Battery Tender won't work on my C7
 

I'm trying to put my new C7 Grandsport on a battery tender for winter storage and it won't take a charge. Charger just flashes red indicating no charge. My car is new, never had a dead battery, or any battery issues. The charger is a Delran, used it on my other Vettes (including my C6) with no problems and was checked out and is functioning properly. I plug the unit into my car's cigarette lighter outlet, fuse is good in male outlet. Spoke to the dealer and they're at a loss as to why the car won't mate with the charger.

Please help, I know how quickly the batteries go dead in these cars, and I don't feel like driving in the ice and snow just to keep the battery charged.

Did you plug the chger into the hole for the chger back at the batt. If it is not working in that hole then it has to be one of the wire pins going into the plug to the inlet for it to go to the batt.

If that don't make sense to you then it is some part of that plug wiring from that plug in to the place that it goes to chg the batt. That is all it can be.. That is the same thing that happen to my car on the OB2 plug at my dash. It would not read nothing are let me do a update on a hand tuner like the T-1000.

One of the little pins that goes into one of the plugs was loose in it. It took me taking my car to 3 diff dealers to get mine fixed. But if it will not work from the plug in take it to the dealer for a dealer call for that plug.:thumbs: Robert

Battery tender
 

Ok, so it works now if I plug it into the female outlet in the trunk, the only problem is, you have to leave the hatchback partially open to run the power cord through. Winter time means rodents that are coming in looking for a warm retreat, getting into the car and making a meal out of the leather seats and wiring harnesses. You would think the engineers would have thought this out a bit more thoroughly, a lot of Corvettes go into storage for the winter months, a more convenient provision should have been made to keep these cars charged up while sitting idle. Something like an exterior power connect would be a great idea.

Run the wire out of the trunk and close the hatch.

The front cig lighter is only supplied voltage when the car is running or in accessory, unlike the C6. What I did is bought one of those prewired Detran extension cables and female cig and mounted it on the driver's B pillar, so it is easy to plug in and you cannot forget to unplug it and drive away with the cord still attached.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...f5c7a1860a.jpg

Here's another option if you don't want to close the hatch on the cord (People say it won't hurt to do that but I just don't want the cord in the seal.)

http://www.ls2.com/forums/showthread...ery-topped-off

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ry-tender.html


Elmer

:thumbs: The book will tell you ok to do this.:thumbs:

I used the Pos stud on the alternator to connect my Battery Tender. Just pull back the black rubber cover over the stud, and then use the alternator body for the neg charger clamp connection.

You can not use the front cigarette lighter plug... it will not work. I made that mistake. Dead battery!

Great idea!
 

Very clever, I like this idea.

I have a 2017 and I use the rear cigarette plug above the battery, I close the hatch every time on the cable. I don't see any type indentation in the rear hatch seal at all. I see no issues doing it this way. By the way the corvette charger works great. With in a few min. the charger goes green. As soon as you open the rear hatch it blinks to charging.

Good luck !

I have been closing my rear hatch on the tender cable for years in all of my Vettes. Never once, not ever has there ever, ever, ever been an issue with the seal, the wire or anything else. Both my Vettes are presently using this procedure, as are many thousands of Vettes throughout the land. So to repeat, you are hereby authorized to close the hatch on the small cord with no issues, problems or other nefarious malfunctions.

If you want to get really fancy, you can wrap the cord with a microfiber towel at the section that it contacts the paint, or just lay it underneath with the cord holding it in place.

And I would never talk to, bring my car to or otherwise interact with that dealer ever again, who doesn't even know where to plug a battery tender into on the Vette they sold you.

Exactly. You don't have to close the hatch 100%. Just enough for the first click but not 100% flush closed. It's exactly what the manual says to do. Keeping the window rolled down is nuts. All kinds of dust or a damn mouse could get in the car.

Here are the engine compartment charger hook-up points I use, on the alternator (passenger side).

I just rest the hatch lid on the seal without any clicks. The interior lights will stay on for a few minutes since it senses the lid is still open, then the car goes to sleep and all lights extinguish. OTOH you can't lock it, so if you don't have it in a secured garage like I do I would close it enough for the car to lock and the alarm to activate.

As for the OP's Deltran Battery Tender issues, you should check the fuse going to the charger plug (car side) which I think is in the fuse assembly in the trunk. If that's okay check the fuse in the lighter adapter in the Tender cable. It's easy to replace once you figure out how, but the small glass fuse is an odd size and not commonly available. I got mine at Radio Shack (#2701054, 5x20mm GMA).

There is a intermediary click when you close it and when it is flush. I will shoot a video when I get back from being out of town.

At any rate. The OP understands his issue now that the car needs to be charged in the rear.

ttt
 

Guy if you use the wire that goes to the plug and not the black cord that you have to plus into the elec outlet. You can close the lid hatch and the wire you can pull on and it is still loose and is not being cut in any way. Robert

This!:yesnod::smash:

It's perfectly fine to close the rear hatch on the charging cord, as long as you don't slam it down on it. You won't hurt the weather stripping, besides there is a deep enough well outside the weather stripping that water can't get in.:thumbs:

when i lower my rear hatch on my 2017 z06 aprox 1/2'' from closed it automatically pulls the hatch down to close it, this is factory, are you saying the manual says to leave it open further so it don't catch at all on the charger wires. thank you mark