Boosting with clarity

Sounds much more appropriate than the 500 CCA pictured earlier. Our lawnmower engine surely doesn't need much to get it started.

 

Both my Volt and Prius used AGM. I believe that was because they were housed inside the cabin instead of under the hood.
The Clarity PHEV and the LEAF use flooded batteries, probably to save money, given that the battery for each is under the hood.

 

I have had one of these for some time (longer than my Clarity), it is excellent and very handy if you don't have another car around when you need it. You just need to check the charge and plug it in to replenish after using it.

 

From the few replies about battery type n size...it appears the Clarity PHEV has been fitted with different batteries.

The Clarity I drive came with the 500cca standard flooded...sounds like landsharks came with SLA 310cca.

Curious as to why.

Also makes me wonder about those posts "my battery died"...which type have the issue? Both?

.

 

The battery isn't involved in starting the ICE in our Clarity (or any of the Honda or Toyota hybrids at least); there's no 12V starter motor. The motor/generator attached to the engine and the high voltage system is what starts the engine. The 12V battery is only there to power the computers and systems until they safely enable the relays to the high voltage system (which then drives a DC-DC converter to power the 12V parts of the car and charge the battery), as well as to retain settings while the car is off. There isn't much need for "cold cranking amps" for a starting surge, but of course sitting with the car in Accessory or On (not "Ready") for a long time will drain the battery as in any car.

The Autozone and other lookups I tried all show the battery as group 51R, the same size as my 2007 Civic and our old 2006 Highlander Hybrid..

 

Thanks all for your replies. Our 2018 Touring has the same 310 CCA battery as pictured by Landshark. There seems to be no changes in the car's design so either battery should be OK?

 

Don't know which one mine (2018) came with, but it died and had to be replaced within 6 months of me getting the car.

 

My 2018 Touring (build date 10/17) still has its 310 CCA battery. Probably pre-programmed to die 3 years and 1 day after purchase.
Thanks for posting it’s a 51R size. This will make it easy to replace it with the most cost effective option one day.

 

I recall something about a 100 month pro-rated warranty on the 12V battery. It will now last 99 months and you’ll get $1.15 toward the purchase of a new one.

 

CCA probably isn't relevant to the application. You're not cranking anything with it.
Tesla equips their cars with deep cycle batteries instead. Of course, they then so abusively cycle them that they don't last long, but you can't blame the batteries for that.

 

Here to inform that the 12v battery on my 2017 Honda Clarity Base PHEV was degraded and replaced under b2b warranty at about 2 years of service. The battery that took a dump was the weaker 310 CCA (pictured in post #20) and replaced with the heftier 500 CCA battery (pictured in post #18).

 

Fwiw the BMW i3 uses an tiny AGM battery that lasts about 3 years as well.

I've jumped out crv with a dead battery (fault cell) without any issues.

 

Reserve Capacity, RC, is a much more important number to consider for a Clarity than CCA. Batteries with high CCA ratings are cheap and easy to produce. It is unlikely that one with a rating of 500 is any heftier than one with a rating of 310. The 12V battery never cranks anything. The possible exception would be if the Clarity is used to jump start another vehicle.

It is also questionable to assume that a battery with a higher CCA rating will provide greater longevity, in a Clarity, as one with a lower CCA rating. A true deep-cycle battery may be a better choice for our cars.

I’d suspect that early childhood trauma is the root cause of the reported premature battery failures.

 

Yes. I used it many times to jump
Start my Honda Pilot which I barely drove.

 

Just chiming in. I’ve jumped about 4 vehicles with the Clarity, no issues.

 

Do you keep your car on or off while jumpstart somebody?

 

Connect cables, start clarity, wait, and start other car. Feels a bit odd waiting since Clarity makes no noise but since the HV battery charges the 12v best to turn on car (like you would a gas car).

 

When you put a lot of load on 12v battery while car is on - effectively you put a lot of load on clarity’s converter.
I’d think it would be better to keep it off. Battery alone should be enough for jumpstart, especially if you keep it connected to the other car for some time to let the dead battery get some charge.

 

When you jump a dead vehicle you should start the ICE first on the good battery car to provide the alternator power boost and let the two be connected for a short period of time before attempting to crank the dead vehicle. You might get some boost from the Clarity HV battery via the convertor that charges the 12V mentioned above. It would be possible given enough time to charge the dead battery.

 

I’m not concerned. I don’t think Honda would have engineered the software to ever let the converter itself to pull too much current to harm anything. Plus it’s actively liquid cooled.
“What, me worry?” (Alfred E Newman)