Fobs on '07 too close to car drains battery
02-10-2011, 03:10 PM
#1
3rd Gear
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Fobs on '07 too close to car drains battery
Just replaced the battery twice in one week with new oem batteries. Dealer says the '07 Corvette's fobs are to close to the car and signal all the car's computes to be ready to go into action. All the computers are on and drain the battery. Dealer says put go to personal options menu and place "PASSIVE DOOR LOCKING" on silent or horn. Then keep fobs more than 20 feet away from vehicle that way the fob cannot signal the cars computer to turn on a be ready for action. Opinions, suggestions or comments please. That battery is heavy for a 70 year old with bulging discs.
02-10-2011, 03:14 PM
#2
Drifting
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Don't believe it for one moment..... We had 2007 for 3 years and always left the fob in the car when parked in the garage ... never had a battery issue
02-10-2011, 03:20 PM
#3
Le Mans Master
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St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-12-'13-'14-'15-'16
I have a '07 and I hang my spare fob on the entrance door to my garage. Never had any issues with the battery draining.
02-10-2011, 03:22 PM
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The car doesn't even know the fob is there until a button is pushed or you open the door. It sends a signal at that point. When the C6 was introduced for the 2005 model this was discussed often. 
02-10-2011, 03:31 PM
#5
Le Mans Master
Not the same thing, but if I hang my FOBS in the kitchen, fewer than 15 feet away from my car, I can walk out into the carport and open either car door day or night.
Move the FOBS to the back of the house and the doors remain locked as they should.
Mine's a 2007, had it almost 54 months. Daily Driver, 64K miles.
Move the FOBS to the back of the house and the doors remain locked as they should.
Mine's a 2007, had it almost 54 months. Daily Driver, 64K miles.
02-10-2011, 03:43 PM
#8
Burning Brakes
02-10-2011, 03:49 PM
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02-10-2011, 04:40 PM
#11
Team Owner
The FOB is dormant unit something happens to trigger it - such as trying to activate the door opening switch. When you do that, it sends a signal out looking for the FOB. It wakes the FOB up and waits for a reply telling it that it's ok to open the door.
02-10-2011, 04:43 PM
#12
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St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13, '16-'17-'18
Sad that Dealers don't know the products they sell....
( I agree with those who say the Dealer is wrong, BTW)
( I agree with those who say the Dealer is wrong, BTW)
02-10-2011, 05:52 PM
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The only way I know to isolate unwanted current draw to remove the negative battery cable and hook an ammeter up between the negative terminal and the negative battery cable (I use the negative cable instead of the positive one to avoid shorting the battery - the current shown will be the same).
Shut all the doors and you'll see how much current is being drawn. I don't know what an acceptable power off current draw is on cars these days. If the amount of current drawn seems excessive then just pull one fuse at a time until you find the circuit that is drawing current. Once you find the offending circuit then it is a just matter of finding what component on that circuit is causing the problem.
I haven't had to do this in years so my experience was on pre-computer cars when things were much simpler.
However, even now this isn't difficult, just very time consuming. The computers, radio and such do draw something to keep their memory. Perhaps someone knows what an acceptable draw with everything off might be on our car.
One word of caution, do not attempt to start the car with an ammeter hooked up like this. Most ammeters do not have cables big enough to handle the starter draw and bad things will happen.
I suppose an OBDii reader might tell you something as well, but I haven't used mine for that purpose - I have the Autoenginuity software which tells me more than I really know what to do with. Unless something was really showing out of whack I wouldn't know what to look for.
Good luck!!
John
Shut all the doors and you'll see how much current is being drawn. I don't know what an acceptable power off current draw is on cars these days. If the amount of current drawn seems excessive then just pull one fuse at a time until you find the circuit that is drawing current. Once you find the offending circuit then it is a just matter of finding what component on that circuit is causing the problem.
I haven't had to do this in years so my experience was on pre-computer cars when things were much simpler.
However, even now this isn't difficult, just very time consuming. The computers, radio and such do draw something to keep their memory. Perhaps someone knows what an acceptable draw with everything off might be on our car.
One word of caution, do not attempt to start the car with an ammeter hooked up like this. Most ammeters do not have cables big enough to handle the starter draw and bad things will happen.
I suppose an OBDii reader might tell you something as well, but I haven't used mine for that purpose - I have the Autoenginuity software which tells me more than I really know what to do with. Unless something was really showing out of whack I wouldn't know what to look for.
Good luck!!
John
02-10-2011, 07:09 PM
#14
Race Director
Your Dealer is ignorant, find anoter place to take the car.
You have checked all the obvious things like something plugged in to either lighter socket? (the accessory sockets are not turned off with the key, they are always hot.)
