Battery Help (effects of pulse & glide on starting battery)
 

I need some help with my car battery. I have a feeling I have abused it and will need to be buying a new one.

On my Torque app I am able to read the voltage of the car. With the car on it is usually at 14.4v but recently it has been dropping to 12.6v and staying there for a bit. I do Pulse and glide quite a bit but have been leery after seening my voltage drop to 11.2v with the engine off at one time. Ive been trying to recharge the battery.

About 2 months ago my battery had died (light left on) and I jump started the engine. I didnt take any mind of the battery charge and continued to pulse and glide with out letting the battery recharge. There has been times where when i shut the engine off my electrical system will die until i bump start it and everything comes back on.

Is any of this normal? also does anyone else have issues with the battery when pulse and gliding?

It sounds like you've probably lost some battery capacity. What do you mean your electrical system dies?

If your voltage isn't getting up to 13.5+V while the engine is on you may have alternator problems though.

Your Civic will have a "smart alternator" that will boost voltage to 14+ volts or down as low as 12.5 volts or thereabouts, depending on the engine load, speed, and other conditions. I recently dealt with battery failure. Mine was a deep-cycle battery that was not well-adapted to this application, and I had damaged it with too-deep a discharge. Are you using a normal starting battery or a deep cycle one? Starting batteries are not as friendly to P&G, especially in the dark with all the lighting on.

Killing the battery by leaving the lights on, even once, will shorten it's life expectancy.

regards
Mech

Anything less than 90% charge for starter battery will take a lot out from it's life.

They generally can take 1000 cycles if allowed to discharge below 90%, but can take something like 10 times of cycles if never discharged below 90%.

Deep cycle batteries are better, plates of solid lead, weights lot more than starter battery and will take lot more punishment, surely cost is quite lot more.

I don't know if Optima or other brand AGM battery would be good, no lead so very light and I have heard that will take lot more abuse than starter batteries, however worth to investigate.

This is at least what I have found out while researching batteries for my house.