Battery Decision
 

I was having a problem with my stock battery at the start of summer where my volts would drop when I was idling to 12V and under and I would kill the battery if I sat with the stereo on for 5 minutes.

So I made the decision to get an optima but seeing as I own a Honda I had to get a Honda size optima. It was good for about a week steady 14V with the system on, HID's and wipers.

Then I went out of town for work for about 5 days came back and my car was dead (had to jump it.) Same thing happened the week after, so I went out and bought a charger and after that when I left town for work I always left it on.
Now this POS optima has gotten so bad if I let the car sit for over a day the car wont start.

So obviously with the snow coming I wont be driving the car everyday and I cant be jumping it every 3 days so a decision has to be made. do I,

get another stock battery

try another Honda optima

or do a battery relocation to the trunk
-only thing with this is I do like to take the car to mission a couple times a year for street legal Fridays and I heard you need a big ugly kill switch if I go this route.



The car is a 2000 civic, with 4300 hid, a 400 RMS amp with a 1F cap, and I soon plan on getting remote start.

thanks in advance guys

Is there something in your car that is draining your battery? There is no way a new battery will die that quickly.

Also did you say your battery dropped down to 12V when the engine is on and idling? May be your alternator not charging the battery properly.

Is your optima new like purchased in the last year or two or from like 4 years ago?
The older generation had issues from 4 years ago, they have revamped the new one which shouldn't have issues.

And like Shenmecar said, if your vehicle was idling and it dropped to 12v or lower it may be a voltage regulator issue or alternator issue or an abnormal current draw to your battery as well. May not be the battery

I disconnected my capacitor and used a test light to check for draws and they're didn't seem to be any.

I bought the battery brand new in April.
I never had any problems with the stock battery other than at idle with HID's, stereo, wipers, the voltage would drop, then if I turned the stereo down or rev the motor the voltage would go back to 14v.

My work takes me out of town a lot and even being gone for 2 weeks the car would always start up with the stock battery, but every single time I have left for more than a couple days since the optima was installed the car needs to be jumped.

I'm leaning to wards it being the battery just because its the common denominator. I have had good luck with blue top optima's in the past but I dont know about these half sized honda ones.

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/897...aasq8ha.th.jpg

Is yours the exact same style where in the pic you provided on this front side two of the cells are rounded and then one of them is square or is the whole thing squared with no individual rounded areas (gray area of the battery)

Specs

Battery Model: D51R
Part Number: 8073-167
Nominal Voltage: 12 volts
NSN: Number applied for, product currently available
Description: High power, dual purpose engine start and deep cycle, sealed lead acid battery


here is a pic of the actual battery

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/995...chmentk.th.jpg

the one you have is the revised new one, that should not have any problems. that being said, theres obviously still a chance there may be something wrong with it. The reason I say this is the previous version of that battery had huge issues where they stopped production on them for over a year.

Like I said earlier, theres still possibilities of abnormal current draw, voltage regulator and alternator.

If you bought it in April, then it still has an over the counter warranty. Take it back and get a new one.

That's what I was going to say when I read you just got in April. Exchange it OTC and see what happens. If you have another problem like a draw or charging issue, at least you'll know the battery's good.

ya thanks guys I'm going to head to lordco tomorrow