I sure will. I did receive the battery maintainer that I ordered. I read that it is only really necessary to use it once a week. So far I have used it once and left it connected until it indicated the battery was fully charged.
Driving with the headlights on seems to prevent the system voltage from dropping below ~14v, but I don’t have enough data yet to say for sure. IF the system voltage is 14v it should be charging the battery, or at least not draining it.
I did get the Torque app and OBD2 Bluetooth adapter which should allow me to log system voltage and other variables while I drive so I don’t have to take my eyes off the road to look at the device I plugged into the cigarette lighter outlet that displays the voltage.
As I posted above, imho (a knucklehead diy’er w/no experience with your make/model) , but imo your problem isn’t w/either the alternator or battery. Your starter motor will not crank the engine unless its inputs meet spec w/the key in “start”.
The starter cranks the engine, but very slowly and very briefly, until finally the battery output is too low to do so. The slow, brief crank is not enough to start the engine. I have verified that the battery is becoming discharged, and that the alternator does sometimes operate in the “low output” mode. The questions that remain are “is the alternator operating in low output mode when it shouldn’t - perhaps because some sensor input to the ECM is giving a false reading, or the alternator itself is starting to go bad?”, and “is the alternator operating in the low output mode the cause of the battery becoming drained?” If a lead-acid battery in good condition and at a reasonable temperature (50F) has 14v applied to it (the system voltage is ~14v some of the time [when the alternator is in “high mode”]), it has to charge.
at the starter itself? No. At the battery terminals while parked (12.6v with engine off, 14.1 with engine on), and at the cigarette lighter when driving (12.5v presumably when alternator is in low mode, 14.1v presumably when alternator is in high mode), yes. The above readings are after the battery has been charged with an external battery charger. I didn’t measure the voltages after a failure. The logging through the Torque app will tell me what the ECU thinks the system voltage is, and when the voltage the ODBII adapter sees, and should log the voltage during any failures.
We’ll go back to testers comment and maybe try the dealer or different source. Don’t know what engine you have and haven’t read all the comments but rock auto listed one for the v6.
Generally, if you have constant unchanged voltage while driving, it means you are just measuring the battery voltage and the alternator is not providing a good charge. If you increase rpm, there should be a change in the voltage reading. The sensor is the gate keeper telling the alternator what is required.
Unfortunately getting access to the starter on a 2007 Handa Accord w/ the 2.4L engine involves removing the intake maniford. In any event, the voltage at the starter should be very close to the same as at the battery unless the cable to the starter is severly damaged, in which case there would be a problem cranking the engine all of the time.
It is not constant. Sometimes it is ~14.1V and sometimes ~12.5V. It very much looks like the dual charging system kicking in as @Nevada_545 mentioned. The question is why after almost 200k miles and 17 years is the battery suddenly becoming drained while driving.
Right, apparently this is by design to improve fuel economy.
The logging should show this. I haven’t driven around yet much with the logging on. It might be getting that low and I am not noticing it visually (hard to watch the little voltage readout and the road at the same time).
But it does need to charge the battery to replace what was lost during the cranking of the engine. So even if it isn’t discharging the battery, 12.5 system voltage could be a problem. I should have been more precise: the battery seems to be getting discharged during normal use, that would include starts, driving, and sitting off either in the garage or in parking lots.
There should be a period of higher voltage charging after starting the engine, energy saving mode should occur after the battery state-of-charge is sufficient.
Ironically there is no way for the ECM to determine the state-of-charge with the engine running, and according to information about the dual mode charging system, it isn’t a criteria for going into low output mode. The criteria are:
The electrical load below 15 Amps, although this varies with year, engine and model. This is the current between the combination of the alternator and battery and the rest of the system, not the current in or out of the battery itself (later model years may be different).
The vehicle speed between 10-45 mph or at idle while in drive,
The engine speed below 3,000 rpm,
The coolant temperature above 167°F
The A/C Switch is OFF
The intake air temperature above 68°F
Yes, if your engine is cold when you start it, the alternator will be in high output mode until the coolant temperature warms to 167F, but if you are running errands, turning the car off, and restarting it again in a few minutes, it may go almost immediately to low output mode as soon as your speed gets above 10mph (or if you are idling at a stop light).
Like I said, given the complexity of testing and diagnosis, I think it is best done by the dealer. Our 08:Acura had a battery charging issue. Fixed under warranty but I’m pretty sure it was the electrical management system but just don’t remember what they told me. Same thing, I had ruled out the battery and alternator, so let the shop deal with it. Just a question of how long you want to mess with it.
I might have to do that. I don’t know if it is the OBD2 Bluetooth adapter or something else, but the system voltage that Torque reports bounces between 14v and 14.8v, but that my Fluke (high quality) meter reports 14.35 _+/- 0.01v