I have a 2014 Accord Hybrid. I recently was out of the country for 3 weeks and upon getting home the car was dead. The Honda dealer suggested i jump start it and bring it in, which I did. They replaced the battery and told me the problem is the battery is too small for the car and will go dead every time it is not started and driven for 3 weeks. I asked them where in the owner's manual it states that you better not leave the car for three weeks and of course it isn't in there. They told me to disconnect the battery or put a trickle charger on the car when I go out of town for an extended period. You gotta be kidding, how do I do that at the airport? Has anyone else had this problem. Thank you.

 

You received 2 recommendations.

1) disconnect the battery
2) put a trickle charger on it.

You can easily accomplish #1 by putting a 10mm wrench in your glove box for removing the negative cable (double check the size). With the (-) cable disconnected, there will be no drain, and the battery will be nearly fully charged upon your return and reconnect.

Additional options:

3) purchase and carry a jump start kit.
4) Find a larger battery
5) If it's the original battery, replace it. Batteries over 2 years old are suspect and repeated drains to low states of charge damage them.

 

Thank you S Keith. I appreciate you assistance. I am opting for carrying a 10mm wrench in the glove box when I park at the airport. At home, I have a Battery Tender that kicks in when it senses a drain. Will use that. What a pain in the butt.

 

I just ran a quick calculation assuming a 20mA continuous drain, which is pretty typical for a car. This represents approximately 10Ah of battery capacity. This may represent 25% of the total possible battery capacity. Additionally, the ignition on-current is pretty high. If you're already suffering from reduced capacity, you may experience a problematic voltage drop.

Honda hybrid notoriously select small 12V batteries since they are expected to provide lower currents as they never crank-start an engine.

If parking your car for 3 weeks is commonplace, I repeat recommendation #5. My perspective is skewed as 12V battery life here in AZ is pretty much limited to 2-3 years.

 

 

The dealer did put in a new battery.

 

I missed that in your original post. Sorry.