[Bosetsu]

I've been charging my oem battery, but recently let it go for a week without charging. My auto-stop hasn't activated in the past couple days and just got the low battery warning light. I have the feeling that once the battery voltage gets to the 12.1-12.3 range, auto-stop just won't activate.

 

[Bosetsu]

The Passport does not have a visual battery voltage indicator. The battery warning light on the instrument panel is for the alternator, it comes on when your alternator is not charging the battery.

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I don't think the manual is exactly correct. There are multiple reasons for the light to come on. Most likely the voltage was getting too low on the battery. If it was the alternator, then I would definitely have needed a replacement by now. Many others have gotten the same warning after not driving the car for a while or just for short distances.

 

[Bosetsu]

When we were still going through the Covid lockdown, our Passport, which is pretty much just our road car, would often sit for 6-8 weeks at a time without getting started and never once even turned over slowly. I've never once since we bought it in Sept. of '21 had it on a Battery Tender. I do keep my Tiger Explorer on a Tender and my Cub Cadet Z Force S has a Tender hooked up to it from late November through March. Our Passport is the 4th 3.5L Honda since '06 and I've never had a charger or Battery Tender on any of them in over 300,000 miles. Zero issues.

Really makes you wonder about the consistency of battery quality. I just changed my battery to a Duracell (made by East Penn) and noticed a more consistent idle start/stop compared to the OEM battery I had. Comparison between the two after the warranty update to the system. It could just be placebo though 🤷🏻‍♂️ I do see the new battery maintaining a higher voltage with barely any loss of charge checking with my multimeter.