Starting/Battery Issue?

[Offspring22]

So a few months back my 2014 sierra with 50k km wouldn't start one morning. Threw it on a tender all day, and it started fine after work. Next day wouldn't start again..... Took it to the dealership and after them saying everything tested fine after charging the battery, it wouldn't start for them. They threw in a new battery and on the way I went. All was fine until today.

 

We were out of town on vacation for a week where the truck sat for 7 days, and again it wouldn't start this morning. Threw it on a tender for an hr or so, and it hesitantly started up. Let it idle for 45 min or so, went for a quick drive and came home. Tested at 12.85 volts after the drive, 5 hrs later tested at 12.45 volts.

 

2 questions - any idea what a normal volt reading is while the truck isn't running?

 

Any idea why it wouldn't be starting after only 7 days of sitting? The only thing extra done to the truck is a dash camera which does record while parked, but would 7 days be enough to drain the battery? Even if it did, shouldn't it have run down protection to stop it from killing the battery beyond not being able to start?

 

Any other advice before I run back to the dealership?

 

Thanks!

[chuckl1218]

I don't think these trucks can stand much parasitic voltage drain than it already has from all of the internal systems. I had a Range AFM Delete plugged in for 5 days and it died. Tendered it after removing the device and all was fine for over a year when battery finally died. No, I don't think there is protection to avoid this in my experience.

I don't know the answer to your other question...

[muddkatt]

If I leave the radar detector on, it will kill the battery in under a week. Does not matter if its one of the trucks or the car, it just draws enough power to drain the battery in under 7 days. I am pretty sure the camera would do the same thing. Don't know about run down protection on your camera. Voltage on a good battery should be about 12.5 volts give or take a tenth.

 

As chuck mentions, the Range AFM will kill a battery in a few days if its left plugged in.

[MMC]

Run down protection turns off devices that are controlled by the bcm not something you wired up.

I would suggest using your battery tender before you have an issue not after.

[waumo1]

OP - What aftermarket electrical equipment do you have installed if any? Including cell phone chargers, radar detectors, anything plugged in to the OBDII port, etc. Start looking for the problem there. If not, next step would be to measure the parasitic drain. A good battery should not be dead after 7 days in a stock vehicle. 60-90 days maybe.

[Offspring22]

As mentioned, just the Dashcam, which sounds like is likely the culprit. I've since plugged it into the power outlet in the console which seems to only be powered when the vehicle is running/in acc mode. Started fine this morning, so I'll give it a go with that.

 

Thanks for the tips all.