Spark EV 12 volt battery

[Chris101]

I realize this is now an older post but has anyone successfully found an aftermarket AGM Battery replacement that works well for our Spark EV?

When I looked up battery options, Advance Auto shows an option actually specific for the Spark EV but I can't tell if its AGM or not:

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/autocraft-gold-battery-h4/11348065-P?navigationPath=L1*14920%7CL2*15000

 

[MrDRMorgan]

I realize this is now an older post but has anyone successfully found an aftermarket AGM Battery replacement that works well for our Spark EV?

When I looked up battery options, Advance Auto shows an option actually specific for the Spark EV but I can't tell if its AGM or not:

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/autocraft-gold-battery-h4/11348065-P?navigationPath=L1*14920%7CL2*15000

I checked for auto parts stores in my area where I could get the same AGM AC Delco battery. I found one in Modesto, CA and they had it within one day. I haven't had any 12 battery problems but I purchased my used 2014 Spark EV 2LT almost 3 years ago and decided to replace the 12 volt battery just as a precaution. The old battery is kept fully charged using a 12 volt solar charging station I built a few years ago.

The AC Delco model number is LN1AGM and I believe the part number is 888654429. Cost was arount $160.

 

[NORTON]

....The AC Delco model number is LN1AGM and I believe the part number is 888654429. Cost was around $160.

$160 !!??
Woemama...
Is it a fresh battery? They have 'Date of Manu' stickers. If it has been sitting on a shelf slowing self-discharging (for years?),, you may have the same problem in a few years.

I believe that is why some owners have had short 12V battery life. Their car was out on a lot for a long time unplugged. Maybe some cars needed a jump to wake them up.
That is really bad for lead-acid battery life to sit around in the discharged state. Li-Ion batteries are not affected by sitting around.

Nope, mine is getting a small conventional lead acid battery when my time comes. I may even try a small motorcycle battery. Mine never sits for weeks untouched. If I do leave town for a long period I can disconnect the battery.

The AGM float voltage is such a minor difference from plain Lead Acid. How bad can it be?

EDIT, 1-21-18:
As with all gelled and sealed units, AGM batteries are sensitive to overcharging. A charge to 2.40V/cell (and higher) is fine; however, the float charge should be reduced to between 2.25 and 2.30V/cell (summer temperatures may require lower voltages). Automotive charging systems for flooded lead acid often have a fixed float voltage setting of 14.40V (2.40V/cell); a direct replacement with a sealed unit could overcharge the battery on a long drive.

AGM and other sealed batteries do not like heat and should be installed away from the engine compartment. Manufacturers recommend halting charge if the battery core reaches 49°C (120°F).

Found here: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/absorbent_glass_mat_agm

So,, would it be safe to go the other way and replace an AGM with a conventional Lead Acid? It sounds like it is the safe way to go.

 

[Chris101]

It will be interesting to see what happens with 12V AGM battery availability in a few years for our Spark EV considering the 2017 Bolt EV uses the same exact battery.

My local Chevy dealer quoted me $279 for the current A/C Delco battery though while RockAuto shows it for $153.79

 

[sjspark]

Hi Guys, First post here. Found this thread searching for a solution!

My 2014 March spark EV 12V battery died. Car rolled down from driveway then couldn't start.
I coudl change gears, but accelerator pedals didn't work.
After much effort, I jump started with a jump starter battery and brought it back to driveway from blocking the street.

In gas car, I know we run the engine for a while to recharge the 12v. How do we recharge that in electric car? I tried to restart it again, but it didn't. Tried turning off, but the darn car won't turn off headlights, no matter what I tried.
It had the same issues earlier. Couldn't turn off power. I turn it off, it comes back on, with the message "battery saver mode is active".
yet the accelerator pedal didn't work. Only way I turned off first time was pressing power button without pressing the brake.

I was hoping that I can jump start and take it to the local store like pepboys. but they don't carry the battery! Costco also doesn't carry.
A few questions:
1. I found this advanced part battery. Has anyone used this battery and does it work?
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/c3/car-batteries/15597?&beginIndex=0&sortBy=5&_r=0.893751798106449

2. To not take too much risk, I am thinking I can buy the battery, bring it home and try changing it myself. Is shat simple? Has anyone replaced Spark EV 12V battery by themselves? I couldn't find anything online with specific instructions/steps.
3. Could there be anything else wrong other than 12V battery?

I guess worst case I get it towed to dealer on Monday. But I was hoping to get it fixed up by Sunday (tomorrow).
In a gas car, a dead 12V battery is no problem.
Hopign that it is same with the electric cars too. But I can't start the car, even though it is has no crankshaft!

Any help is appreciated!

