Why do some folks recommend adding the 'priority start' unit or other comparible units. I thought the vette came with an automatic battery saver feature.

 

It's the "random battery killer" feature that has some of us buying the Priority Start. This feature affects a decent percentage of C6's that have been confirmed to be parked properly in reverse. Until GM identifies the cause and offers a fix, the Priority Start is about the only option.

Mike

 

I'm assuming you have one? If so any help you can provide: 1) Model 2) installation 3) after affects?

Thanks

 

Yes. I got the regular model (not the pro model). Installation took maybe 20 minutes. I could have done it in 5 minutes but I wanted to make sure I picked the best location on the battery to reduce the possibility of shorts if an accident or some other event should knock it out of place. The only after effect for me is that if I let the car sit more than about 3 weeks, the PriorityStart will disengage the battery and I'll have to get in through the trunk. No big deal but it can be a bit of a pain. My only recommendation is to also get a Battery Tender if your car sits longer than 2 weeks at a time. Both the Priority Start and a Battery Tender together is the best of both worlds.

Now, if you have frequent dead batteries anyway, on the times you'd normally have a dead battery, you'll still walk out to a dead car. You'll have to get in through the trunk and press in the cigarette lighter and voila... power is back. You may have a dead car in both cases, but with Priority Start, press one button and you're off and running and you haven't killed your battery. If nothing else, it will ensure that you never get stranded due to a dead battery unless the battery itself blows up, gets shot, or meets with some other unnatural disaster.

Mike

 

Mike - I'm going to install mine soon. Can you tell me if it is OK to charge the battery with the PS connected? I understand that jump starting will kill it.
Thanks!
J

 

thanks for the response

 

What is a priority start?

 

It's my understanding that the 'priority start' unit is an aftermarket add-on that is connected to you battery. It monitors the battery charge and if the battery gets low it will disconnect the battery to prevent it from getting so low that the car won't start. When it disconnects the battery you would need to gain entry into the car via the trunk key the press your cigarette lighter to reconnect the battery automatically, then you're off and running. It is similiar in function to what is 'supposed' to already be built into the car, but for some reason and under certain circumstances it appears the car doesn't 'shut down' so therefore the built in drain detector won't activate.

it may be possible that at certain times something causes interferance with the rfid tags which in turn keeps the car active. at least that is my recent conclusion to the dreaded dbs syndrom based upon information gleened from the forum. I would recommend not leaving your cell phone in the car, there are rumors that some cells phone can cause interferance and cause weird things to happen with the car. granted it won't happen everytime, only when the stars align just right and the moon is in full cresent with the sun, blah blah blah. I suspect it's a result of two conflicting signals being received at the same time. For example; if the cell phone received a call at the same time the fob was communicating with the car, that may cause an issue. this is all speculation and has not been proven but imo is the most likely cause for the car not shutting down which in turn causes dbs.

 

I've connected a 6 amp charger to mine with the PS connected. No problem. To be honest, I don't see how a jump start would hurt it either. I don't see anything in the manual about it. As long as you connect to the battery terminals and don't accidentally connect the negative to the PS terminal, there shouldn't be a problem.

Mike

 

Thanks for the detailed response, Zig.

I don't even have my C6 yet, and am already paranoid about DBS. I apologize if this has already been covered on the Forum, but I haven't seen it in the posts I have read so far: One of the newsgroups mentioned the possibility of leaving a fob too close to car after shutdown, and that being at least one possible cause of DBS. Since my garage is right next to my kitchen where I will most likely leave my wallet/keys/fob/evil car-influencing cellphone and charger, I wonder if I am going to need to change that process just to be sure the RFID doesn't keep the car from shutting it's sleepy l'il eyes, even with gearshift in reverse. I have to wonder why someone at factory/proving grounds/test lab for GM hasn't done various scenarios and debugged/solved this yet, or at least provided a work-around, even if it is with a 'radical' brute force solution, such as new firmware so that when you put car in FIRST gear and turn off, the thing does an absolute put to sleep, without checking any other sensor, feature, factor, keyfob, software, etc -- sort of GOTO statement for the car <chuckle>

I further wonder if people with newer VIN still see this, or is it possible that the factory slipped in a midyear fix? (he says hopefully, since mine apparently will be one of the last '05s off the line)...

Well, I've spouted off enough for now, I hope maybe this is some sort of food for thought for someone....