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Hi Corvette lovers, I got my vette back today and was told to find out if other Vette owners are using a trickle charger. GM says that's the answer to what's going on with my car. The battery is low charged because of sitting for long periods of time. The hesitant starts, key fob not working to open trunk, error messages on dash. If you have any advice it would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks ..Vette Love
My 14 would be stone cold dead after 3 weeks, required a new battery after about two years of that. New battery then on a trickle charger if it was sitting more than a couple of nights.
Get a new batt. is dependent on how many times it's completely run down. If more than a few times, then yes, get a new batt. or expect it to give you problems. Once a batt. is fully drained it loses a lot of its reconstructive ability.
As to trickle charger, no, Vette owners are not using one. What you DO need is a batt. maintainer which is different (you can find the definitions I'm sure).
There are many brands from those at Harbor Freight, to Battery Tender (Costco and online sites), Black and Decker, Schumacher (Walmart), CTEK online sites, etc. These can run from $15 to $80.
Usually it's a good idea that if you're not going to use your car for a few weeks, to plug it into a batt. maintainer which keeps the batt. charged and shuts off when not needed (alternating btw. off and on charge)
It's also a good idea if you feel like it to do it for periods shorter than a few weeks. Maybe it's a slight pain to do it, but the alternative is to have real issues or the potential for them to happen. Your choice as to what you want to do.
My car sits for around 3 weeks here in Jersey, and I never have any issues. Car starts right up. Bought the charger with the car and never took it out of the box. Car is 3 years old. When I do change the battery it will be a AGM...
My 2014 never sits more than 2 or 3 days so I have never used a trickle charger. I only have to be concerned about temperatures being too cold for the tires!
My factory battery was only a Delco Silver series battery which is a 30 month warranty.
I upgraded to Gold series, 42 month warranty battery...
You might want to consider getting a little better battery.
Tonia, a cool thing about the C7 is that it has a built-in trickle charger plug just above the battery area in the trunk/hatch. Makes plugging one in easy as pie. I have the classic C-tek model, does just fine.
Hi Corvette lovers, I got my vette back today and was told to find out if other Vette owners are using a trickle charger. GM says that's the answer to what's going on with my car. The battery is low charged because of sitting for long periods of time. The hesitant starts, key fob not working to open trunk, error messages on dash. If you have any advice it would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks ..Vette Love
Sounds like you should invest in a CTEK trickle charger that will plug into the charging port on the right rear wall of the cargo area. Typically, my main battery has lasted several times for more than 4 weeks with no issues. I have only used my Battery Saver Charger once in the two years I have owned the car so I could see how it worked.
In the cold weather, my 2014 with the original battery sits for 2 or 3 weeks at a time. Never had a problem starting it. The worst that ever happened, it was a little sluggish starting it one time. I put the CTEK charger on it, fully charged the battery and never had a problem.
OP, if your battery is unable to hold a charge for at least 2 weeks, it needs to be replaced.
It depends on how old the car (battery) is and how often it was run down to nothing, if you should replace it and/or just get the charger as mentioned above.
I'll say though that these cars are still "alive" even when parked, waiting for a key fob message, checking the systems, transmitting data, etc. For example: I last drove my car Saturday, but this morning I got an on-star email that one tire is low on air. I had a nail in it two weeks ago, and I know it was fine Saturday because I checked it then.
Hi Corvette lovers, I got my vette back today and was told to find out if other Vette owners are using a trickle charger. GM says that's the answer to what's going on with my car. The battery is low charged because of sitting for long periods of time. The hesitant starts, key fob not working to open trunk, error messages on dash. If you have any advice it would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks ..Vette Love
Tonia Rhodes-Pierce I would do what so many of the other forum members are suggesting... Get a new battery and maintain it to keep it in optimal condition from the start.
When I was ordering my corvette I thought the guy was trying to upsell me on a $100 item (GM's battery maintainer: ERI: Battery Protection Package, pictured below). I'm so glad I did it because for the first few months there is soooo much communication (even sitting in a garage) between the car and On Star that my battery would have taken a big hit. This may not be your situation (On Star) but the advice given by the other members is sound: get a new battery and maintain it to keep it in optimal condition from the start.
I'm sure there are a lot of battery chargers/maintainers on the after market but here is what I've been using and it has worked great.
Hi Corvette lovers, I got my vette back today and was told to find out if other Vette owners are using a trickle charger. GM says that's the answer to what's going on with my car. The battery is low charged because of sitting for long periods of time. The hesitant starts, key fob not working to open trunk, error messages on dash. If you have any advice it would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks ..Vette Love
Hmm, don't tell us how long it sits, when you drive is it long enough to fully charge the battery etc etc.
Yep if you drive only once a week and drive 5 miles to the store and back the battery will drain excessively! It takes more than my typical 50 mile drive to town to fully charge my battery after it has sat for 3 days!
Than said on my 2014 I went on vacation for several 2 1/2 week trips and the car started fine. Never used a charger accept when I first got the car.
If you provide some input perhaps we can give you a good answer but otherwise we are all guessing!
C7 issues
