Yup, went to put the trickle charger on it today (after 3-4 weeks of inactivity) and there was not enough power to open the door. My car sits in a semi-climated garage. Lowest temps in the garage is about 45-50 F. on the coldest nights.

Took the key fob apart, opened the hatch, pulled the door release and opened the hood. I put the charger on it and the horn starts to bleep, bleep. Not sure what I did to get it to stop with the fob, but it finally stopped.

I'll leave the charger on it till tomorrow, but this is a PITA.
What is the damn problem with these cars???
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a main cut off switch for storage?

Hey Chevy guy on the forum....are you listening?? The addition of a "main" or storage switch would make us Corvette owners much happier. Something to get rid of the parasitic drains that (shouldn't be) doing this anyway.

Figure it out and do it.

 

Are your door locks set to "Passive" in the personalized DIC menu?

 

You waited to long.

 

With a main disconnect you would have to go through the same drill to open the door. Why not just put a Tender on it and forget about it?

 

There is a product called 'Priority Start' that will prevent the battery from getting so low that it won't start your car.

Check this out.

http://www.amazon.com/Corvette-Garag...5734465&sr=8-3

I got one of those but I also have the CTEK 3300 and I don't mind using it.

 

I am going through the same problem, yea i guess i will need to buy a trickle charger

 

Disconnect the battery is the same as a shut off switch. A maintainer is what most of us use. Schumacher 1562a is a good cheap one from WalMart for under $30.

 

I wouldn't leave my my Vette sitting for 3 or 4 days without a chrager on it,nevermind weeks.Your's should charge back up after sitting on the charger overnight.However,you may have fried your battery regardless if it's OEM.

 

I dont know why it is so hard for owners to just hook up the tender and forget it until you are ready to drive. I keep a tender on my car regardless of time of year even if I am driving it every day and have not had any of the battery and fob problems mentioned here so often. It only takes a minute or less to hook up the tender or unhook. No brainer. Just use the tender every day and poof, problems are gone.

 

ok, all these bettery issues so many seem to have, leaves me thinking that you have aded things to the electronics. Stereo or something... I have never had issues with my battery. I have an '06 that I got in Nov. '05, it's still the same battery, never went dead, even after sitting for 2 1/2 months. So forgive me for being sinicle. Either that or I got a Lemon and need to take it back and find out what the problem is.

BTW, no tender or charger has ever been hooked up to it.

 

I wouldn't go more than 2 weeks without putting or charger on it or taking it for a 30 minute drive..

 

Hey, thanks! I went down to mine after reading this and just saved it. Been 6 weeks since I started it. Put the charger on it to top it off. Kinda put it out of my mind since I ordered a new GS this past week but should know better. CF comes through again for me.

 

I think the temperature outside has something to do with the draining of the battery also
when its warm outside my battery can last more than 3 weeks, but when its below 30 i usually need to start the vert instantly

 

I may need to look into that

 

Nothing personal but CA is "not" considered a cold climate power stealing environment.

 

A battery tender is cheap insurance against having a dead battery...

 

I have one of these and it will save you what you went through. I really don't know why the most costly car in the Chevrolet line has these problems other than they aren't driven in (rain, chance of rain, might rain, chance of rain, rain two days out....etc....). I guess the other cars in the Chevy stable get driven more often or we aren't on their forums so we don't know what others experience? I have since moved from SW of Chicago to AZ and don't have most of the worries of the past when I had to put the car up for a few months waiting for the weather to change. YUCK as I'm looking at the weather today in Chicago it's horrible. I was out today in a t-shirt trimming trees and had a nice little fire going to burn the branches.

 

Because when one spends this much on a car, one shouldn't have to??

Also, never presume that all Corvette owners have a garage. They may not have a way to plug in a tender.

And please, before someone jumps in to make some of those "if you can't afford a garage, you can't afford a Vette" statements, I have heard it before but I can say first hand that statements like that are not true.

I do now have a garage and I do "tender" my Vette but when I lived in Vancouver 3 years back a garage was a non starter. My little 700 SqFt condo sold for almost $500,000!!! No power plug in that stall for a Vette. Houses START at $850,000 and $1,000,000 & up are commonplace. No, not some swanky area either.

There were many, many people there that will never own a house & garage but can easily afford a Vette!

So they should all store their Vette's elsewhere with a tender on it, and call before a weekend cruise? What if you take a flight out of town leaving vette at airport? Dead on return?


I call

I have owned many cars and the Vette is the one and only vehicle that "needs" to be plugged in to ensure a startup.
Sorry, no one can convince me that this is normal and acceptable. Yes, a Priority Start device will solve it but if that is the only fix then it should be installed at the factory.

We own several vehicles from different companies. GM, Ford, BMW, & Mazda. We can leave ANY of our other vehicles out in below freezing temps for at least 6 or 7 weeks and be assured they will start right up. Even my motorcycle, which pulls a tiny draw for the alarm system 24/7 and has a puny little battery, can sit for 2 to 3 months in below freezing temps in my unheated shed yet fire right up. My friends vette sometimes has a dead batt after 2 weeks in a heated garage. (he now uses a tender).

It's sad but true, but if I ever move back I will have to sell the Vette as I would not be willing to spend almost a million dollars to get a house with a garage just so this car can be "suckling" at a tender when not driven. I love the car, don't get me wrong, but this can, and should be fixed by GM.

B

 

I read here on the forum somewhere that if it sits more than 2 weeks the battery will go dead. Less in colder temps. 3-4 weeks = dead!

 

What year is it? Some of the 06 and 07 Cars left the factory with software that didn't make the best use of the battery...In other words,
had software in the ECM that caused battery drains in some circumstances.

When I tune cars for anyone (especially 06 & 07 Vettes) I ALWAYS upgrade everyone (for FREE) to the latest GM operating systems
to cure those problems and what ever else might need to be updated.

Call me if you need me.
Chuck CoW