Nice Ride

Posted earlier about battery issues with my 2011 C6 with 1,700 miles. Car would not start and I became locked in the car. Able to reach pull cable in trunk. Remembered the door unlock handle by driver seat later. Seldom driven but I have maintained car on Battery Tender Jr. It had sat for a only a week. Tender showed "charged" and thought I had up to 2 weeks sitting. Called Deltran and they said they do not recommend the BT Jr. for Corvette. Battery builds sulfates over time and BT Jr. may not be able to push through enough charge through sulfates over time to adequately charge battery. They recommend BT Plus for Corvettes. I purchased the GM Corvette Charger that comes with the Battery Protection Option. Original equipment. Cheaper version without Corvette logo is also available. Called Chevy RoadSide Assistance. They were excellent! Scheduled jump start and service guy arrived on time. Chevy also set up electrical system/battery check apt. at dealer and followed up with me every step of the way on how everything went. Service Tech used a portable power station 1000 amp charger hooked to positive and negative post on battery. Nice unit to have for jump starts. Car started easy. Only warranty service I have needed and glad car was covered. Service advisor said dealer uses a Battery Tester unit required by GM. If the battery test shows defective they replace it, other wise GM does not authorize replacement. My battery failed the test no question so they put a new one in. Tech at dealership had to work awhile with re index of windows etc. Glad he did that for me. Tech said Corvettes computers love them some battery juice and they will surely act up if they don't get it. I am on my 4th Corvette but first C6. Much more going on electronically. Should have taken battery drain and potential inadequate re-charging more seriously. Don't want to go through this again. I will use the GM Battery charger when the Corvette may sit for more than a couple days. I also plan to replace the battery every three years. One thing about learning the hard way you never forget.

Landru

Glad to hear your experience turtned out so positive, sounds like the selling dealer's service people took good care.

Yea, C6s 'eat' batteries.

laconiajack

Thanks for the report. Mine lasted a little over four years but I think your idea of replacing the battery every three years is a good one, especially since e replacement battery only costs about $100.00.

Sunset-C6

Used Battery tender jr. on all my Corvette's for years never had a problem. It appears you had a bad battery, & not the fault of the charger.

ny32182

Could you tell me a little more about the "window indexing"? How does this work and what triggers the need to do it?

Nice Ride

Sunset-C6 I carried the BT Jr. over from a 1974 Corvette I owned prior to buying the C6. Never had a problem with the battery in the 74. Thought I was good to go using the BT Jr. with the C6 as well. No problem initially almost two years but after the battery went dead after about a week off the BT Jr I was surprised. As said I called Deltran and they said the BT Jr. is not recommended for newer Corvette because of the enhanced electronics. They recommend the BT Plus. BT Jr. is a nice unit just may not be able to maintain full charge as the battery ages and builds sulfates.

Bedouin

I've run the B-T Jr. on my C6 since new, & on all my bikes, so this is news to me, but much appreciated, as that's two people being told the same thing by Deltran. Sounds like a BT+ is in order...

Jet Streaming

I had battery issues on every one of my C5s but not my 08 C6 in fact I have never had the battery go dead once and my car sits alot. Still have the original battery too!

PatriotZ

I too have the BT-Plus for my 08 and all is just fine....eventually the battery will fail and at the first sign of problems, I will replace.....but it does sound like you had a defective battery....stuff happens and glad you have it all sorted out now....

Nice Ride

ny32182 window indexing is the feature on the C6 where the window drops down slightly to permit the door to open and returns the window to full close when the door is shut. When I lost battery power the driver side door window dropped down several inches. Once the car was jump started I could close the window as normal with the power window switch but when I opened the door the window dropped down several inches and stayed down but did respond to the window switch. There is a power window initialize procedure covered in the owners manuel when power is reconnected as with battery replacement. Once you loose power the window index-up feature will not function until the "system" is initialized.

LS WON

Isn't the battery tender for Chev., Porsche and Mercedes made by CTEK?

Gearhead Jim

The information is hidden the the Secret Book (Owner Manual) that should come with your car, but a short version is:

Lower window all the way.
Raise window all the way and continue holding switch up for additional 3 seconds.
Release switch and then hold in Up position for 3 seconds again.

Repeat process on the other window.

Rowboat66

I still have original battery on my 2006 and have always used a tender jr. The C6 is a garage queen so it sits a lot plugged in. From what I gather from above, the jr. charging action cannot blow through the salts in a failing battery. I do not plan to upgrade to the "+", but rather when the battery gets to the point that the jr. cannot handle it, I will replace the battery. Sounds like the jr. in my case can be an "early warning system".

LS WON

On my 2005 I didn't use a tender for 7 years. I use a CTEK 3300 now. As for the salts, Is that desulfication? A battery tender like a CTEK will help prevent this desulfication?

cclive

If you can't leave the car sitting for a week without a dead battery, then there is a problem with the electrical system, not the Deltran Jr.