Car charging problem or not?

Interesting thought re possible parasitic draw, Bob. If that was occurring, it would continue even with a new battery as well until addressed, wouldn't it?

Yes it would, a new battery might take a little longer to be discharged to the point of causing an issue than an old battery. Also it IS possible that the problem is your battery. How long is the warranty on the battery you purchased? A top of the line battery should be guaranteed for about 3 years and life expectancy is about 5 years. A cheep battery will be guaranteed for 1 year and may last a couple of years. In batteries, as other things in life, you get what you pay for.

The Advanced battery, which I got in December 2015, was their top-of-the-line (Autocraft Gold). It had a three-year replacement warranty. When I went in a few days ago they told me that if it failed the one-hour charge they would have to try an overnight charge before designating it replaceable if it failed that. I complained (I've had problems with Advanced batteries before, including one that was dead as soon as they installed it in 2012), so the manager said he would replace it if it failed the one hour charge. But it "passed" after a one-hour charge, so they said it wasn't eligible for areplacement. I didn't want to take any chances, especially heading into winter, so I decided to get a new battery elsewhere, and ended up with a Diehard. But I did not want to assume that just doing that would solve any underlying issues, so that is why I posted a question here.

The Diehard should be a good battery. Post back and let us know how it went. Best of luck with it.

Well, car sat outside with the DieHard for about two days, and then I had exactly the same startup issue! Took even more tries than before to start, but when it finally responded beyond lights, it started right up. (I wonder if jiggling the gear lever helped, although I *think* it took several tries even after that.) Then, after driving about 10 miles, car sat in an indoor heated garage three days. Stared with no problem. Then sat outside about 2 days (temp has been about 32F at night), started with no problem. Another 2 nights outside -- this time on mechanic's lot where I was taking it both for regular maintenance & to look into this issue -- and they started it with no problem. They spent a fair amount of time testing, found no battery or electrical problems. That was a couple days ago. Just reporting back. Won't have any further posts unless the issue recurs (which I'm not expecting, but you never know...)

If you put in a new battery in your Honda, start the engine and the battery voltage doesn't increase (which is how you'd expect to see if the charging system works), just turn on the headlights and the REAR window defroster to pull a load on the electrical system, and then the battery voltage should jump to 14+ volts showing that the charging system is working and nothing is wrong. Whether or not you like this setup (which I don't) it is all done in the name of gas mileage. Because the battery voltage can be allowed to get what I would regard as dangerously low before triggering a charge with no load, DO NOT sit in your car with the engine off using the accessories.

There might not be anything wrong. A battery in a late model Honda won't charge unless it's very low or unless you draw significant power with accessories. If your battery voltage is low with the engine running, try turning on the headlights and the REAR window defroster. If the battery voltage doesn't come up to 14+ volts then you may have a problem.