 

[SparkE]

A few questions:
1. I found this advanced part battery. Has anyone used this battery and does it work?
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/c3/car-batteries/15597?&beginIndex=0&sortBy=5&_r=0.893751798106449

2. To not take too much risk, I am thinking I can buy the battery, bring it home and try changing it myself. Is shat simple? Has anyone replaced Spark EV 12V battery by themselves? I couldn't find anything online with specific instructions/steps.
3. Could there be anything else wrong other than 12V battery?

As you have found out, the Spark EV (and just about every EV) won't run without a working 12V battery - it powers all the computers. First step is to borrow a 12V battery charger from a neighbour. It has to be "AGM-safe" (the battery in the Spark is AGM, and it can't be charged over 14.6V or so, or it is toast). Fully charge the 12V battery (this will take several hours). Secondly, you might be able to get an auto-parts store to test the battery after it is charged (a load test) to see if the battery is bad or it was just run down. If the battery is no good, start calling around to places that sell 12V batteries and see who has the right battery in stock. Expect to pay $150 (or maybe more).

Your questions :
1. Don't know

2. Yes, it is that simple. Bring a new battery home (one that is the right size - i.e., the correct part #), disconnect the wires from the two battery posts, take out old battery, put in new battery, connect cables to posts. It works.

3. It is most likely the 12V battery, but it could just be un-charged (drained). There is a chance that the battery is OK if charged. Borrow an AGM-safe battery charger.

My suggestions :
A) Buy a smart AGM-safe trickle smart-charger, and overnight charge your 12V battery once a month. (plug it in at 9PM, unplug in the morning). This should prolong the life of your battery. I bought this one :

https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-56-865-Automatic-Battery-Charger/dp/B006CQ9BMO

B) Buy a "Li-Ion Jump Starter pack" ( a small one). They are small and not heavy, and used to jump-start cars. You can use it to "re-vigorate" your car enough to drive it home next time this happens in 3-6 years. You really shouldn't leave it in a really hot or really cold car. I live in Calif where it doesn't get that cold, so I leave mine in the car for 8 months of the year, and when it starts heating up, I leave it in the house until I actually drive the car. i.e., leave the jump starter with your car keys, and carry it out with you when you take the car. You also have to re-charge it every now and then. I do it about every 4 months, and I first use it to charge my 2 portable computers, a couple phones, maybe an iPad or two, until the charge goes down to 30-40%. Then I charge it to about 80-85%, and it's good for another 4 months.


PS : Other threads on this forum about 12V batteries :

http://mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4616

http://www.mychevybolt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=8505

Battery sizes and part #s :
https://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4938

 

[sjspark]

Thanks much for your quick and detailed reply!
Yeah, i have 2 jump starter batteries. One Li-Ion and one bigger jump starter pack.
That's how I could drive it up the driveway!
Your comment gave me confidence and I took out the old battery quite easily. Only one hex bolt was holding the battery in place, which was very easy to remove with a socket extension.

But looks like no one is selling the AGM version of this battery. Advanced auto parts on Meridian has one in stock, but that's not AGM.
What's the deal with AGM? If it is not AGM, it will last little less or something worse?

I bought the car in March 2014. So I think it is time to replace the battery.
ACDelco only sells through the dealership parts store. So I will call tomorrow. At least I don't need to tow it there and spend hours waiting.

One more question if you don't mind. Do these battery trickle chargers extend life of old 12V batteries too?
I have 2 other cars where 12V batteries are 2 & 4 years old. Wondering if I can extend their lives with trickle chargers!

TIA and thanks for the quick reply.
I thought, there is a low chance someone responds here. With just 7500 of these cars being sold, I didn't see much hope of anyone responding.

 

[sjspark]

OH, I see why it has to be AGM. in the other thread, @CCIE posted this. So I will need to call the dealership tomorrow to get the AGM version of this battery.
"With that in mind, consider that the Spark EV 12V battery is not inside the cabin (it's under the hood). So, why didn't they use a normal lead acid 12V battery? The answer is that the APM is designed to work with an AGM battery, and they didn't feel like reprogramming it.

So, you're risking damage to the APM if you don't use an AGM battery. It's your car, but I wouldn't risk it to save $50. The correct AC Delco battery is available and can be ordered by any parts supplier who sell AC Delco. You can search for one in your area on their website."

 

[sjspark]

So this is interesting. ACDelco has links to sellers of their parts. Besides dealers, these are the online retailers they listed.
https://www.acdelco.com/auto-parts-online.html

Amazon : $478 for LN1AGM.
Ebay: $450!
rockauto; $144 + $12 shipping + tax. So placed my order. Delivery in 4 days. I have extra car in the family, so I can wait 4 days.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=8878472&cc=3310360&jsn=442

 

[SparkE]

Have you tried simply charging the battery with an AGM-safe battery charger? Charge it to full, let it sit overnight, and then check the voltage the next morning - WITHOUT opening the door or turning the car on or plugging in the charging cable. (pop the hood from inside the night before).

