[Mark114]

Originally Posted by Glen e

An AGM battery that is completely flat does not like to be resurrected with any charger. Another fresh battery needs to be connected -positive to positive negative to negative -and let the two batteries equalize. A fully charged rescue battery and a dead battery should equal izesomewhere in the 11s. Then your charger will work to bring it back up to full charge.

Interesting tip Glen!

Originally Posted by contax

Here is what is posted on Amazon regarding the AC Delco replacement battery, " Battery is vented to outside of vehicle, AGM Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) is required"

I think that all of these AGM batteries are all VRLA. The 'vented to outside of vehicle' raises questions. Is there a pre-existing and standardized hose that is already present in the car and this is just a matter of hooking the vent to the hose, or is there something else going on here?

Here are pictures of the OEM battery in my 2016 2SS convertible. There seems to be a vent tube coming out of the side of the battery near the negative terminal.

[wwiiavfan]

Swapping the battery might take 15 minutes, if you stop and have a beer in the middle of the process.
In all seriousness, at least disconnecting the battery is something every owner should know how to do, so you can reset gremlins that pop up, like when you wind up in limp mode.
From there it’s no big shake to remove another couple fasteners and pull the battery.
Be confident, you can do it.

[RWT]

Originally Posted by Mark114

Here are pictures of the OEM battery in my 2016 2SS convertible. There seems to be a vent tube coming out of the corner of the battery near the negative terminal.

You are correct.

The vent exits out the side between the negative terminal and the hold down bracket. ***It's important to note this because at least one battery manufacturer actually has the vent hole in the battery positioned where it exits under our bracket*** Therefore, the bracket doesn't fit without modification (bending).


Make sure the vent hole is in the same location as the OEM battery.


Note the hole here is farther from the Neg terminal and would fall under the bracket:

[redcoats1976]

a lot easier than in my old pontiac solstice,had to remove the front fender(which was the size of a large dinner napkin)to get to it.

[contax]

OK... I ordered the AC Delco and will charge it and try to equalize the voltages and try to charge again. Will have to replace the old battery anyway given that I doubt that I can trust the old. Is there a radio code that needs to be entered? I don't see anything about this in the manual. Thanks for the encouragement.

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by contax

OK... I ordered the AC Delco and will charge it and try to equalize the voltages and try to charge again. Will have to replace the old battery anyway given that I doubt that I can trust the old. Is there a radio code that needs to be entered? I don't see anything about this in the manual. Thanks for the encouragement.

I don't know that we have Theftlock radios in these cars. If the radio / infotainment won't work after you swap the battery, pull the radio fuse in the rear fuse panel for a couple of minutes then re-install. That has fixed the issue on the Gen5 cars...

[GroundhogSS]

The batteries usually come with a plug in the vent.


When putting a new battery in a convertible, be careful that you don't hit a plug in a top position sensor that is behind the battery. The top won't go up or down and you can't open the trunk without the manual release. Ask me how I know.

[Fraxum]

Originally Posted by Yessa

Buy a Home with a 3-Car Garage. Use Battery Tender. Simple.

That does not sound to me like a cost effective solution. But do you think my wife will buy it?

[contax]

I ordered the direct replacement AC Delco and it is dead. I have two AGM chargers, including a new Optima Digital 1200 and Delran Battery Tender. Dead means, neither AGM charger reported that it was a viable battery and the Optimum reported low voltage.. so dead. Luckily, I didn't put it in the car prior to finding out that the battery wasn't up to the task.



Optima just came out with their replacement yellow top battery and the vent appears to be properly placed, so I ordered from Optima. I think that I learned my lesson and will use a battery tender during the winter sleep.

[Rock-It Man]

I have no idea what you mean about "tear the trunk apart".

You can get the battery replaced by a mobile service like AAA, and getting to it will not be a challenge for them.

In the future, if you have a garage, you can connect to a battery tender using the terminals in the engine compartment. These are described in the owners manual..

If your car sits for extended periods of time and has low mileage, using a battery tender should be the norm.

[17rsvert]

Originally Posted by contax

I ordered the direct replacement AC Delco and it is dead. I have two AGM chargers, including a new Optima Digital 1200 and Delran Battery Tender. Dead means, neither AGM charger reported that it was a viable battery and the Optimum reported low voltage.. so dead. Luckily, I didn't put it in the car prior to finding out that the battery wasn't up to the task.



Optima just came out with their replacement yellow top battery and the vent appears to be properly placed, so I ordered from Optima. I think that I learned my lesson and will use a battery tender during the winter sleep.

Sometimes the smart chargers are too smart for their own good. My battery ran down to 4 volts at one point, I thought it was DEAD. Hooked my Schumacher smart charger up to it and it quit the charge cycle after about 10 minutes and showed 'bAd' on the display. Problem is, if the smart charger does not detect a high enough voltage in a certain amount of time it assumes the battery is not accepting the charge because it's shot, which may not be the case.

My battery was reading 9 volts after that first aborted charge attempt, so I knew it was accepting some charge, I figured what the hell, I may as well hook it up for a few more tries and see what happens. After each aborted try, the voltage was a little higher.

After the 4th or 5th failed attempt, the charger continued the cycle, and fully charged the battery. I used the car with no problem for the next few days, but checked the voltage before I started it each time. The readings were around 11.9 to 12.2 volts; not indicative of a fully charged healthy battery, but good enough to start and use the car.

At that point, I left the charger on for 3 days straight and it was feeding it about 13.5 volts. After that soak charge, checking it before I started it for the next week or so it read 12.5 to 12.7 volts each time. Battery saved! That was almost 2 years ago, no problems since.