2019 QX80 drain on battery

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Ritchie Stevenson

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My 2019 QX80 continues to have some kind of battery drain. My son watched the factory DVD system for about 25 minutes, all of a sudden everything clicked off. A few minutes later I tried to start the car and it was dead. My dealer has already made an computer adjustment and replaced the battery once. I love Infiniti, as a matter of fact this is the 6th one that I have owned. I can’t believe that a $72,000.00 car will not start after playing the factory DVD system about 25 minutes. Something is not right. Is anyone else experiencing this??????
 
this has been a long standing issue on the armada as well.

it's a very long story but nissans charging system is not designed to fully charge a battery as one would expect. there is a sensor on the negative cable that tells the computer the state of the LOAD on the SYSTEM and it adjusts this dynamically. if you do a lot of short trips and you don't let the car charge up the battery will slowly lose a full charge.

Remember how in the old days you could REV up the engine and the volts would increase? yeah no not with nissan's strategy. they do this mostly for emissions and petrol savings.

some have removed/modified this sensor to allow the battery to charge up more as we would expect the system to. There may be how to steps over the internet to show how this is done.

bottom line, you are seeing normal results from running the car with the engine off. :(
 
Ritchie,

I'm experiencing the same issue. Has the dealership found the cause?
 
I'm not a fan of the ECM telling the alternator when to run or not. I modified the battery current sensor by cutting the blue wire on the battery current sensor pigtail and the voltage is always constant 14V+. I did install bullet connectors so when its time for annual inspections, I just reconnect it and clear out the DTC before taking my truck in.
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Service dept. has replaced the battery, but I still have a problem with the battery going dead. They disconnected a Spireon car location device that was drawing .037 amps which they said was the problem at a cost to me of $457.21. .037 amps will not pull a battery down if you drive the car every day. Is there an issue with the charging system on the QX80?
 
the charging system on the qx is not designed to "top off " the battery like you would expect. the charging system only outputs the minimal amount of current depending on the cars load. the last thing the car is worried about is the battery, so if you do a lot of short trips, the battery will not charge back to full. so any optional accessories will cause a drain that wil, over time, deplete the battery.

assuming the shop checked your operating system and they gave it a good bill of health. its likely not the culprit.

when you car is cold, turn it on and look at the battery needle on the cluster. it should spike up around 14 ish volts than after 30 seconds ish, should settle to ~13 volts, and as you drive it may drop to 12.5. this is normal and typical behavior of the nissan charging system. there is a blurb about it in your owner's manual that explains how the system works.

its been an issue across all model years of armada and qx. @primov8 will see this and probably chime in also and give you some insight on what he has done to cirvumcevtr the way the system charges the battery.
 
I have a Mercede SL63 AMG and it will draw the battery down if you don't drive it for 2 or 3 weeks but otherwise it will keep the battery fully charged if you drive it at least every other day. If this is a common problem with the QX you would think Infiniti would have a fix for the problem. Currently I have ordered a battery tender to keep it fully charged, but you would think an $80m SUV would not have this problem,
Thank you for your response. I really appreciate it.
 
its not considered a "problem" in nissans eyes :p - thats just the way the system works. its designed with lower emissions in mind. the battery that ships with the armada and qx are much too underpowered with the computer system and sensors on the car. i added an odyssey to the car and never looked back.

there's a lengthy discussion about this on another forum i frequent that spans years of posts from armada owners as well. there is a way to bypass this system so the alternator charges at a much higher level. that's why i mentioned primo since he has done this mod. its not difficult to do.

i bought this little guy for the battery - at any time i can see the status of the battery...

Battery Monitor
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@Bradley. Not only would I be demanding a refund for what the service dept charged you to remove your Spireon device, I’d bill them to have it reinstalled as well. They didn’t fix the issue and were obviously wrong in diagnosing the problem with your battery draining.

I’m not a fan of Nissan’s design, actually more like an attempt in trying to improve mpg with their ECM-controlled alternator. It prevents the alternator from working as a traditional alternator and therefore the battery never charges 100%. Of course, when a battery isn’t running up to par, it can lead to all types of electrical issues.

The negative terminal has a battery current sensor which is part of the ECM-controlled alternator. There is a 4-wire connector that plugs into this sensor and one of the wires is the signal wire for the ECM. I disconnected the signal wire (blue) and the alternator on my QX80 functions as an alternator should. The battery on my QX80 is a constant 14+V.
 
Bradley said:
I have a Mercede SL63 AMG and it will draw the battery down if you don't drive it for 2 or 3 weeks but otherwise it will keep the battery fully charged if you drive it at least every other day. If this is a common problem with the QX you would think Infiniti would have a fix for the problem. Currently I have ordered a battery tender to keep it fully charged, but you would think an $80m SUV would not have this problem,
Thank you for your response. I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...
I purchased preowned 2015 model and experiencing the same problem since 2019. A search onlined reveals this porblem to be chronic and yet Infintity refused to resolve the matter. It is unacceptable to depend upon an extrenal charger to maintin a $50k machine, It is time we organize a class action lawsuit to hold Infinity accountable instead of putting up with this problem. If anyone knows of a lawyer who would take up this case, please count me in.
 
tomcatsvg said:
I purchased preowned 2015 model and experiencing the same problem since 2019. A search onlined reveals this porblem to be chronic and yet Infintity refused to resolve the matter. It is unacceptable to depend upon an extrenal charger to maintin a $50k machine, It is time we organize a class action lawsuit to hold Infinity accountable instead of putting up with this problem. If anyone knows of a lawyer who would take up this case, please count me in.
Click to expand...

