Battery drains if left for 3 or 4 weeks

**Lorne** · 03-31-12, 12:12 PM

New battery but if I leave my 1999 corvette for a few weeks the battery drains. Looked for lights on etc but all seem o.k. Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks

**vett boy** · 03-31-12, 08:01 PM

Pretty much normal on C5 & C6 .I'd fully charge my battery step one and the second thing is to either disconnect the negative terminal if the car is going to be parked for more then four weeks as GM recommends .Less then 4 weeks get a decent battery tender .Some prefer to ignore GM's advice and use a tender all the time but I'm not going to get into that argument .

**froggy47** · 03-31-12, 08:47 PM

Yep, if you get 4 weeks that's pretty good. All sorts of elec draw going on even when parked.

Put a trickle chrg or a kill switch in.

**Toms01** · 03-31-12, 10:48 PM

I usually have a trickle charger on mine when it's "resting".

**killain** · 04-10-12, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by vett boy

Pretty much normal on C5 & C6 .I'd fully charge my battery step one and the second thing is to either disconnect the negative terminal if the car is going to be parked for more then four weeks as GM recommends .Less then 4 weeks get a decent battery tender .Some prefer to ignore GM's advice and use a tender all the time but I'm not going to get into that argument .

I'll chime in, I have a 03 and it has a optima Red Top in it. And I bought a float charger from Restoration Battery, I think it called battery-minder or something. But it is a float charger and it's a great one. If your battery charge drops below 11 Volts, it starts charging the battery til it is above 12.5, and it then goes into a float and a different mode where it cleans the batteries lead plate of the natural built-up of plaque. I have it and it's never fail me and plus side of a float charger is your only drawing electricity when it's in the charge mode. C-tex makes another great and inexpensive float charger. The one thing you never want to do, especially in a C5 is overheat the battery. It will leak if overcharged and acid will come out and right below the Battery is the wiring harness and the ECPM. Don't ever put a regular charger on your car, if it's going to be charged with a regular charger then take the battery out and place it on some cardboard or wood and charger till it has about 12.5 -13 volts. If I leave my car without any charger hooked up, my volt-meter climbs right up to 14.6 volts for the first ten minutes or so. Good luck !