ruxvette

Nah, you bellied up to the bar and fessed up. That's how you learn. Good times are ahead.
PS...don't use a trickle charger...use a battery tender or battery maintainer. Just sayin...

SHM

I also just discovered that a metal post I thought was grounded wasn't. I have to connect the negative directly onto the engine. Then my charger started showing amps drawn. But, yeah, I should probably just get a tender....lessons learned....I just don't want anyone else to go through what I did and to learn from my mistake. I'll just take everyone's advice here and get a good tender. It'll save me from accidentally overcharging the battery, which could damage it. Otherwise, it's great to be back in the saddle again.

Don-Vette

This is what I use $20 at Wallyworld.....

http://www.walmart.com/ip/15140193?a...l5=pla&veh=sem



The XM1-5 1.5 Amp Fully Automatic Power Charger and Maintainer is a wonderful power source that works great for charging vehicles like motorcycles, car, tractors and lawn-mowers. Making use of float-mode monitoring, this microprocessor controlled battery charger ensures that its dual 6 & 12 volt batteries are fully charged. With its versatility of use, it is an ideal product to use at home or office. The automotive battery charger comes with LEDs that indicate charging, charged and power modes. Its compact size allows you to store it easily when not in use. The battery charger maintainer features automatic voltage detection and automatic temperature compensation that ensure user friendly usage. Safety start, thermal runaway protection and reverse hookup protection ensure safe and effective handling of the charger.
XM1-5 1.5 Amp Fully Automatic Power Charger and Maintainer:
1.5 amp charger and maintainer
Fully automatic
Microprocessor controlled
Automatic voltage detection
Automatic temperature compensation
Thermal runaway protection
Safety start feature
LEDs indicate charging, charged and power
Quick disconnect harness
Reverse hookup protection

SUB VETTE

I use a Battery Tender + which you can find at Amazon for about $45.

JJC5

Del Tran Battery Tender. Best there is period. Have had one on my airplane for 5 years (same one for 5 years!!) and one on the Z06. Flawless.

TerryT

No need for a tender. Just never shut it off. Or, Just get a battery from Nissan or Toyota.

sguido2

Not sure I buy the not fully charged story with 350 miles on the odometer. I would of demanded a replacement, My Grand Sport has sat for up to 2 weeks and starts with no problem. Good Luck

EVRose

My 05 has sat for nearly 4 weeks and starts no problem. Have never used a tender.

Gearhead Jim

Some people use the terms Trickle Charger and Battery Tender/Maintainer interchangably, but they are different animals. A basic trickle charger just keeps charging whether your battery needs it or not, and can cause problems over time. A tender/maintainer senses when the battery gets slightly low, charges it back up, then shuts off until the charge slowly bleeds down minutes/hours/days later.

As others have said, either your battery was defective, or something drained it, or it never got properly charged at all. Once you know for sure, the cure is usually pretty easy.

RPA_KNUT

SHM - does your car have a 'PAL' - Personal Audio Link - installed??

I had one installed when i took delivery of my ordered 2013 GS - apparently the unit was faulty and it kept on powering/cycling itself on and off (you could hear it 'clicking' every 30 seconds or so in the passenger side floorboard area). Annnnd then, the Saturday morning after it was installed, i went to got to Starbucks and............CLICK, CLICK, CLICK!!!

So, just curious if your car had a 'PAL' and, i feel your pain brothah.

AORoads

Notice the words above: YOU are talking about a trickle charger. Everyone else on here is talking about a maintainer. They are NOT the same thing. Get the latter for daily use. Use the former for when it's needed.

Also, since you've been on here from July, start reading up on some of the threads where the topic is unknown to you. Education is free, on here.

For instance, dealer/service person is correct: there are a lot of draining items, computers, sensors, etc. on a C6 unlike a lot of other cars, new, old, current, etc. And he was correct to check the entire charging system incl. the slightly undersized (now don't go off on a tear that this is going to blow up your car) alternator for any loss of performance or excess drains.

He is not correct about the fob location. But rather than flame, educate yourself. For seven years on CF-C6 there've probably been an average of 5 threads per week (that means, what? over 1,000 threads on battery, charging, alternator, dead battery, etc.?) on batteries, charging, etc.

So, please: read and relieve your anxiety and incidentally become a very informed C6 owner along the way.