You bought the car used? Any add ons to lights, sound system, exhaust?
You have checked all the obvious things like something plugged in to either lighter socket? (the accessory sockets are not turned off with the key, they are always hot.)
You bought the car used? Any add ons to lights, sound system, exhaust?
02-27-2011, 12:20 PM
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Thank you for your replies. All of you are correct. The idiot that advised me re: the fobs was a service adviser not a "wrench". I finally talked to the "Shop Foreman", Bill Howard and he convinced to let him do a battery parasitic draw test. They kept the car overnight but only charged me 1 hour of labor ($110). The results of the test confirmed that the car with the 6CD changer connected (my is in the back since it has the Nav system) was drawing 3600 milliamps which would drain the batter in about 8 hours. The car with the 6CD changer disconnected only draws 28 milliamps. Thanks again for your replies.
02-27-2011, 12:43 PM
#16
Team Owner
Thank you for your replies. All of you are correct. The idiot that advised me re: the fobs was a service adviser not a "wrench". I finally talked to the "Shop Foreman", Bill Howard and he convinced to let him do a battery parasitic draw test. They kept the car overnight but only charged me 1 hour of labor ($110). The results of the test confirmed that the car with the 6CD changer connected (my is in the back since it has the Nav system) was drawing 3600 milliamps which would drain the batter in about 8 hours. The car with the 6CD changer disconnected only draws 28 milliamps. Thanks again for your replies.
02-27-2011, 12:48 PM
#17
Team Owner
Hmmmm, wonder if yours was hooked up incorrectly or if it's a problem with all the rear changers. Good to keep in mind. Is yours a GM changer or after market?
Anyway, thanks for the update.
Anyway, thanks for the update.
02-27-2011, 01:02 PM
#18
Burning Brakes
Point about the FOB being asleep until awakened, apparently not that way on all cars. My Lexus had some accent lights underneath the outside mirrors. When you walked within a few feet of the car (at night) without touching it, the accent lights would fade on as well as the interior lights. This was cool, welcoming and inviting.
02-27-2011, 01:08 PM
#19
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The only way I know to isolate unwanted current draw to remove the negative battery cable and hook an ammeter up between the negative terminal and the negative battery cable (I use the negative cable instead of the positive one to avoid shorting the battery - the current shown will be the same).
Shut all the doors and you'll see how much current is being drawn. I don't know what an acceptable power off current draw is on cars these days. If the amount of current drawn seems excessive then just pull one fuse at a time until you find the circuit that is drawing current. Once you find the offending circuit then it is a just matter of finding what component on that circuit is causing the problem.
I haven't had to do this in years so my experience was on pre-computer cars when things were much simpler.
However, even now this isn't difficult, just very time consuming. The computers, radio and such do draw something to keep their memory. Perhaps someone knows what an acceptable draw with everything off might be on our car.
One word of caution, do not attempt to start the car with an ammeter hooked up like this. Most ammeters do not have cables big enough to handle the starter draw and bad things will happen.
I suppose an OBDii reader might tell you something as well, but I haven't used mine for that purpose - I have the Autoenginuity software which tells me more than I really know what to do with. Unless something was really showing out of whack I wouldn't know what to look for.
Good luck!!
John
Shut all the doors and you'll see how much current is being drawn. I don't know what an acceptable power off current draw is on cars these days. If the amount of current drawn seems excessive then just pull one fuse at a time until you find the circuit that is drawing current. Once you find the offending circuit then it is a just matter of finding what component on that circuit is causing the problem.
I haven't had to do this in years so my experience was on pre-computer cars when things were much simpler.
However, even now this isn't difficult, just very time consuming. The computers, radio and such do draw something to keep their memory. Perhaps someone knows what an acceptable draw with everything off might be on our car.
One word of caution, do not attempt to start the car with an ammeter hooked up like this. Most ammeters do not have cables big enough to handle the starter draw and bad things will happen.
I suppose an OBDii reader might tell you something as well, but I haven't used mine for that purpose - I have the Autoenginuity software which tells me more than I really know what to do with. Unless something was really showing out of whack I wouldn't know what to look for.
Good luck!!
John
02-27-2011, 02:02 PM
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Thank you for your replies. All of you are correct. The idiot that advised me re: the fobs was a service adviser not a "wrench". I finally talked to the "Shop Foreman", Bill Howard and he convinced to let him do a battery parasitic draw test. They kept the car overnight but only charged me 1 hour of labor ($110). The results of the test confirmed that the car with the 6CD changer connected (my is in the back since it has the Nav system) was drawing 3600 milliamps which would drain the batter in about 8 hours. The car with the 6CD changer disconnected only draws 28 milliamps. Thanks again for your replies.