Last week my wife tried to start our '10 XLS, but all she got was a "click". I measured only 11.3 volts across the battery terminals. Even the halogens wouldn't fire up.

I connected our computerized charger to the battery, changed the "auto" charge rate to 12 amps, waited maybe 4 minutes, then started the car.

We took the vehicle to Southside Mitsubishi, where the service manager graciously offered to test the battery and charging system himself. In short, the battery was bad, but the vehicle's charging system is fine.

Off we went to Costco to get a replacement Kirkland (Costco-brand) fully-sealed battery. We brought the new battery home and, before installing it in the vehicle, I connected our charger to make sure that it was fully charged before instialling it in the vehicle. When a typical battery is fully charged, the display on the charger normally would indicate "FUL", but after about 2 hours of charging, the display went from an initial charge rate of 2.0 amps to 0.0 amps and never made it to FUL. I thought that this was a bit weird, but I let it pass.

I installed the new battery in the vehicle and once again connected the charger, which in about 1 minute again indicated a charge rate of 0.0 amps and, once again, never went to FUL.

Today, after bringing our grand kids home and turing the vehicle off, I once again connected the charger to the battery and the charge rate indicated 2.0 amps, but after about maybe 30 minutes, the charge rate went UP to around 4 amps, which alarmed me.

I thought that maybe there was a short somewhere in the vehicle's circuitry, so I disconnected the neg cable from the battery and once again connected the charger. The charger has been connected for about 2 hours and has been a steady 3.0 amps, which, IMO, is not normal. I'm thinking that we have a defective battery.

Anyone ever seen this kind of behavior in a brand spanking new battery?

Thanks.

 

in a cheap-sh*t battery, sure. with a cheap-sh*t charger, almost definitely.

 

If you have the Canadian Tire charger that I think (Nautilus, I have one) with large battery the auto setup will get confused and give result like you have. I know mine does the same.
Just force it to 12 amp and it should behave properly.

I also have a Noco 7.5 amp charger and this one confirmed my battery pack (used as backup sump pump power) was charged even if the Nautilus did not on the auto setting.

In my opinion the Noco is far better and CT put them on sale regularely.

I charge my XLS using the arm rest adapter since it is always powered and the Noco will reach 100%.
By the way I have a CT Ultra battery same as Exide or Bosh AGM since they are all made by Exide.
The original battery was as all Japanese product under powered for our climate.

 

Thanks for the input, Claude.

After about 5 hours of additional charging, the display indicated "FUL". I disconnected the charger and immediately reconnected. After the charger's usual 5-10 second period of condition-assessment, the display almost immediately dropped to 0.1, then a few seconds later, 0.0.

I went to bed.

This morning I saw what's in the left photo of our orange charger. (Our charger is about 5 years old, apparently CT has decided to change the current version's colour to black, as shown in the right photo.)
So the condition of the battery may be good, but I'll be checking it out over the next few days to see if it goes to "FUL" more quickly, as it should on a new battery. Again, Claude, thanks for the input.

(BTW, our 1992 Honda Accord that we sold two years ago originally came with a Panasonic battery that lasted 14 years! Tried to find a Panasonic here in Edmonton, but not available, so we got a Die "Hard" that lasted less than 5 years. Replaced it with a Kirkland which lasted until we sold the vehicle.)

 

Buy a multimeter and measure the actual voltage on the battery. A fully charged battery should have a 12 hour rested voltage of 12.6-13.1v. If it's in between that range, it's good.

If the voltage drops lower, well, sometimes people at the auto parts stores and distribution centers drop batteries, or do whatever behind the scenes. Internal plates can get screwed up in the process.

I don't see the need to hook up a brand new battery to an external charger. Start the engine, if the voltage on the battery terminals is around 13.8-14.4v, then your alternator is fine. Then shut off the car and wait a few hours. If the resting voltage of the battery is between 12.6-13.1v, then your battery is fine.

But for a 2010, 5-6 years on a battery is fairly normal. My subaru battery died around february last year, i bought it in july 2008 brand new.

 

Thanks for the advice.

At 09:30 AM I removed the charger and the voltage was 13.27 V. At 12:30 PM (three hours later) the voltage was 12.7 V.

Then I started the car and measured a running voltage of 14.36 V

I won't connect the charger tonight and will measure the voltage in the morning.

The one concern I have is that modern vehicles have a "load" even when the vehicle is turned off. For example, our '05 Lexus LS430 had such a load that, according to the owner's manual, if the vehicle was not started in a week, the battery may be discharged to a point that it may not start at all. Therefore, I think I will disconnect the neg cable after we use the vehicle for the last time today.

Thanks again.

 

Yes, every car has some sort of current draw in the off state. Usually it's for radio memory and your ecu. The battery would last months without a charge.

But newer cars have proximity keys and have to monitor door handle switches, so they draw a bit more current but shouldn't really be over 50mA which should give you at least several weeks worth of battery. I don't know what it is for the outlander, but some of us with prius's have had the battery die when out of town for 6+ weeks.

I would use your multi-meter in ammeter mode. This is easily done by moving your red wire to the 10A or mA hole of your meter. I would do the 10A first, then if you have the mA hole use that for accuracy if you find the current low enough.

Then disconnect your negative lead of your battery. Clip your black wire of your meter to the negative lead. Touch your red wire to the negative terminal of your battery and you should be able to read the drain current of your vehicle. Let us know what it is, if it's over 50mA, that's a little high.

 

I did as you recommended. The draw with the vehicle ignition all the way off is 0.013 Amp, or 13 mA. When the leads are first touched to the battery terminal and negative cable, the current is momentarily well above 1 A, but in maybe a total of 5 seconds drops like a stone and stabilizes at 13 mA. This must be the normal drain rate ("load") on a typical battery in a '10 Outlander XLS that is just sitting there not running.

While I was at it, after about 5 hours of the vehicle just sitting there, I once again measured the voltage across the terminals, but this time with the neg cable removed. 12.8 V

Thanks again for your valuable advice.

 

That all sounds normal. I'm assuming the 1A draw is actually your ECU booting on, doing a checkout, then quickly going into sleep mode which is why it drops like a rock.

13mA is very normal, you should have several months worth of startable battery life.

The only thing i can think for a sudden current drain is leaving a light on, perhaps a bad door switch or something. My son always plays with my keys and left my WRX trunk open on several occasions and because i don't drive it often, i went out to a dead battery several times and had to buy a new battery. I disconnected the trunk light and solved that problem.