StanNH

If you drive your car any distance, the battery should be charged. I've never heard of the OEM Delco battery needing to be "deep charged." If you take frequent short drives, and/or start up and shut down the car often, the battery will not fully charge; but any reasonable time on the road should keep the battery fully charged. I really don't understand what the dealer was saying.

SHM

Thanks for all the advice...I did a preliminary check on the battery voltage last night after driving the Z. It was a very healthy 13vdc. I measured it again after I got up this morning and it was still a pretty good 12.87vdc.

As to the PAL link, I have the 1LZ base level so I don't think I have the home link or the PAL available (I'm assuming this is a factory installed option?).

I also did a Google search on dead batteries (I'm finding doing a search this way seems to reveal more useful information than doing the site's internal search) for the Z06 and found many have had a similar problem. Here is the link for those who might want to review this information:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-z...ery-drain.html

It seems these cars eat their batteries alive if any of the accessories are used for more than about 15-20 min without running the engine. Admittedly, I may have done the same inadvertently by keeping the ignition in RUN mode for too long trying to learn the option setups, which don't seem to operate in the Power Accessory mode. I did make sure the external lights were off because the car is in a garage, so the system wanted to automatically turn on the headlights, etc. Unfortunately, I guess I must've run down the battery without realizing it. I was able to start the engine after I was done to make sure it would, in fact, start. But, I may not have run it long enough to recharge the battery. And in so doing, the battery went flat over night. Perhaps because the current to start the engine wasn't readily replaced enough to recharge the battery.

I've also been reading up on what a battery tender or maintainer does. Some of these devices supposedly send pulses to the battery to help reduce sulfide buildup on the plates. This seems to be a pretty useful feature. There is a distinct difference between a trickle charger (which I have) and the maintainer/tender. I think I should get one to just keep in that nice cubby in the rear hatch area with a extension cord just in case I get into a situation where this happens again and I'm not at home.

I also agree that the 'deep charge' vs 'surface charge' is probably a lot of hooey. Sometimes the service advisors don't know that much and just try to say anything to keep the customer from blowing up in their face. And I checked the voltage on the battery with my key fob inside the house vs in the garage. I saw no drop in voltage. I think the 100' range is for when a button is pressed to activate the doors, horn, etc. But, I think the key fob has to be within about 3' of the car in order for it's proximity to be detected by the Z's security system. At least this is what I'm able to glean by doing these little experiments.

So I really appreciate all the info everyone's been giving me. I'm in learning mode. Owning a car like this takes more responsibility, I think, than owning a normal, run of the mill car. Another thing I have to be aware of is when my radar detector is plugged into the cigarette lighter, the lighter socket is not ignition switched. It's on all the time. So I have to be sure I turn off the detector when not in use.

09Z06pj

Tide Will Roll!

Push and hold the ignition OFF button for approx 10 seconds and the car will enter a mode(not sure what mode terminology is)thatt allows you to use all electronics(program DIC) without having ignition on(wont drain batt fast)

Also, what RD you have?
Maybe you can hardwire(very easy) or get a mirror tap for power.

Bert

Roll Tide!

JSB LS3

I just have to interject on this.....

In 2004 my father brand a brand new loaded up Accord EX V6. with 1192 miles on it, the cams in the front bank seized in the journals, snapping the timing chains/belts (I don't know which that engine has)and basically taking out the entire motor.

Honda was never able to determine what caused such a sudden catastrophic failure.

The idea that a bad car battery is indicative of build quality that's inferior to Japanese cars is utterly preposterous. That was a valid belief as recently as 5-10 years ago but American cars have come QUITE a long way since then.

SHM

I tried to use the power accessory mode to run through the options settings. But, they wouldn't work. This mode seems to operate only in the RUN mode. I did a single push without pressing the clutch. I probably activated a lot of systems by doing it that way, now that I think about it now...

I have a Valentine. I should probably get their hard wire kit and tap into the fuse block with a ignition switched spare fuse slot...

A valid point. There is no doubt all car companies produce duds. And reliability as a industry average has improved a lot over the past decade. Which tends to raise all ships. There are some problematic cars...the Nissan 370 I've heard is very problem prone, for example...the failure rate is immense. I've also read about how Porsche went from being 2nd best to 2nd last in repairs.

Tide Will Roll!

Try this
Push and hold the off button(lower left) on the ignition for approx ten seconds.

Bert

Roll Tide!

SHM

OK..I never actually counted. I just waited. Might not've been long enough....

z06clif

not scary at all..but frustrating

Clif