Bradley, I have an 2011 QX56 and I'm having the same issues.. I've had mine at the dealer several times and they can't seem to figure out the issue. I'm seeing the Nissan Armada is also having the same issues.. Infiniti only tells you to take it to a retailer. I feel a class action lawsuit should definitely get started asap.

tomcatsvg said:
I purchased preowned 2015 model and experiencing the same problem since 2019. A search onlined reveals this porblem to be chronic and yet Infintity refused to resolve the matter. It is unacceptable to depend upon an extrenal charger to maintin a $50k machine, It is time we organize a class action lawsuit to hold Infinity accountable instead of putting up with this problem. If anyone knows of a lawyer who would take up this case, please count me in.
Click to expand...

Tom count me in.. Having the same issues with my 2011 QX56, the dealer cannot figure out what the issue is... Class Action Suit is a must.
 
VARIABLE VOLTAGE CONTROL SYSTEM



you guys need to understand its NOT an "issue" - rather its a "Feature" :p nissan implemented to help with emissions.

Its called The VARIABLE VOLTAGE CONTROL SYSTEM. You are free to do an internet search as other nissan (Nissan are the parent) owners have experienced this as well. This has been a "feature" for ever and not just recently.

IF you want to get around this, then you have to remove the sensor that tells the ECM how much voltage the system needs. It is NOT designed to fully charge the battery. At best your battery will stay around ~80-85% charged , and if you do short trips probably on the low end of that. So you end up trickle charging every so often if you want the battery to be at peak.

removing the sensor will allow the generator to output what we all want and love - 13.x to 14.x volts.

its a simple trick as primo and others have stated. here are some slides.. :p


vv-png.123077





battery-current-sensor-png.123078



so its NOT a bug or software glitch. its how nissan implemented it. nissan/infiniti slyly state this in the owner's manual

taken from the 2019 qx80 owners manual , section 8-13:

The variable voltage control system measures the amount of electrical discharge from the battery and controls voltage generated by the generator.
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what i used to do is plug a jump box up to the obd port overnight. this would send a trickle charge from the jump box to the battery overnight and "top it off".
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Technically, it'll store a P1550 DTC (battery current sensor) in the ecu. Since NY has yearly emissions, when I cut the signal wire from the battery current sensor, I installed male/female bullet connectors on the cut wire. So when I bring my truck in for yearly emissions/inspection, I connect the wire and the P1550 DTC is gone.
 
primov8 said:
Technically, it'll store a P1550 DTC (battery current sensor) in the ecu. Since NY has yearly emissions, when I cut the signal wire from the battery current sensor, I installed male/female bullet connectors on the cut wire. So when I bring my truck in for yearly emissions/inspection, I connect the wire and the P1550 DTC is gone.
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Did this resolve your power drain issue when you cut the wire?
 
It’s been over two years now since I’ve done this mod and only regret I didn’t do it sooner. The Northstar AGM battery is always a constant 14+V when driving. Even during the winter, when the battery is at a resting state, its always a constant 12.8-12.9V.
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What is a Northstar AGM battery. I have the one that was installed by the dealer. Should I buy a different brand? Also I read these batteries must be installed by a dealer. Is this true?
 
Keith Obreen H said:
What is a Northstar AGM battery. I have the one that was installed by the dealer. Should I buy a different brand? Also I read these batteries must be installed by a dealer. Is this true?
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It's an aftermarket battery, similar to the Odyssey battery a few here are using -

If your 2011 is 'loaded' with all the electronic bells and whistles, and you are still using your original size battery, it's underpowered IMO. I noticed in later years the battery Infiniti uses is beefier (higher CCA). I replaced the battery myself, no need to have the dealer do it.

My dealer in Orange Park, FL did the wire cut for me and I haven't had the problem in years. I also have not seen any codes thrown as a result....at least not resulting in a SES light on the dash.

There are a few other threads on this subject, search the forum for more info.

Later,
pjdavep
 
pjdavep said:
It's an aftermarket battery, similar to the Odyssey battery a few here are using -

If your 2011 is 'loaded' with all the electronic bells and whistles, and you are still using your original size battery, it's underpowered IMO. I noticed in later years the battery Infiniti uses is beefier (higher CCA). I replaced the battery myself, no need to have the dealer do it.

My dealer in Orange Park, FL did the wire cut for me and I haven't had the problem in years. I also have not seen any codes thrown as a result....at least not resulting in a SES light on the dash.

There are a few other threads on this subject, search the forum for more info.

Later,
pjdavep
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Oh ok cool.. I really appreciate all of the insight... My worry is that the BCM is bad.. I think I will try replacing the battery on mine to a different one. I was just looking at the Interstate batteries. What do you think of this one?

 
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