25% you'll actually have less capacity with the lithium as you did with the original lead acid battery.
I'm not jumping in here to panic anyone I design lithium system for all RV manufactures ( RVVOLT.COM ) so I'm speaking from experience. This is why RV lithium batteries use an internal heating circuits to keep the cells warm to operate in winter.
Best Regards - Mike
Last edited by LowOnCash; Jun 11, 2023 at 02:37 PM.
