I've been reading directives from GM .They recommend disconnecting the battery on all late model Corvettes (C5 &C6) .This pertains to winter storage.
Mine is in storage but we've discussed making a break for Mississippi before winter is over.
What is your question vett boy? My guess is that they are telling you to disconnect your battery if storing your car and not running it for a few months. Any late model car needs to have their battery disconnected not just the Corvette. The electronics are still pulling power from your battery whether you drive it or not unlike a 50's,60's or early 70's Corvette. I can leave the battery connected on my '67 and it will not make a difference. I choose to disconnect it only because I fear old wiring in a old car. Just your Electronic Radio along will draw enough in a couple of months to make your later model battery go dead. Once it goes dead in Freezing weather your battery will freeze inside as the electrolite turns from acid to water in a dead battery. Once this happens say good bye to your battery as the frozen water usually cracks the cells inside the battery.
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
I've been reading directives from GM .They recommend disconnecting the battery on all late model Corvettes (C5 &C6) .This pertains to winter storage.
Mine is in storage but we've discussed making a break for Mississippi before winter is over.
What is your question vett boy? My guess is that they are telling you to disconnect your battery if storing your car and not running it for a few months. Any late model car needs to have their battery disconnected not just the Corvette. The electronics are still pulling power from your battery whether you drive it or not unlike a 50's,60's or early 70's Corvette. I can leave the battery connected on my '67 and it will not make a difference. I choose to disconnect it only because I fear old wiring in a old car. Just your Electronic Radio along will draw enough in a couple of months to make your later model battery go dead. Once it goes dead in Freezing weather your battery will freeze inside as the electrolite turns from acid to water in a dead battery. Once this happens say good bye to your battery as the frozen water usually cracks the cells inside the battery.
What you've stated is basically what I read .My 08 sat just a little to long and the battery went dead .I disconnected the battery and put it on a charger until it was fully charged.I then hooked up a tender for a couple days but did not reconnect the battery.After a couple days I just disconnected the tender.I'll hook up the tender once a month or so for a couple days .Hell it's only 100 days till April 1st ,thats like a bad receivable.
What you've stated is basically what I read .My 08 sat just a little to long and the battery went dead .I disconnected the battery and put it on a charger until it was fully charged.I then hooked up a tender for a couple days but did not reconnect the battery.After a couple days I just disconnected the tender.I'll hook up the tender once a month or so for a couple days .Hell it's only 100 days till April 1st ,thats like a bad receivable.
As I mentioned if your dead battery froze no matter what you do it will not take a full charge. What I mean by frozen is if you are able to take the battery caps off and see the cells completely frozen when looking inside the battery. Now if it didn't freeze completely you still may be in good shape by just putting the charger on it until fully charged. A Battery Tender is only made to maintain the battery. It is good to use on a vehicle where the battery is not disconnected and Tender left plugged in. In your case being your battery is disconnected I would just connect a charger of at least 10 amps after a month or 2 of sitting to bring the battery back up. Hopefully you did a load test to make sure the battery is still good to go after charging it. I have a Milton Load Testor that is worth its weight in gold. Usually a full battery that is not connected in the car can hold a full charge for months on end. I have a few battery tenders but hardly use them. I have a wheeled charger in my barn and a couple of portable 10 amp type chargers that turn themselfs off when a battery is fully charged. The majority of the time I use one of the portable 10 amp chargers and leave them on all night when recharging a battery that didn't freeze.
