Why Did My Battery Fail
In July of last year I bought a new battery for my 2010 Nissan Frontier. It was a $130 battery from NAPA.
It worked fine.
May of this year I put a GPS in the truck, this is a Rand McNalley GPS with the 7 inch screen. I have it fastened to the windshield and it plugs in to the cigarette lighter.
In this vehicle, when you turn the ignition off, the cigarette lighter stays hot. So the GPS just stayed on when I switched the engine off. I just left it like that, and the GPS would be on all night long. I figured it didn't pull much juice.
I put this GPS in, in May, and had no problems until 5 months later, in October. It happened that I didn't crank up the truck for 3 days. I went out to crank it up and the battery was dead.
I was surprised that the battery was dead after 3 days, I figured the GPS didn't use that much electricity. I jumped the truck off and it ran fine, which told me that the alternator was probably good.
For two months, I just unplugged the GPS when I wasn't driving the truck.
Yesterday was the coldest day of the year, it was 24 degrees. The truck would barely crank, and I knew I was in trouble.
I drove the truck down into town and I plugged the GPS in. We went to the veterinarian and were in there for 20 minutes. I had mistakenly left the GPS plugged in. Came out of the vet and the battery was dead, truck wouldn't crank. 20 minutes with the GPS on, and it wouldn't crank. I had to get a jump start. I drove over to Auto Zone and had the guy test the battery, he said it was shot. He did say that the alternator tested good.
Would running a GPS all night, over a span of 5 months, cause wear and tear on a battery and cause it to fail? I am baffled that a 1 1/2 year old battery that cost $130 would go bad.
It worked fine.
May of this year I put a GPS in the truck, this is a Rand McNalley GPS with the 7 inch screen. I have it fastened to the windshield and it plugs in to the cigarette lighter.
In this vehicle, when you turn the ignition off, the cigarette lighter stays hot. So the GPS just stayed on when I switched the engine off. I just left it like that, and the GPS would be on all night long. I figured it didn't pull much juice.
I put this GPS in, in May, and had no problems until 5 months later, in October. It happened that I didn't crank up the truck for 3 days. I went out to crank it up and the battery was dead.
I was surprised that the battery was dead after 3 days, I figured the GPS didn't use that much electricity. I jumped the truck off and it ran fine, which told me that the alternator was probably good.
For two months, I just unplugged the GPS when I wasn't driving the truck.
Yesterday was the coldest day of the year, it was 24 degrees. The truck would barely crank, and I knew I was in trouble.
I drove the truck down into town and I plugged the GPS in. We went to the veterinarian and were in there for 20 minutes. I had mistakenly left the GPS plugged in. Came out of the vet and the battery was dead, truck wouldn't crank. 20 minutes with the GPS on, and it wouldn't crank. I had to get a jump start. I drove over to Auto Zone and had the guy test the battery, he said it was shot. He did say that the alternator tested good.
Would running a GPS all night, over a span of 5 months, cause wear and tear on a battery and cause it to fail? I am baffled that a 1 1/2 year old battery that cost $130 would go bad.
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may have gotten a bad one, hate to say it, but like the old saying goes, they don't make em like they used to, if you read the reviews sadly quite a few of newer batteries don't make it much over year....... 0 -
Take the battery back to NAPA they will replace it.
Yes a trickle charge like that will mess with a battery especially if the vehicle is not driven a lot.0 -
When that battery drained down to near zero due to the GPS, it was badly damaged. After a near complete discharge, a lead-acid battery is on borrowed time and will never be able to fully charge again.
BTW, I also have one of those 7" Rand McNally GPS/tablet/dash cam units and like it a lot. The proprietary OS is quirky, but it will indeed work as either a GPS or a minimal tablet good for checking email, light browsing, and such. I got mine for $79 which seems to be WAY below the normal price. I don't use mine every day, though - and my Highlander's power socket is OFF when the engine isn't running.0 -
you may be blaming the wrong thing. the battery could b defective independent of the GPS. you can easily determine the current draw from the battery with the truck turned off, (A) with the gps plugged in, (B) with the gps unplugged. you will need an ammeter and you will have to start with a good battery. i also have a 2010 frontier, have you changed the transmission cooler yet, if not its a recall you should check into. i just put a whole new aftermarket radiator in mine. pretty easy to do and then change the trans fluid. 0 -
Rocky Raab wrote:When that battery drained down to near zero due to the GPS, it was badly damaged. After a near complete discharge, a lead-acid battery is on borrowed time and will never be able to fully charge again.
