mtdoragary

My battery goes down quickly if I don't keep trickle charger connected. When I connect the charger I get a clicking sound below the right headlight area until the voltage gets up to about ten volts. Any suggestions what that could be? Sounds like a relay energized while ignition is off.

Quicksilver Vert 01

How old is the battery?

I would fully charge it, and bring it somewhere for a load test. Advance Auto Parts or Auto Zone both will do a battery load test test for free.

mtdoragary

It's the third new battery I've put in this year. The battery charge is now up ton51% and the clicking continues. I unplugged the headlight motors and the clicking stopped. The headlights are down: why would the motors be clicking with the ignition off and the headlights down? They always function perfectly.
When the battery goes dead it does so in one day. Usually, I can leave it for a week and fire it right up. Whatever the load is, it's intermittent!

AntonioZ06

sounds like the relay for the lights isn't shutting down. There's been a bunch of people with a similar issue

Quicksilver Vert 01

Power to the headlamp motors is independent of the ignition switch. You don't need to have the ignition turned on to raise and lower them.

mtdoragary

Four hours later and still 51%. Looks like I'm in for my fourth battery this year.

mtdoragary

They open when they are supposed to and they close when they are supposed to. Which relay would be closing them?

TEXHAWK0

The headlight relays click when you disconnect and reconnect the battery, so that sounds normal to me... unless it does not stop...

mtdoragary

It does NOT stop. But if they DO click when you disconnect the battery, that means they are ebergized when the ignition is off. How could the battery NOT discharge with such a configuration???

Bill Curlee

You have an excessive current draw.. The sleep current draw for your car should be 20 - 25 milliamps.

When the BCM detects that the car is shut down, it goes into the SLEEP/SECURITY Mode.. In that mode it only draws 0.025 amps or 25 milliamps.

You need to remove the NEG battery cable and place a DC AMP Meter in series with the neg cable and Neg battery terminal.. With in 10-12 min, it will enter sleep mode and draw minimum current. IF something thats suppose to shut down doesn't,, it will NOT go to sleep and draw excessive current all the time and KILL the battery.

Bill

mtdoragary

It usually goes into sleep mode but occasionally doesn't, and zaps the battery - four so far this year!

Bill Curlee

Well..... you have to troubleshoot and figure what is sporadically NOT going to sleep and fix it..

Other wise,, this will be an every day occurrence.

mtdoragary

No, not an everyday occurence, but a four times a year occurence. And there's the rub! Short of hooking up an ammeter every time I shut down, I can think of no other way to find the problem. I think I'll hard wire a battery tender and plug her up every time I park her!

RonSSNova

I would think that even if the batt goes dead, it shouldn't "kill" it.
Are you charging it in the car while connected? That can fool your charger. Try disconnecting the neg terminal from the car and then charge it.

I think all these cars click those front relays when you connect and disconnect the batt. Yours does it because the voltage is so low.

Ron

mtdoragary

It never discharges if I remember to connect its battery tender. I have to think of the Vette as just another boat.

leadfoot4

Holy crap!!


You HAVE, whether or not you want to admit it, an electrical problem with the car. It appears to be an intermittant problem with the headlight circuit. How many people have to tell you this, before you take some definitive action?

mtdoragary

I appreciate your help and concern. I don't know how long you've been in electronics, but I've been in it for nearly fifty years and I know of no definitive way to address an intermittent problem. By it's nature it shows up when IT wants to, not when I want it to. And four times a year is not often enough to make it worth my while to set up instrumentation every time I shut down the Vette. I am however open to any suggestion for troubleshooting that you may offer.

sunchaser73

It seems to me that the only way you are going to find the problem is with some long-term troubleshooting. I would suggest that you follow Bill Curlee's guide on excessive current draw. Try a different load every day (or every few days) until you isolate the problem-circuit.

Yes, it will be a PITA...yes, it will take a few weeks. But, IMHO, the only way you can figure this out is with tenacity.

Based on your symptom description, and what other people are saying, your most likely culprit is in the headlight circuit. Why not start by replacing the suspect relay? If you don't want to buy a new one, swap it out with a known, proper-functioning relay that isn't really "necessary" (if there is one ) The other advantage there is that if the problem goes from the headlight circuit to the "new" circuit, you have successfully determined that the relay is indeed the culprit.

The simple fact that you have gone through three batteries already should make it "worth your while" to set up the instrumentation. An alternative would be a clamp-type ammeter. I've used one to measure the charging current from my CTEK and it is fairly accurate. You may need one similar to the Fluke milliamperes process clamp-meter...that would eliminate the need to disconnect the battery and connect a DMM every time you shut off the engine.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck...

mtdoragary

Yep, replacing the relay that closes the headlamps was my next move and i was hoping someone would steer me to it. Not that I'm lazy, but I'm preparing my house in Florida for sale and preparing a house I bought in north Alabama for moving in. Time is precious right now, and barring someone steering me to the relay, I'll be depending on the battery tender for probably another year. At 70, I don't seem to be getting any younger!

RonSSNova

I have an idea when you get the time.

Wire in a batt disconnect switch like this:

http://www.moroso.com/catalog/catego...?catcode=42225

Rig up a couple of leads that will plug into your multi-meter connected to each side of the switch.

Then you can just plug the meter in and flip the switch each night and see what the drain is real quick.
Finding it is another issue of course.......

Ron