Howdy all. New to this forum so be gentle with me!

Just this week I ordered my first Vette, an '07 Coupe with the automatic. Delivery in eight weeks, hopefully. Anyway, I've read all about the roof problems and the DBS problems.

I have done multiple searches on something called 'priority start' and for the life of me I cannot find out exactly what this is. Bear in mind that I have not seen the owner's manual.

Can someone make me smart as to exactly what priority start is, how it works, and how I can obtain it for my new car? Is this something the dealer can install for me, or do I have to go elsewhere to obtain it? How much does it cost?

Will installing my own trickle charger interfere with said priority start system?

Thanks!

Mike Sigman

 

Mike,

Priority Start is a module that easily mounts on the battery and monitors the voltage of your car. Should some persistant energy drail occur it will automatically disconect the battery from the rest of the systems in the car when approximately 11.5 volts is recognized. This allows the battery to recover on it's own and allows the car to start again by reconnecting the battery when you "jolt" the system by pushing the cigarette lighter in (or something of the sort). It is an easy install and is really only needed if you have a manual 6 speed transmission. It is good protection no matter what vehicle you have if you do not drive it very often.

Cost is about $70 and you can easily do it on you own.

 

With the automatic you don't need one. Spend the money on some other mod.

 

A battery tender makes more sense to me...

 

Follow this link:
http://www.prioritystart.com/

 

The advantage of Priority Start over a battery tender is that the PS is a passive device. Once installed, you do nothing. If the battery voltage drains below 11.9 volts, the device simply disconnects your battery to stop any further drain. All other devices require that you hook your car up to an outside power source.

Battery tenders are excellent if you want to insure that your battery stays fully charged, especially during long periods of inactivity...such as winter storage. A Priority Start is intended to prevent a dead battery situation from stranding you, but will not keep the battery charged. Some owners actually use both devices. It's sort of like having your car hooked up to an IV.

 

Really??? With a 2006 A6, I have had a dead battery twice. And this is a daily driver. Dealer cannot isolate the cause, after replacing the battery after the first failure. I now have a priority start.

 

I read all the posts about the priority start in the past. I sat there and said I don't need this, I am never going to have DBS. I had it one time and then I ordered the priority start.
It is kind of like being robbed and then installing a security system, It happened once and you make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

Isolated instance. DBS is widespread on 2005 MN6's. Priority Start is similar to insurance. You have to consider the cost/benefit. Since DBS is fairly common on 2005 MN6's, it may be a worthwhile expenditure if you own one of those. Since you had two instances on your A6, probably a good purchase for your car. But, in general, A6 owners really don't need to worry about this.

 

That's probably a correct statement!

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...d+battery+poll

 

I run both.

It's cheap insurance.

 

Well I have used priority starts purpose in life many times (unfortunately) and it has ALWAYS saved my butt, so much so that I have put them in all my vehicles. It has since saved my wife 4 hours from home on a shopping spree when she accidentally left her lights on in her Tahoe. So for me they're worth EVERY penny.

 

You would begin to think that this gizmo should be std equipment with any car.

 

Here's a link the forum member Bugman's informative website:

Bugman

Click on "Priority Start" for a great explanation of the unit and DIY instructions for installation.

Bob

 

Just a thought, do you happen to have LoJack or anything like it? I have heard that the current drain due to some LoJack units doesn't allow the vehicle to enter the "sleep" mode and the battery has a constant drain on it.

 

My thanks to all who took the time to reply.

I'm hoping (probably with some blinders on) that my battery will be ok. I have a trickle charger that a friend with a C5 religiously uses and plan on using that as this car will not be a daily driver, nor will it ever intentionally see rain.

Pre-emptively replacing the Delco with an Optima is also on my mind.

This leads me to my next question: When disconnecting battery cables for battery replacement, what do I have to do to get all the onboard computers reset? I have read somewhere that I need to do the window index relearn procedure, but is there anything else that needs to be done?

I ask this because on my '96 Seville, the original battery went kaput after five years. Roadside service came out and replaced the battery under warrantee, and the mechanic spent five minutes pressing buttons inside on the temp control module in a double secret probation sequence. He said he was reprogramming the computers. Hmmmm.

Yeah, that was a Cadillac, but GM is GM and they can work in strange and mysterious ways.

Thanks again for your advice.

Mike

 

No use going to Optima if your going with a trickle charger. Maybe after the battery warranty expires.
When the battery goes to zero you lose the window indexing. Run the windows up and hold for a few seconds, then down the same way. Most memory settings don't disappear, generally. At least mine haven't.