Battery going dead

[Guana 1]

I have a 04 C5 and on several occasions when the car sat in the garage for 5

days not being used the battery went dead. I sent it to the dealership where

it was purchased and their reason being was because the Valentine was plugged in. They are saying that it is not allowing the computer to go to sleep which is drawing down the battery. Has anyone encountered such a problem?



Thanks

 

[KANE]

Dead cell. I have had that one on a vette. That will give you the appearance of everything being okay.. then two days later its dead. Electrical gremelins are the worst headaches and usually caused by the smallest parts!!!

As for a radar detector, I have never heard of the computer not entering a sleep mode due to a current draw. If that were true, then I would be surprised. However, I would remove anything that runs on DC power just to be safe. Sounds fishy, but I could be wrong. If you remove the radar detector and it starts up okay- then that was it. If not, the dealer is full of it!!!

 

[Guana 1]

The battery was replaced the first time it went down. I will unplug every thing when I put it in the garage tonight and see what it will do when I crank it Friday........

 

[DocAcumen]

Just thought I would throw out some thoughts on this.

Not on a Vette, but on my old Jeep, I had a simaler problem. If it set for more tha 24 hours the battery would go dead on me. I ran this by some friends and one said that it could be an issue with the rear defrost, which I have on said Jeep. Said that he had heard of just that same problem, and it was the defroster being on and not shutting off. I did not think that would be it, as I had not been useing it. He said that it was a switch problem he had heard of, that caused that?

In my case that was not it, but. something to think about. Although in my case it was a switch problem. I found it by pure luck by the way! LOL!

In this case it was the switch that turns the glove box light on and off. It had broken off its mount. So it stayed on all the time. Since the switch never depressed to turn it off, it burned all the time. If I started and ran the Jeep, in less than a 24 hour period, it kept the battery charged. If I did not, well, that little bulb would draw enough to run the batery down.

Just something to think about.

 

[fsp]

Just my 2 cents... I had a similar problem and tried many things, (recharging the battery, disconnecting radar detector, etc.). Nothing really worked. I even took the Delco battery in and had it load tested and it looked ok. However, I just had a gut feeling that the battery was the issue, so I bought an Optima yellow top. Low and behold, I have not had a problem since. I leave everything pluged in and the car stays parked for sometimes more than a month, with no trickle charge or anything like that. It has been over a year now with the yellow top and no problems to report.

 

[jcs712]

I think your dealer just does not want to address the issue. The radar detector should have nothing to do with it. The various systems on the Vette require some juice to mantain memory settings, etc. This is known as parasitic drain. All cars are suseptable to it. Your Vette should be able to sit for about 4 weeks and still start if the battery is good. I have heard GM is encoutering over a 90% failure rate with its AGM batteries. In any event, it sould be easy enough for the dealer to test if they cared enough to do so. What is the draw on the battery with and without the radar detector plugged in.

You could fight with the dealer to get you a new AGM battery which I might be inclined to do since your car is so new. On the other hand, you could just bite the bullet and by an Optima Red Top and be done with the whole mess. Good Luck.