Just make sure when you tighten/anchor the battery onto the tray, don't move the battery as fall away from the EMC heat sink as you possible can. There will be a gap in between the battery and the ECM heatsink. I have not had any issue since replacing the 151R with the 51R battery.

 

If you haven't replaced it yet, the 51R is a lot easier to find. You can get them from Walmart, AutoZone, O'Reilly, Costco, dealers, and others But the 151R, you have to do a lookup if you aren't getting it from the dealers. The cheapest would be from Costco for the Interstate Batteries 51R, and they don't carry the 151R, I recall seeing it for $100 with core exchange a couple weeks back.

If you haven't swapped out the battery yet and live in the San Gabriel area, I can help out as I visit Costco often enough.
1) Bring the core
2) Bring cash
3) Meet me at the parking lot

Or if you have other friends who have Costco membership, just ask one of them to help you get a Costco giftcard and you should be able to pick up the 51R battery without membership.

 

[QUOTE=woof;1464958]Yeah I had heard that there was a larger tray out there and I kind of suspected it was for the Japan market. I wonder though which battery the Japanese actually got in their cars to go with those trays.

Incidentally, watch the first minute of this Scotty Kilmer video where he talks about OEM batteries and tires, specifically mentioning Toyota and Honda:/QUOTE]

What Scotty didn't say is that the smaller 151R battery costs more than the 51R battery if you do retail purchase for it. Not only that, the 51R is more widely available while you need to make an effort to find the 151R battery, if you aren't getting it directly from the dealer.

 

I believe the 51R is used on Honda Civics and CR-V (and a lot of other vehicles) for which there are a lot of vehicles on the road creating high demand for this battery, availability everywhere and low prices.

The 151R is used on the Fit and ........... luxury golf carts? With the Fit being discontinued it is going to become increasingly difficult and more expensive to find the 151R.

 

Thanks, Punk. I haven't done anything yet. Just too busy. My online searches on Peps Boys and O'Reilly's were not productive, but I can go into a store and ask. Also, Batteries Plus has a Durcell, if I recall (but I haven't enjoyed dealing with the Batteries Plus near me).

 

Clarify, please.

 

I would also recommend going with the 51R over 151R, I did this several years back and really seems to help with reserve capacity as all my battery woes were fixed going with a 51R AGM battery. We don't drive the Fit often, and even less often with COVID, the 151R would often drain enough that it couldn't start the car however the 51R's have been much more stabile and reliable

I'm thinking fibrepunk meant shift it over as far away from the ECU/heatsync as possible but not positive. I just made sure I had a bit of an airgap all the way around the battery and it's been fine for several years. I anticipate you could probably have the battery right up next to the heatsync and not cause any issues given no metal to metal contact, but better to play it safe with electronics IMO.

 

I was talking to a buddy that works in Engineering at Ford/Dearborn and her first reaction was that Honda likely went with the 151R for weight savings to meet the gas mileage standards. All manufacturers practice weight savings techniques on every part they can to reduce overall weight which improves gas mileage.

 

Exactly! (I had to add more characters)

 

Weight savings yes, but also cost savings since a smaller 151R has less lead in it and is cheaper to manufacture and transport than a 51R.

 

Sounds reasonable. But, if true, it's a shortsighted strategy on Honda's part. If a solution to one problem creates another problem, then you're earning a C- in Engineering 101.

It has also been suggested that the smaller battery was appropriate for smaller Fit engines marketed in various markets.

 

The small 151R battery is perfectly adequate for the Fit and will provide many years of reliable service ....... I don't understand what this "creates another problem" is that you're talking about. All car manufacturers minimize their batteries in pretty much all vehicles to reduce weight and cost. In larger vehicles with larger batteries to begin with this just isn't so noticeable.

 

i concur
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Agreed. Just have to define the word "adequate." If it is true that the OEM battery "will provide many years of reliable service," then there's not a problem, and the reports of unreliable service or inadequate battery performance are exaggerated. I live in SoCal, and I noticed yesterday that my OEM battery struggled to turn over the engine in 64 degree ambient air temperature. Am I due for a third battery in five years? We'll have to see.

 

I'm on battery number 3...3.5 years each for the first two. Pretty good.

 

Read through this thread... Constant Battery failure on Honda Fits - Unofficial Honda FIT Forums

 

I had to replace the battery in my 2015 Fit because, somehow, the interior lights were left on for several days, and I needed a battery right away - no wanting to wait for it to charge. I got a standard 151R, 340 CCA on 4/16/2021 from NAPA for $120. Looking back, I see I bought it in 2018 and installed it in 2021. I don't recall why I bought in '18, bu didn't use it till '21. Maybe I put the new one in right away while I charged the original. When it was charged, I probably put it ack and saved the new one, However you look at it, I go seven years out of my original, which is typical for me.

A bit of advice: get and use a smart battery charger, like a Battery Tender. Despite what some people say, the alternator does not always give the battery all it needs. Another bit of advice: get a decent, small jump charger. There are dozens available and lots of online reviews. I have one, and I've used it on other people's cars.

Trivia: One of the main causes for battery failure in early cars was overcharging. One motor would be both the starter and the generator. Since voltage regulators hadn't been developed yet, the generator would overcharge the battery.

If you want o get ridiculous, you can find online videos about haw to recharge a completely dead battery and make it like new. Basically, it's a plastic box with lead inside. Maybe I'll make a separate post about this.

 

You mean taking it to a recycling center?

Brand new batteries have plates cast from lead metal. This metal dissolves in the battery's electrolyte (sulfuric acid), chemically reacts and deposits on he opposite plate. The process results in different electrical charges on the opposite plates, which is used to do work. In rechargeable batteries, the process can be reversed (though not perfectly) by applying a greater voltage than what the chemical reaction of the plates is producing.
Where the resulting chemicals collect on the plates is determined by the electrical field between the plates. Over many charge discharge cycles or very deep discharge cycles, irregularities in the plate surfaces can develop - protrusions from the plate known as dendrites. If a dendrite grows all the way from one plate to the other, it will create a short circuit that lets the battery cell discharge to 0 volts. With the dendrite-short in place there is no way to recharge the cell, as any electrical power applied to it will just pass from one plate, across the short to the other plate without driving any chemical reactions in the battery cell. There is no safe way to break the short (without disassembling the battery anyway) though some people have had success using a DC welder as a power supply to apply so much current that the short explosively melts like a fuse.
Another failure mode is "sulfation" where lead sulfate (which forms as the battery goes from charged to discharged) forms crystals which damage the battery plates, break away from the plates and/or seal the surface of the plates. No scientifically-verified process of reversing sulfation has been demonstrated. That said, adding fresh sulfuric acid to replace the bound-up sulfate ions can restore some functionality. This is what the epsom salt method accomplishes - epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) dissolved in water gets converted to sulfuric acid and magnesium oxide by electrolysis when the battery is charged. Working with sulfuric acid is dangerous, but if treated with respect is probably safer than hooking the battery up to a welder.