Dead battery issues

[zuffenone]

Hi everyone

I have a 2000 manual coupe which I just stored for around 3 months.

Forgot to trickle it, went back to it today and it was completely dead - no interior light, no nothing.

I then hooked up my battery charger on it's 'start' mode, left the car for a couple of minutes and cranked it over.

It tried to crank but didn't quite turn the motor and then went completely dead. Checked the charger and it was dead too. Goodbye charger!

Now nothing I do will put current into the car. I've tried jump packs, hooking up to another car. Nothing.

Do you think I am looking at a fuse issue, or have I really screwed up and done something more serious?!

Any advice much appreciated!

Thanks guys

 

[Ray Rodriguez]

I would just get a new battery & try it, you"ll need one anyways. Usually when a battery goes all the way dead, the cell gets damage & you would have problems in the future, I would not chance it, you dont want to be away from home & car wont start.

 

[dragoon]

Hi everyone

I have a 2000 manual coupe which I just stored for around 3 months.

So tell us more about your 2000 coupe. Those are far and few in between.

 

[Sportsmind4me]

+1 on the new battery and +1 on more info about the car. Oh, and please post some pics! After I bought my car I noticed the battery would die after a couple of weeks of sitting. It was getting old and tested weak, so I replaced the battery and have kept it on a battery tender ever since without issue. Have you tested the old battery? It could be so dead that nothing you do will have an effect.

 

[zuffenone]

Ok, new battery has done it.. never seen a battery blow like that - shame it destroyed my charger in the process.

Don't have any pics on me right now but the car is a bit special - I'm the second owner and it has done 8667 miles, like new!

Honda delivered around ten NSX to the UK in 2000.

I'll get some pics posted when I can.

 

[NZNick]

This is what you need to preserve the condition of your battery, a CTEK charger , but more important to the health of the car is to actually drive it!

What colour is you NSX? Is it manual or automatic? (NA2 or NA1 for a 2000 car) Where did you get it from? I'm sure the guys over at NSXCB would love to hear from you!

Kaz, the UK's guru on all things NSX has just written a piece about starting a car that hasn't been used for a while - check it out post #15

 

[NSXandNOFX]

Like Ray Rodriguez said - get a new battery & try it. Worse comes to worse (as he also said) you'll just have a spare!

 

[nsxtasy]

Like Ray Rodriguez said - get a new battery & try it.

Sounds like you didn't read the part where he said he already did, and that fixed it. Two posts above yours.

 

[Grimeas]

I don't believe battery chargers with the start mode are made to sit in start mode for any real period of time and is only meant for a quick burst of amps to get the car cranked. That is what probably burnt the charger up.

 

[warrenw]

This is what you need to preserve the condition of your battery, a CTEK charger , but more important to the health of the car is to actually drive it!

+1 on the CTEK. I have two of these units and they are truly intelligent battery conditioners, not chargers. They are better than a trickle charger, as a trickle charger is good, but over a long period of time, bad for a battery.

 

[nsxtasy]

Today many brands sell "automatic" chargers, which shut off (stop charging) once the battery is fully charged. The term "trickle charger" usually refers to the old fashioned kind that would apply a low charge without the automatic feature, which could damage the battery due to overcharging.

 

[ftuhy]

This discussion again.
For maintaining a charge while a car (or just a car battery) is in storage, from a technical perspective:
1. Trickle chargers left on for more than a couple days are bad for lead acid batteries (ie, car batteries) (On the other hand, its the preferred long-term charger for nickel-cadmium batteries)
2. A float charger is what is needed for storage. It charges to a (temperature dependent) voltage and the current drops to zero when the battery reaches that voltage. As the NSX slowly drains the battery, and the voltage drops, the charger current increases to bring the voltage back up again. Hence it doesn't dry out the battery. Most float chargers are designed to maintain a battery, and not charge a heavily discharged battery.

Harbor Freight sells a float charger for sometimes less than $10 on sale.

I usually put my NSX away for about 3 months in the winter. I lost the battery in my first year of ownership, not having measured the "off" current drain. With the float charger, the battery lasted 10 years. The same holds for my '84 Corvette, which spends most of its time in storage.