agree 100%0 -
We have a 2016 Suburu Forester, bought new. It is on the third battery. It turns out that model uses enough electricity to keep the computer and other electronics running it will drain the battery if it does not get some highway miles daily. Just running around town a bit will not do it, the charging system is inadequate. No fix, so we installed a switched outlet under the carport, added a trickle charger connection to the battery, and plug it in every night. Solved a problem that should never have been a problem. So yeah, a gps running all the time could do it. 0 -
Here is another problem the guy at the auto parts store mentioned to me. When we removed the old kaput battery, there was a sticker on it that said "3/17"
The guy told me that was the date of manufacture, it was built in March of 2017. I had the battery installed in July of the next year. The guy told me that was a bad deal. He said it is bad for a battery to set around on the shelf for a year and a half before it is installed. Is this true?0 -
Agree to all above posts. Take it back to NAPA. 0 -
go to the batterystuff.com web site. go to tutorials and read the battery basics portion or any other topic you find interesting. anyway it is very informative in a very basic way of understanding batteries. 0 -
Planned Obsolescence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence
Planned obsolescence is not an exact science. You throw a wrench in the designed lifespan of a product when you use the product. Especially when you use the product in a manner different than their plan.
Auto batteries are designed for huge surges of current to start the vehicle followed by charging. Some small draws of current are acceptable.
Tolerances in design and materials will create a bunch of average batteries (as designed) a few really good batteries and a few really bad batteries. It sounds like you got a really bad one.
Good luck next time, may you get a really good one.
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All NAPA batteries have an 18 month warrenty most have a longer one.
Take it back and get a new one.
Unplug the GPS when not using it or hard wire it so it only on when the ignition is on to your fuse box(This is what I would do)0 -
I bought a pulse charger, it has revived batteries that failed to hold a charge. Before I give up on a battery I always try the pulse charger first. Though if the battery is still under guarantee get an exchange.
Pulse chargers supposedly help by migrating the coating that builds up on the plates back where it is supposed to be.0 -
I put a Battery Brain on my truck that stays parked in the garage most of the time. I can click the button on the remote control and disconnect the battery without having to raise the hood. It's good to keep the battery from draining from long term storage since it sits for weeks sometimes without being started.
Plus it works as an anti theft device when I go somewhere and park it. I just use the remote control and disconnect the battery and then click it back on when I return.
Even if I don't disconnect it with the remote it will automatically disconnect the battery itself if there's a short in the system or some item I've left plugged into the cigarette lighter like a GPS that draws the voltage below 11.8 volts so you won't get stranded with a dead battery.
As a safety feature It won't shut the system down if the motor is running and you're driving down the highway and the voltage drops below 11.8 volts which could happen if your alternator goes bad while you're driving.
I've had it on the truck for several years now with no problems.0 -
Catmandon1 wrote:The battery brain and the shut off switch is a good idea on the truck but id never use one on a foreign passenger car as they have a battery backed memory on the engine computer and have been known to trip your security system without power being supplied to the ecu via the computer port and on some cars that can be a very expensive human error
Only thing that has to be reset on my truck when I switch the battery back on is the clock. All the other stuff including radio stations are not affected which I guess is because it's an older 2003 model.
For newer model vehicles they use a jumper wire that keeps the computer system up which in my opinion just defeats the original purpose of the Battery Brain which is to shut off the battery when the voltage falls below 11.8 volts.0 -
maybe just not getting enough time to charge up sitting then a short run and back home does not help a battery stay fully charged could be part of it . as stated battery's do not seem hold up like they use too
I do agree do a drain test see whats causing the issue . lots of youtube videos on how
I have a pick up that started a issue a couple months back if not driven with in a three to five day window the battery would be dead ( short term I just put a disconnect in until I get a chance to find the problem )
I have another pick up I just replaced the battery in it was still working but it was 11 years old and winter is coming on so I did not want to chance it one of our other vehicles the battery was 5 years old and going bad so replaced it also . I have one more I am sure I will have to change out soon its also 5 years old the rest are all newer and on the "smart chargers "
I started a long time ago if I do not drive them I put a deltrain (sp ) smart battery charger on them including our old 9n tractor they work great
my 69 camaro sits months really sometimes well over a year but will start right up when called on same just keep a smart charger on it also .0
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