If the battery is over 12.5V after sitting all night, it might be OK (but still it would probably be a good idea to get a new battery - you don't want to get stuck like this again).

If you get a trickle charger that constantly does desulphation while charging (my CTEC does *not*) it may help your other, older batteries. I believe that MrDRMorgan has a trickle charger that does that. You might PM him to ask him to post his brand and model of charger here.

 

[sjspark]

Thanks. I just ordered the CTEK charger you posted earlier (-865). Will arrive Tuesday. Will try it out then.
The picture there indicates it does de-sulphation (stage 1).
Is that not what you have? Wondering if i should cancel and buy one that does the desulphation also, if this one does not.

But I did connect the jump starter to the car battery and measured its voltage with a multi-meter (after disconnecting the jump starter).
It was at 9.70 V originally. After 5 mins, it went up to 10.40 V.
But 10 more minutes, it was back to 10.2V and after an hour or so, back to 9.92V with nothing attached to it.
As you confirmed earlier, the electric cars need the 12V battery even while driving, so it seems risky to put it back.
Besides, wife won't drive the car with the old battery in it.

Edit on CTEK 865:
So the video indicates it has 6 stages. The description shows 8 stages (adsorption and soft start and recondition ectra stages).
Wondering how important the recondition stage is. Important enough to change the order?

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Thanks. I just ordered the CTEK charger you posted earlier (-865). Will arrive Tuesday. Will try it out then.
The picture there indicates it does de-sulphation (stage 1).
Is that not what you have? Wondering if i should cancel and buy one that does the desulphation also, if this one does not.

But I did connect the jump starter to the car battery and measured its voltage with a multi-meter (after disconnecting the jump starter).
It was at 9.70 V originally. After 5 mins, it went up to 10.40 V.
But 10 more minutes, it was back to 10.2V and after an hour or so, back to 9.92V with nothing attached to it.
As you confirmed earlier, the electric cars need the 12V battery even while driving, so it seems risky to put it back.
Besides, wife won't drive the car with the old battery in it.

Edit on CTEK 865:
So the video indicates it has 6 stages. The description shows 8 stages (adsorption and soft start and recondition ectra stages).
Wondering how important the recondition stage is. Important enough to change the order?

Definitely the 12 volt battery needs to be replaced. Make sure whatever AGM charger you order has the desulfating function. I use a BatteryMinder model 2012-AGM. I also ordered and use extension cables so I can plug into a distant wall outlet in my garage and an OBD2 plug + cable so I can charge through the OBD2 port inside of the car. It works great! I usually "freshen" the battery in each of my two Spark EVs for a minimum of 12 hours during the first week of every month.

 

[SparkE]

Thanks. I just ordered the CTEK charger you posted earlier (-865). Will arrive Tuesday. Will try it out then.
The picture there indicates it does de-sulphation (stage 1). Is that not what you have? Wondering if i should cancel and buy one that does the desulphation also, if this one does not.

{{ description of low battery voltage }}

You definitely need a new battery - it looks as if one of your cells is completely shot (only 5 cells @ 2V are still OK, instead of the 6 it should have).

The CTEK that I have starts with a "desulphation" test, and (on my batteries) generally skips it (as not needed).

MrDrMorgan has a unit that desulphates (always) as it charges :

https://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer-Model-2012-Maintainer-Motorcycles/dp/B005EKY1EM/

It also charges at a max of 2A instead of 0.8A that mine does. If I had it to do over again, I might choose the Battery Minder over the CTEK - I don't know. I do really like mine (and MrDrMorgan really likes his).

Personally, I think that it is a good idea to fully overnight trickle charge one's battery about once a month. Very true for EVs, and for ICE vehicles that don't get driven much (parked 5-7 days a week).

 

[sjspark]

So I got the charger from Amazon. Tried it overnight on the dead battery. It gave out an error code , stuck in stage 1 and 8.7V in the morning. The battery is surely totally dead. The only unusual thing happened that day was PGE shut off power and then on again while car was on charge. Don't know if it has anything to do with it. Battery was 5 1/2 years old.

RockAuto delivered the battery today morning,that was promised by Thursday! I put the new one in.
Everything works perfectly! Drove it to work just to make sure the battery gets fully charged.

I give two thumbs up to Rockauto. Good price and fast delivery. Was afraid battery may not be charged. But it was.
I still don't get it why Amazon and Ebay are asking for 3x the price.

So all is good now. Hopefully this does it for next few yeas. Just surprised by the poor design of EVs.
A high voltage battery is there, still it needs another battery all the time to drive the car. I understand audio etc. can be turned off.
But to kill the accelerator pedal because of a dead 12V is a very silly design.