Short Story. The battery in my Street Rod was purchased in the latter part of 2003. Two Winters ago I forgot to disconnect the battery in the S-Rod. In my case I forgot to loosen the battery disconnect. All of my collector cars have a battery disconnect mounted on the battery. Anyway I remembered that I disconnected all of my cars except the Street Rod and the battery was now dead and it was very cold outside below freezing. I took the battery out of the Rod and pulled the top caps off. Looking inside the battery 3 cells where completely frozen and 3 others still showed that they were wet. I then took the battery inside of the house and set it in our kitchen sink. It was almost 11 pm at night and my wife was asleep LOL. Anyway I filled the sink up with warm water with the battery sitting there. A couple of hours later I checked on it. All cells were now wet with no ice. Believe it or not I took the battery out of the sink and back out to the barn, set it down on a table and hooked a 10 amp charger to it and left it on all night out there in the cold. The next day the battery was good to go. I couldn't believe my eyes as I was about to go and pick up a new battery. Did a 10 second load test on the battery twice and it showed to be fully charged at the cranking amps stated on the battery. I still have that same battery sitting in my S-Rod til today although I am getting the feeling that it might need a change soon maybe in the spring since it will be 7 years old. Being it is mounted behind the right front wheel in the frame it is hard to get too especially on the road if it were to ever fail.
vette boy your 2008 I have to say should always have it's battery connected being it is a computer operated car. When not using it leave a Battery Tender on it if you don't intend on using it for a long time. When you disconnect the battery on the later cars everything resets in the computer once you replace the battery or reconnect it. Sometimes it may take a month or longer for everything to reset to factory settings. This means your omissions and what have you may not be up to snuff. Here in N.J. if you disconnect your battery your car will fail inspection if you are within the month of inspection as to when you reconnected your battery. I have seen this many times being in the Auto Parts Business. It happened on my wifes car as I was turned away and told to come back in a month driving around with a Failed Sticker on the Windshield. Luckily I also own another electronic tool that plugs into the computer that told me when the computer reset itself letting me know that we were good to go back to inspection. Actually the tool I own told me that all emission related tests passed even before I went back to inspection.
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
VettDriven does Sears carry the Battery Tender Brand or their own brand? Just curious why you recommend Vett Boy go to Sears? You know I don't even own a name brand Battery Tender. I purchased mine from Harbor Freight a few years back pretty cheap. I must own 3 or 4 of them. They seem to work fine. Never had a problem with them. I have a Polaris Sport Utility Quad in my barn that I usually use one of my Battery Tenders on during the winter. No problems, works well. They had a special at one time and I paid under 10 bucks apiece. I figured with all the vehicles that I own what the heck.
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
I actually have a Die Hard tender .Not because I'm a fan of Sear it was a case I was there and just picked it up.
Freezing isn't a problem ,electricity sometime is.The garage in Maine is heated to 45 degrees .But when I Store in Florida I have no access to power so disconnect is the only choice .Usually I go down twice a month but it might be as long as two months ,very unknown.I've really had no NOTICEABLE problems.
Actually when I finish my college courses the car and I we're talking about making a break for it.
-- Edited by vett boy on Saturday 26th of December 2009 07:36:45 AM
I actually have a Die Hard tender .Not because I'm a fan of Sear it was a case I was there and just picked it up.
Freezing isn't a problem ,electricity sometime is.The garage in Maine is heated to 45 degrees .But when I Store in Florida I have no access to power so disconnect is the only choice .Usually I go down twice a month but it might be as long as two months ,very unknown.I've really had no NOTICEABLE problems.
Actually when I finish my college courses the car and I we're talking about making a break for it.
-- Edited by vett boy on Saturday 26th of December 2009 07:36:45 AM
45 Degrees for sure isn't going to freeze anything but time will wear your battery down in any of the computer cars with electronic radio's and what have you. That is your main problem. This is were a battery tender is needed. Now in a case of not being around the car for 4-6 months myself I would just disconnect a fully charged battery. You should then be good to go when you are ready to connect the battery. It will still take up to a month or so as mentioned earlier for the computer to reset to factory settings quicker if you put on many miles right away. If the battery is weak to start the car a simple 10 amp charger on it for a little while will charge it back up to where it should be but I doubt most of the time you will even need it in your situation from what I read here. Good luck.
-- Edited by ffas23 on Sunday 27th of December 2009 12:42:01 AM
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
