Looking for suggestions & recommendations. Here's the situation: We travel in our motorhome all summer to escape the Houston heat. Leave sometime in May and return in early November. I keep my 2014 C-7 convertible covered, in the garage, with the factory trunk battery charger plugged in and I close the trunk so the light is off. Got home last year and battery was completely dead. No problem lights indicated on the charger, still getting power, but the battery was completely dead. I bought a new battery and a new charger (same GM one) before we left this year, got home last week, and same story. Totally dead battery, so had to use the manual key to release the trunk, then the pull tab to open the door. What do you all use for storage up to 5 - 6 months? Does this charger have enough guts to handle this, or is it intended primarily for just a few weeks or maybe a month of storage? I always used the Batter Tender Plus from Deltran on my motorcycles in years past and it worked great. Is it best to just remove the damn battery when we leave and let it sit inside the house? Not the end of the world, but I want to avoid the hassle next year. I look forward to my first drive as soon as I get back home and it's frustrating to have to deal with a totally dead car. I'm ready to order the Battery Tender from Amazon and would really appreciate comments from the experts on this forum. Thanks in advance!

 

I use the CTEK & never have a problem after 4 to 5 months of winter storage. Just bought another one from Walmart for $95 free shipping but can find them online at Amazon.

 

Sorry about your issue I have no idea what’s going on if you installed a new battery and charger before you left. Maybe something was loose or not securely connected before you left and wasn’t getting a proper charge. Was the little black wire connected? That seems to always trigger a problem if it isn’t secured. I’ve had my OEM battery charger connected every year for 5 years 5-6 months without starting it and never had an issue. Always fired up right away with no issues. Maybe someone else will chime in with more suggestions. Good luck

 

You have something going on as there is no way the battery should die while hooked up to the charger. I use a Ctek hooked up for 4-5 months and no problems with the battery when I bring it to life in the Spring.

 

Yep. Problem somewhere. I think that theoretically you should be able to leave it for years and it should fire right up.

 

I have used the Deltan Battery Tender on my 04 then my 17 GS when my car is in winter storage. No problems starting up in spring after 5 months of storage. Curious on your situation. Is there a fuse that’s connected to the plug in rear of Corvette ? I’m not familiar with wiring for plug too battery for charging or how it actually works. I was just wondering if there is a fuse and if there’s a blown fuse or broken wire . Charger would show charging but charge would not be making it to battery if that makes any sense.

 

Like many folks, I use the GM/CTEK charger and plug in any time the car will be parked for more than a week. And all winter.

The charger works fine except....
Several times each winter, I'll look at the indicator lights hanging on the wall and the green "charged" light will be simply off, or the orange "charging" light will be flashing.
Either one indicates that the plug is the trunk has come loose. I just lift the trunk lid and wiggle the plug in the socket, then all is well until it gets loose again. Anywhere from a day to a couple of months with no one touching the car.

The socket in the trunk is a real piece of junk, I'm not the only person to have this problem. Dealer replaced the charger under warranty but it's that cheapshit socket that causes the problem. I would not trust mine to stay connected for very long, stored in my garage I can see the indicator lights every time I go out there.

 

I would have a repair shop/dealer take a look and see if you have an open circuit somewhere that is putting a drain on the battery that is in excess of what the battery maintainer can handle. Also, check to make sure that the battery maintainer is actually working as designed.

 

I use the NOCO one since I have a few NOCO batteries and I don't want any griping if I need warranty about the lousy charger I had installed. I also want a tender that can do FLA, AGM and Lithium. That said, I don't know about CTEK but the NOCO one has a socket for insertion to the rear port of the car. It looks like THIS. You have trouble with the plug as pictured? Take off the red thing and life is good.

 

Disconnect the battery. Doesn’t take any longer than hooking up a charger.

 

First off like another poster suggested, just disconnect the battery if you are going to be gone that long. However I did cure the real problem with the trunk connector, by getting a new male connector for the charger, the new connector fits very tight into the trunk connector ant that cured the real problem.

 

Did your lights look like this when you got back? Been storing mine on a tender for 5 months for years and never an issue. Just make sure the issue isn't in the car or the new tender won't help. More than likely the male plug is not making a good connection. That or a parasitic drain that exceeds your charger capacity.

 

Thanks guys for all of the input. Now I have several things to check that I had not considered and you all have provided some good options. Thanks again for taking the time to respond and enjoy your Sunday -- go for a drive!!

 

Agree with most other recommendations. We've got CTEKs charging all of our vehicles all year-round, when not in use. I've had no problems with the chargers, including the (discontinued) US 3300 Corvette Model 1051 one I use on my '19 Z. There are, however, more powerful and versatile models than what GM included in the "Battery Protection Package." I use their MULTI US 7002 on my truck, a Ford-branded version of their MXS 5.0 on my GT500, and their MXS 5.0 on my wife's BMW. My son uses their MUS 4.3 POLAR for his truck and motorcycle. Note that, if buying a non-GM version from CTEK or one of their resellers, you'll need appropriate adapters for anything on which you don't want to use the included alligator clips. Their Comfort ConnectCig Plug version works with the Corvette, while the Indicator Eyelets work well on many other vehicles.

Agree with this, except that OPEN circuits do not drain batteries - SHORT circuits do (emphasis added).

 

Go back to what has always worked for you in the past. I use the Battery Tender Plus and it stays on while in storage over the winter. I have mine hard wired to the car with the main lead coming out from under the hood, right at the corner of the windshield on the passenger side. Easy hook up

 

Doing a lot of household electrical work I have a thought that might be causing your issue. The outlet you plug the charger into wouldn't be switched would it?? Meaning when you turn the garage lights off does it also shut off the outlet? Could happen I see a lot of crazy wiring.

 

How long have you had this car? Has it been stored like this before with no issues or was this the first time you tried storing it? If it has been stored for this long before I would suspect something has gone wrong with the charging circuit or maybe there is a short the GM CTEK Battery Maintainer (low current output) can't keep up with.

Bill

 

Does anyone besides myself still clean the battery cable connections when installing a new battery? Just asking since I've seen a couple instances lately with locals where that was the sole problem. All the best, in any event.

 

That defeats the entire purpose of using a battery maintainer/conditioner. And, if the OP has a parasitic drain somewhere, the problem is just hidden for another 6 months.

 

I scrub the posts and use dielectric grease