Hey all.

I want to run something by all the battery/electronic gurus out there.

Since I bought my 2019 Stingray new, I have always used a Battery Tender to keep the charge up between drives. The car was built in May 2019 so as of now is 50 months old. Of course that assumes the battery didn't sit on a shelf for any length of time before being placed in the car.

What I noticed was that after driving the battery charge would be around 12.8v according to the touring gauge setting. After plugging into the tender, the blinking green charge light on the tender would come on within a couple of minutes, indicating an 80-100% charge.

I noticed that recently when I plug it in, that even though the gauge still shows 12.8v, the blinking green doesn't come on until about 4-5 hours later.

Here is my question: do you think that the Battery Tender could be indicating that my battery is on its downward life cycle? I think it may be giving me a heads up that with the start of hot weather the battery isn't in peak condition.

Just as a note, I am due for an oil change and I plan on having the battery replaced at the same time. Since I live in an environment of very hot summers, I feel it is the best insurance against suffering a failing battery.

If what I suspect is true, then having a Battery Tender could prevent a lot of people from the doldrums of check engine lights, accessory hiccups, etc.

 

Your battery is dying.

I do not hoo up the battery charger after a drive. If I am not going to drive it for a few days then I will hook it up. My weather is the antithesis of yours. We have 9 months of winter and 3 months of bad sledding! From April to November I drive the Corvette as much as I can, rain or shine.

 

Replace your battery. I just replaced the battery in my 2019 built August 2019. Seat memory was getting flaky. Also, it took a while for charging voltage to drop back to 13V when driving. Now it drops to 13 V within a few minutes.

Ron

 

Heat is the number one killer of batteries. Yours has been mortally wounded.

 

 

holy overkill, batman.

exactly how much time is "between drives" that you require a trickle charger?

 

It does sound like it may be time for a battery replacement. Better to be safe than sorry and stranded somewhere.

And nothing wrong with keeping the car hooked to a battery maintainer between drives - I have done it for many years and my batteries have performed very well over that time.

 

I live in a hot climate too. A four year old battery is really pushing it in this climate.

 

Thanks for all the feedback. I think it's great the Battery Tender can be used to indicate a looming problem.

I had on my calendar to replace the battery at exactly 4 years after buying the car. here it is 2 months past that and I need one.

 

I agree - changing the battery now is the prudent move.

Your other option would be to head to a place like Advance Auto or AutoZone where they have free battery testing, and have them test the battery. While no tester is 100% accurate the testers that most of these places have are quite good, and IMHO do give you a very decent picture of what condition your battery is in.

 

It may be your battery... or not. Longevity varies tremendously on what should be identical batteries (e.g., my '18 built in July '17 is still perfectly fine). I'd check the battery voltage after it sets between drives before starting (no maintainer attached) a few times and see if it reads consistently over 12-volts. You can do so at the maintainer plug-in socket. If falling to 12-v or below swap it out, cannot hurt... unless you get a bad new one; and, yes that does happen. If your current (no pun intended) battery is keeping a consistent voltage when not driven I doubt it's going to leave you beside the road anytime soon.

 

I have a slightly different battery issue. I installed a new ACDelco battery 6 months ago. No issues but every time I get in the car the battery reads 14.9 and it takes as much as 40 miles on the highway in 6 th gear or more than45 minutes for it to drop below 14 and then quickly down to 12.8. Next morning, it starts all over again.

I had service dealer check the charging system and everything checked out OK But I don't recall it taking so long to charge with the previous battery. Car starts right up every time, So I'm not too concerned but it just seems different.

 

Buleray,

I would have the battery checked if it takes that long to charge. I have seen that with old/ weak batteries in a couple cars.
You could have gotten a bad / weak battery off the shelf. I always have them tested before I will accept. I've seen batteries fail a test at the parts store.

Ron

 

If you can take the battery out, why not test it several times? Have them fully charge it to 100%, test it. See what the percentage it. Wait a few hours. I have seen batteries test decent after charging and a few hours later, drop by say 30%.

 

My battery turned 8 years old in April. It has gone so dead I couldn’t get in car twice. Once in 2018 and again in 2022. Both times it was because I didn’t drive it for about a month for one reason or another. When it is dead, the trickle charger will not charge it. Both times I put it on the bench and charged it with a 10 amp charger. Then took it and had it tested. Both times it tested fine and I put it back in the car. Still going strong. Will replace when it dies.

 

I live in Central Texas, will be over 100f today and has been on and off for the last month. My 2015 has the original battery built in November 2014, battery still going strong will be 9 years old in November. I will replace it when it gives me indications of going bad not before. My car has 12,500 miles on it therefore some long sit times between drives. P.S. My car is a convertible so the battery probably gets more of a workout vs a coupe because of top operation every time I drive.

 

Flooded cell lead acid batteries are happiest when each cell is maintained at ~ 2.15 to 2.25 volts which a maintainer does. This results in ~ 13.2 volts across the battery.
All long term storage back up batteries are on maintainers set up as above. This gives the longest life and always makes sure the battery is fully charged when needed.