[Uncle]

2023 Chevy Camaro 1SS with 1LE: 2700 miles on it

I only ran my Camaro once every ten days to 2-weeks this winter (keeping it in a garage only)... The car has never been operated in snow.

The last couple times (within the last month or so) I ran it starting was sluggish, and it took the second try to fire it up.

Today I went to start it and it started to cycle then nothing. I got the warning low battery notification, a few more minutes went by, tried to start it and got nothing, worse and worse, then not even one cycle. Now I can't even get in to the vehicle with the key fob, and have to use the emergency key.

1)Will the alarm go off if I go in to the vehicle using the emergency key and

2) Is it reasonable to believe that my battery drained faster this winter because I got two new after market amps (to power new speakers and new sub) installed last summer? Hence, the reason I have a dead battery now?...

Any help / advising is greatly appreciated!

[mlee]

My 24 went completely dead with only 250 miles on it and with a battery tender attached while not driving it. Then my mothers 2025 Acadia did the same and she was daily driving. Seems GM has some really crappy batteries going in or they've been hit hard during the MI winter season sitting on the shelves.

[Deacon Blues]

Not that this helps your current situation, but you might consider taking the battery out during winter storage, or if keeping in the car, on a tender, putting the car in transport mode to reduce draw as much as possible.


Can you take the battery out and put it on a trickle charger to see if it comes back?

[ctrlz]

Originally Posted by Uncle

2) Is it reasonable to believe that my battery drained faster this winter because I got two new after market amps (to power new speakers and new sub) installed last summer? Hence, the reason I have a dead battery now?...

You probably need to find someone who will answer this question. You need to know the parasitic drain.
If the aftermarket amps are draining your battery, and I suspect this is quite possible, it could lead to denied warranty coverage.
If you did not have the amps, I would say run to the dealer and try to get a new battery. At this point I would hesitate, because if they find it's the amps, they would most likely use it as a reason to not cover any electrical issue you might have in your last year of factory warranty.
While recharging the battery now, and using a maintainer in the future might help, you really need to know if the amps are always on, which would be bad!

[bishopts]

Batteries are crap. From the dealer, from parts stores, from in battery refurbishers. You can have 2 Batteries built next to each other and one could last 3 years and the other 4 months.
Remove the battery, charge it, test it, replace it if needed. No one in a forum is going to have the right answer if you're specific battery is just crappy or your car is killing Batteries unless you do all the work to present data on aspects of electrical for your car.

[ember1205]

The factory batteries can be very hit or miss. My '20 had all sorts of weird issues for the first year and it finally got traced back to a failed battery that they replaced when the car was about 13-14 months old.

Some thoughts / suggestions:

First, I would stop 'running' the car periodically. It's actually bad for the car to be started and NOT have everything brought up to operating temperature repeatedly. You can end up with a fair amount of moisture that builds up the exhaust or similar and can corrode it prematurely. You are also introducing wear every time you start the engine and that wear may be a touch more if it's been sitting a while and the oil has drained back a bit away from the moving parts. Minimize the number of times you do this to reduce the amount of wear you put on the engine from starting it. My car gets shut off in October and doesn't get touched until sometime in late April once the weather has finally warmed up enough to be able to drive it at least every couple of weekends.

Second, either pull the battery out and put it on a tender someplace or at least connect a tender while it's sitting. Since having my battery replaced in the early summer of '21, I've kept it on a tender at all times when I'm not driving it and it cranks strong every time no matter how long it has been sitting.

Third, once you get back out on the roads, take the car to the dealer to have the battery load tested. And ask them if they do a second load test on it if the first one passes. Sometimes the issues don't show the first time around but a second load test on it may show faults.

[knighti2]

Unless your amps were installed incorrectly or you run them when the car is in accessory mode for long periods they should not be your problem.

Most new car amps are class D and have high efficiency on power usage. If they were older or very high end class A/B amps they may have high enough drain that could be sapping your battery some if the alternator is not up to snuff for their demands.

[Dynamical]

Batteries don't get charged very well just starting the car and letting it run. Some cars don't even charge very well at the voltage we THINK they should be charging. I learned this with my DD that is a Honda which has a dual mode charging system. I believe our Camaros have their own type of charging system which works in that way also.
Not only is it a bad idea to try to charge your battery by starting the car every once in a while, what ember1205 said is correct. You'll end up with a lot of moisture in everything. Why do you think it's recommended to change your oil sooner if you do a lot of cold starts and short trips especially in winter? It's because the whole vehicle can't get up to operating temp to burn off all the moisture in the system. It's also not good enough to just bring it up to normal temp, you have to actually drive it, get it nice and hot.
My Camaro on average gets driven once a wk during the nice weather and when it's sitting I disconnect the battery after every drive.
When it's winter and the car will not be driven for a few months, the battery comes out of the car and gets the maintenance charger hooked up.
I say once you've determined the battery is dead, start off fresh with a new battery and do what everyone else is suggesting

[p47dman]

do you have a volt ohm meter? Remove negative cable, install meter between post and cable with key off. if you get a reading you are having a battery draw. You can disable an amp and recheck. If no reading now, you just found the draw.

[bishopts]

Originally Posted by p47dman

do you have a volt ohm meter? Remove negative cable, install meter between post and cable with key off. if you get a reading you are having a battery draw. You can disable an amp and recheck. If no reading now, you just found the draw.

You have to wait for the modules to go to sleep, their will always be "A reading" on modern cars. Something is always awake partially so that it can maintain memory and be ready to receive the wake up command from the key.

[ctrlz]

Uncle,
To get yourself out of the current jam, I would suggest just springing for a smart charger, unless you already own one. A good charger doubles as a maintainer. The opposite is not true.
Once you get on the road again you can go to a parts store for a load test and start figuring out if you have a bad battery or the new amps are draining it flat.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CD...b-cc0df07b7e79

[DamonZ28]

Or if you're on a lower budget, I've been using these:

Amazon $18
https://a.co/d/8wITUVy

Harbor Freight $40 (was using this one until I drove off with the charger still attached in the trunk)
https://www.harborfreight.com/4-amp-...ner-63350.html

I get some Amazon product for free in exchange for reviews. Even the cheap $20 chargers/maintainers seem to work just fine.

[2018 Blue 1LE]

I got this one and so far so good.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9MGVBL6...d_asin_title_3




I have this one on my tractor and the wife's summer car.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LX3AXQ..._asin_title_22

[p47dman]

Originally Posted by bishopts

You have to wait for the modules to go to sleep, their will always be "A reading" on modern cars. Something is always awake partially so that it can maintain memory and be ready to receive the wake up command from the key.

Yes, but a reading of 2 amps would be way to much. And a 60 amp hour battery would be dead in 30 hours.