Dead battery and oil life question

[algy]

Originally Posted by Hal

Has anyone put in an Optima or other battery and had it go dead???

Not Yet, after having my H3 for just 3 months I was listening to my monsoon with the engine cut off for nearly 20 minutes. The battery was drained and I had to get a jump. I was doing allot of short range commuting and the battery died again. I found that you need to go above 55mph to before the battery will regain a charge. I did that and still the battery died. The battery was under warranty, but would take over a day to get it and installed.. I just said f* it and installed the following. I also had to use a Dremel drill to increase the connector holes:

Still hold juice like a charm and has a wicked crank at -15 degrees F.



http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/red_top_battery.asp

Originally Posted by RubHer Yellow Ducky

1. Yellow 06 (Jan) 20000 miles, no battery problem... longest it sat without being started was 10 days

2. Gray 06 (Jan) 5000 miles, no battery problem... longest it sat without being started was 4 days

Yea my 06 H3 39K miles has had no problems with battery yet. Daily driver and longest number of days that it sat unused was 12 days.

My wife's 2005 X-type (also daily driver) had a dead battery in 26 months, covered under warranty.

[Viet Nam Vette]

All my rides...except the 3 have the Red Top. Never let me down. My 65 Vette has been sitting for 3 months now while I install An after market A/C unit. When I'm ready... she'll fire right up.

I also have a 73 Thunderchicken which has some after market stuff that drains when the ignition is off. That once sat for 2 months and cranked over like a Whore on an Ounce of Crack..

Just wait-en for the 3's battery to take a Poop...then to the recycler it goes and I insatll an Optima.. "No Worries Mate"

[RubHer Yellow Ducky]

Originally Posted by Field Scout

Thats funny, my buddy drives a Canyon and goes through a battery about every 8 mos and GMC told him he drives too much(80,000) per year and that it was charging the battery too much and creating a memory like nicads do

[mountainbiker]

My 06 H3 doesn't get much use due to my schedule. I bought it in Aug 06 and haven't even broke 3000 miles on it. The battery issue isn't helping. The original AC Delco had to be chucked as soon as I get it to Germany as it wouldn't even take a charge. I couldn't get an AC Delco replacement, so I went with the Optima Red Top. Unfortunately, it won't hold a charge beyond about 10-14 days. If I drive the H3 about once a week, it seems to keep enough juice; unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of driving it once a week.

The H3 is sitting next to a 97 Explorer. It goes weeks and weeks at a time with out running. I was recently away for 6 weeks, and it still started like a champ.

Therefore, I am scratching my head. Can the H3 actually have 2 bad batteries: AC Delco and Optima? Or, is there some sort of parasitic drain (no PIAAs, no new stereo, no alarm ...)?

Consider using a "battery maintainer", plugs easily in the cigarette lighter. Porsche sells them for about $80 (US dollars).

[cdmintmi]

i can save you all a bunch of headache and belly aching. You bought a Hummer right? So get your ass in it and go wheeling. It looks good in the driveway but it looks a thousand times better out playing in the dirt, mud, and rocks. Get the things dirty and have some fun. I have 45,000 miles on my H3, a power converter for charging cordless tools at work, a detachable XM radio, TomTom GPS, phone charger, and 17.5 mil cp spot light charger in mine on the original battery and no problems. Ive gone camping and listened the XM radio all night and still cranked in the morning. Listen to your dealers, drive em, get em dirty, its what they were made for!!!

[cmeinck]

I did plenty of 8 wheelin'. The four wheels of my HUMMER + the four wheels on the tow truck. You're right, what a pleasure.

[SandT_H3]

I only had a battery problem once and after having to get a jump twice in a week I took it in and they told me that it was because the battery was getting too hot since it is sealed in that case. This was last summer when we were in the 100s for a couple weeks. Since they replaced the battery I have had no problems. Not even not that I only live a couple miles from my work so I don't really commute but 5 min each way. I have a backup camera and gps plugged in and I never turn them off. My wife and I even watched a couple movies the other day with the engine not running and it cranked right up.

[OU812]

Originally Posted by Hal

Has anyone put in an Optima or other battery and had it go dead??? that would be the definitive test to see if the Hummer is sucking the juice or if the batteries just SUCK! I can't believe there could be so many defective batteries but I could easily believe that the Hummer has a defective design.

My OEM ACDelco was bad within the first 100 miles (which could have been the result of sitting on the lot). I replaced it with a Red Top Optima (and got reimbursement money from the dealer). Even with the Optima, I cannot trust it to sit longer than 2 weeks. So, it is never a car I take to the airport. At home I got in the habit of plugging it into a battery maintainer (when I know I am not going to drive it for awhile). As a side note, my others cars have their OEM batteries and have sat in excess of a month without an issue.

[Tex_h2]

Spend the money and buy a Yellow or Red top....you won't be dissapointed.

I've got two yellow top batteries.
1 in the H2, and I in my classic car (classic car is driven once a month and always starts)