Over the winter my battery seemed to die. It was a Red top Optima. It just wouldn't hold a charge at all. So I got a new red top. Put it in. car fired right up and ran great. Drove it on and off for a week and it was great.

It sat for a little over a full week. Battery is dead again. Something has to be drawing on it. I hooked up my meter to the negative terminal and took the negative off and hook the other side of the meter to it to see the draw. Its not showing any draw.

i'm overly confused. Why 2 batteries are not working. Any ideas?

 

I'll be keeping an eye on my battery as well. I had just gone through the same thing, and bought a new battery today after the other one wouldn't gain a charge after being on a charger for two days. It was just over one year old, too. I'd bought it because the other battery was giving me similar (though less frequent) troubles.

What was recommended to me for areas to check out was the vanity lights in the mirror, the radio, and relay switches for the headlights. Among other things.

 

right now I have the fuse out for the radio. I checked all vanity lights. I pulled fuses for both lighters as well.

Haven't checked relay switches for the headlights. Not sure how to do that.

 

I guess you could start pulling fuses and see if there is still something trying to draw juice with a test light. I might do that next if the problem persists with mine. For now, my voltmeter in the car sits at a rock-solid 11.5 volts when I switch to accessory and have the radio on. If I see it start dipping, I know I still have issues.

I hope you get it solved quickly and cheaply. It sucks seeing Spring arrive and our cars are parked and out of commission.

 

OH jeeeeez,.......I just bought a yellow top "optima" yesterday at costco for $185 I am replacing the ORIGANAL that came in a "99" F.R.C. the damn thing STILL held a charge fine???

 

my C5 isnt my daily driver. Sometimes it will sit a month before I drive it. How long should a "good" battery hold a charge between running it?

 

You guys need a battery tender, cheap compared to new batteries... Mine sat 5 months on one and fired up so fast it scared me!

With the car asleep, you should see a 20mA ( I believe, I'll recheck and post if I'm wrong) draw if you put an Amp meter in series with your negative cable, anythin higher start pulling fuses till the draw goes back down...

Hope that helps...

 

Mine had nothing to do with a battery tender. There were times the battery crapped out in less than a half-hour's time.

 

Bill Curlee is the Forum electrical guru. here's a link he posted to show how to do a current draw test.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...rent+draw+test

Hope you find the culprit

 

 

The Optima quality has gone down while the price has gone up. It was bad when they were $129.95! Unbelievable!

 

I tried a red top once. it wouldn't hold a charge after about a year. I replaced it with a Die Hard which works great. My conclusion is that Red Top = POS. I know other here have had different experiences; not looking to get flamed.
All that said, I also had a problem with the seat bladder inflation air pump getting stuck on and killing the battery (pre Red Top time). Could barely hear it running, but you might check that out since it is a fairly easy fix if it's the problem.

 

MilleniumVette

If your NEW BATTERY is dieing with in 30 min time, you have some SERIOUS PROBLEMS or our high dollar red top is dead! To properly conduct a current draw test, the battery needs to be FULLY CHARGED and all the things in the car need to be OFF. Like, make sure that the trunk is shut, doors closed and interior lights off, hood light unplugged etc..

Set the meter to read CURRENT (AMPS), disconnect the negative terminal and place the meter leads on the negative battery terminal and neg cable terminal. Make sure that there making a good connections. I used a short piece of wire.







The best way to see if you have a good connection is to plug in the under hood light. If it comes on, the connection is good!


All C5 and most newer cars have a security system and have circuits to keep critical PCM and body control computers alive when the ignition is off. If they do, using a test light to check for current draw, will not work. The light will always be on.

I have a Red Top. Its lasted for four years with out any issues. I paid $127 for it. If I had to buy a battery today, I would drive down to Walmart and get a $60 battery. Optima is good, but NOT $185 good Thats just ridiculous! My Walmart battery in my 85 Corvette, lasted 6 years!


02Vert

I drive my cars pretty much year round. If the roads are nasty (snow,salt, sand etc.. ) I drive my jeep or truck. My cars have sat for 30 days at a time and still starts right up! I would say with in 2 months, the battery would have problems starting the car. If your car is going to set for longer than a month, just disconnect the battery!

Bill

 

Well I think I found my problem. I got my multimeter setup correctly. It was reading .86 down to .60. I started looking for the drain. I thought there might be a issue with the seat. I heard it trying to move a few times. So I unpluged the pass power seat. There you go. Meter dropped down to .06. I think that might have been the problem.