 

[SparkE]

I suggest that tonight you plug your brand new smart trickle charger onto your new battery, and let it fully saturate charge your new battery overnight - just unplug it in the morning (the charger is smart enough to stop charging when the battery is full).

 

[ShamusSpark]

My 2014 Spark EV wouldn't start up at all (doors wouldn't unlock either). The problem was just a loose negative terminal. It looked fine, but needed tightening. Everything is fine now.

 

[SteveC5088]

Just short of 6 years old, my 2014 Spark EV's 12-volt battery quit. Car refused to shut down--kept trying to restart. Found that press-and-hold the power switch would do a hard shutdown. Got 3-4 error codes on the dash. Had to leave it overnight in a grocery store parking lot. Now that I think about it, I probably should have tried jumping the battery to another car, and getting it going. I probably could have driven the 2-miles home. Instead we towed it ourselves using a tow strap and that little tow-bolt stored in the trunk--it's pretty slick.

I read through this entire thread, and looked up batteries. Though I am not convinced that a regular Spark (non-EV) R1 battery wouldn't work ok, my wife convinced me that we shouldn't be the ones to try that out. So... I found one auto repair shop that could get me one in Fresno, but their price was onl $20 less than the Chevy dealer, and they wanted me to drive in, pay in person, and THEN they would get the battery from the supply warehouse (some wholesale place in Fresno has them). So instead, I worked with the Chevy dealer in Clovis, who got the battery in a couple of hours, without my first paying for it. The battery number is LN1AGM.

I removed the old battery, took it to the dealer and walked out with the new one.... $240 poorer! But my little electric hot rod is running great again. So now I can tell people that tires AND the 12V battery together cost more than the electricity to keep it running.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Just short of 6 years old, my 2014 Spark EV's 12-volt battery quit. Car refused to shut down--kept trying to restart. Found that press-and-hold the power switch would do a hard shutdown. Got 3-4 error codes on the dash. Had to leave it overnight in a grocery store parking lot. Now that I think about it, I probably should have tried jumping the battery to another car, and getting it going. I probably could have driven the 2-miles home. Instead we towed it ourselves using a tow strap and that little tow-bolt stored in the trunk--it's pretty slick.

I read through this entire thread, and looked up batteries. Though I am not convinced that a regular Spark (non-EV) R1 battery wouldn't work ok, my wife convinced me that we shouldn't be the ones to try that out. So... I found one auto repair shop that could get me one in Fresno, but their price was onl $20 less than the Chevy dealer, and they wanted me to drive in, pay in person, and THEN they would get the battery from the supply warehouse (some wholesale place in Fresno has them). So instead, I worked with the Chevy dealer in Clovis, who got the battery in a couple of hours, without my first paying for it. The battery number is LN1AGM.

I removed the old battery, took it to the dealer and walked out with the new one.... $240 poorer! But my little electric hot rod is running great again. So now I can tell people that tires AND the 12V battery together cost more than the electricity to keep it running.

Harbor Freight sells a very compact lithium Ion jump-start battery pack, made by Viking, that is ideal for the situation you mentioned. I carry one in each of my Spark EVs and it is sufficiently compact to fit under the driver's seat. Harbor Freight's sale cost is $69.95. It is my understanding that once you get the car started, the HV battery will provide the 12 volt power needed to charge the car's 12 volt battery and supply all of the other the car's 12 volt needs.

The other thing you may want to do is get an AGM 12 volt battery charger that also has a desulfating function. I make it a once-per-month practice to charge the 12 volt battery in both of my Spark EVs for 12 or more hours over night. I use a BatteryMINDer model 2012-AGM.

 

[Kermit]

RockAuto.com usually allows you to get parts close to cost. $151.79 right now for the battery and $164.78 total delivered.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/chevrolet,2016,spark+ev,electric,3315179,electrical,battery,2476

 

[NORTON]

....The other thing you may want to do is get an AGM 12 volt battery charger that also has a desulfating function. I make it a once-per-month practice to charge the 12 volt battery in both of my Spark EVs for 12 or more hours over night. I use a BatteryMINDer model 2012-AGM.

Yep, I have one of those and use it on all my 12 V batteries.
Only less than once a month because I'm a slacker.
I performed an aviation style Capacity Check on my Spark EV battery earlier this year and it was performing great !
A typical Automotive Load Test is not the same thing at all.
While I had my battery out of the Spark I wired in a motorcycle battery for about a month,, bc I'm a slacker.
The battery's duty is to boot up the car at start up. It's so big because legally it has to provide lights in an emergency situation and it has to power the Onstar cell phone receiver and the remote lock receiver for long term parking.

Anyway, the floating voltage differences between an AGM and a SLA battery are minimal, <0.2 Volts typically. Any 'maintainer' will help.
It's the 'Anti-Sulfation' routine that theoretically can add life to a lead acid battery.