tonyasc6

Well, as the title says... I need some battery help. My car is an 09 base coupe with 10k miles on it. Original battery. Its not a DD. (Normally I do use a tender) Tonight I went out to start it & it said no fob found then click click click.... dead. Put a battery charger on it hoping for some answers.... well, after 2 hrs on the charger the car did TRY to start... but still no start. So, tomorrow I will be buying a new battery. Kinda thinking about an optimum battery but I'm open to suggestions. thanks in advance. Tonya

NevadaVette

Walmart. Their MAXX #16 which replaces #47, amongst others. Open all night if you ever need them, no hassle returns and exchanges without car dealer arithmetic for 3 years.

Rebel 1

I prefer OEM Delco but Walmart is hard to beat as NevadaVette stated.
No optima battery for me. Expensive and many mixed reviews.

cmauch

I have a 2005 convertible and I am have just installed my 4th new battery and have 44,000 miles on the car. They told me in 2010 that I wasn't driving it and therefore, due to all the electronics, it will draw down the battery. I have been driving it every day this past year and it doesn't make a difference. I was at the dealer last week and went to start it and it was dead. Still under warranty on the battery, so it was free. I have a friend that has a 1966 and he uses a trickle charger, and it seems to work.

cmauch

If your within the 3 yrs. warranty, the dealer will cover it at no cost to you!

Vette5.5

I don't bother with Optma's myself, as just don't see any advantage. I use either Advance Auto or Autozone golds, and never had any problems.

sdurg24

While every situation is different, I must say that I DOUBT your problem is the health of your battery. Oh, I am quite sure the battery is low and I understand the charger is not bringing it up to snuff but..........After 3 C6's I have determined that this is a common problem this time of year. I use mine as a daily driver until the cold weather arrives. Then I use it sparingly, sometimes only once every 10 days or so. The end result is that I can't start the car due to some battery drain that GM can't seem to rectify. I tried to charge it with several chargers we use at our marina. They always work with boats but for some unknown reason they don't recharge my GS battery. I have had to jump start it in order to get it going. (Yes, yes, I know many of you say this is bad for the system but I assure you I have done it many times with zero problems over many years with 3 C6 Vettes.) The problem isn't usually with the battery, it's with the foolish battery drain that should be dealt with by GM. I certainly hope it is in the C7! Imagine any other car that you take to the airport, go on a 2 week vacation, and come back only to find your car has a dead battery in the parking lot. I love my Vette and wish something could be done about this. However, constantly changing batteries won't do the trick.

hawkandersonjr

I had the same problem. Bought a new Duralast battery in August of this year and it went **** up last week. Took the battery back to Auto Zone and they said it was dead as a door nail. They charged it up over night and I put it back in the car and they did a load test. They said everything was good. This was free. Went to PEP BOY’s and bought me a Black & Decker battery maintainer for $19 bucks. It came with three adapters that you can either plug in the vehicle accessory plug, one you can connect to the battery post permanent if you want too, and one with the two clamps to connect to the + & - post. I only drive the 2 or 3 times a week for a short distance so that is probably why mine went dead. Not complaining considering when the battery died in my BMW it cost $500 for the battery and for them to “re-program” the car for the new battery. For the Vette I spent less than $150.

blueyeszr1

Advance Auto Gold, more power than OEM Delco and $104

AORoads

They're all pretty good batts. mentioned above, and I just put in an OEM Delco. I got almost exactly five years (I did have my original batt. go dead once before I knew about battery "maintainers" which probably shortened the life)---and I used a battery "maintainer" a lot. Still do.

But really, even daily driving is not the answer since I was told by Bowling Green that even short trips will be the same as no charging at all, or worse, a drain on the overall system because of stop/re-start. I was also told there are only two ways to maintain the battery, and one is not sure-fire.

Drive it at 1500 rpms or more for 30-45 minutes (depending on how discharged the batt. is, not necessarily the fix, but may be helpful).

Or put a "maintainer" on it.

Our overall charging systems were designed pretty close to the minimum for the draw, and that was done for weight saving. It doesn't leave a lot of room for what we know to be normal usage of many/most C6s, even those that are daily drivers. The odd thing is that after all these years of C6s, there are so many different instances of how and if a C6 goes dead that there really is no absolute conclusion or pattern that I can see.

Good luck.

Don-Vette

I buy Interstate batteries.

heli-vette

Too many cycles from dead and back to full charge kill a battery . I find any issues with batteries near their life expectancy , just replace them . Like leaky tires or radiators
Things only get worse .

Carrying a tool to pull battery lugs seems to be a requirement on Vettes . Keeping battery drain to zero and resetting minor start issues ,by remove / reconnect . Its saved my *** more than once .

FortMorganAl

Been buying Interstate for 15 years and never had one last less than 7 years but I take care of them. Battery life also depends heavily on what the dealer did to them before you bought it. Interstate rotates their stock every 30 days so you can be sure the battery you buy will have only discharged a little once on the shelf before you buy it. People will like Walmart batteries because they typically have enough volume that batteries don't sit on the shelf very long. The battery that came with your car might have been repeatedly abused by the dealer before you got it.

ANY discharging of a battery will cause permanent damage. The way you get long battery life is to limit the total amount of discharge the battery ever sees. If you put a float charger on a battery to keep it at 100% all the time it will last for 20 years. That's what industry does with battery backups. Unfortunately you don't have 120VAC power available when you are driving so you do the best you can by hooking up the battery maintainer whenever possible.

SUB VETTE

My OEM Delco was still going strong after 6.5 years, kept on a Battery Tender+ most of the time when in the garage. I replaced it 6 months ago just for piece of mind ( since it was beyond it's rated 72 month life) with a COSTCO battery. I'm perfectly happy with the new battery, its warranty (first 3 years free, total limited warranty 100 months) and its performance so far. It's also on the Battery Tender + whenever it's idle in the garage. If it ever craps out I'm never far from a COSTCO for a quick replacement.

St.Char

+1...me too!

CO Lightfoot

From another thread:

And also get a new battery for your FOB.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...ement-diy.html
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...y-warning.html

BSE1956

Always been a fan of Sears Diehard.
Just got the "Diehard gold" version for my truck.

Flh Den

Thats what I use also, 7 year warranty 20% off when you buy online and free installation. $97 here today for that car.

VET4LES

Only Optima RED top for me. I replaced my last one after 5 1/2 years. It was still going strong I just thought it was time. I bought another one.

tonyasc6

Thanks for all the replies. I went to Walmart this am & bought a MAXX battery. The car fired right up. So glad it was JUST a battery issue. Original ac delco lasted 3yrs 2 mnths. I did use a maintainer MOST of the time. I wasn't faithful with it but I will be now. Thanks again for all the replies. Tonya