I went away on vacation for a month and my battery is now dead on my 07 2LT that was parked the whole time. It was fine before and I'm not thinking it needs replacing, but I was wondering if I call AAA and get a jump start, how long will I have to drive it around to fully charge the battery again? Does anyone know for sure? Or is there a better way to do it? And just to be safe, should I go someplace and have the battery checked before or after it is fully charged again?

Thanks!

 

Haha. I just found this online after I made the above post:

To charge your car battery while driving, you must be running the RPMs at or above 1000. If the battery is completely drained, it takes approximately 30 minutes to provide a sufficient charge to restart the car when turned off. An hour of driving with a good alternator and lights, air, and radio off fully recharges your battery.
Source:
edmunds

 

Yet another piece of advice I just found:

You should never drive a car around for long after jump starting a dead battery. This puts an enormous strain on the alternator. Alternators are designed to keep a good battery charged, not to charge a dead battery. You can easily burn out a diode in the alternator. Jump start the engine and drive it somewhere and connect a battery charger to the battery and charge it fully.

 

Now that is one I have never heard before.

I would not worry about that at all - "generally" the alternator and the related electrical sysem/controls are well engineered, and are more than up to the task of recharging the battery. I've done it many times, and various cars and motorcycles, and so have many others, so I wouldn't worry about it at all.

If, and I repeat, IF, an alternator fails in that situation, I would say that the alternator was on it's way out anyways.

I wouldn't give it a second thought.

With that said, my preference would still be to charge the battery with a good battery charger, if one is available, but only as a double-check to ensure it is fully charged. But if there was no charger available, I would not sweat it at all.

Looks like you got that from Wiki answers? That would not be the place I would depend on for accurate advice at all.

 

I just enjoyed thoroughly watching you have a conversation with yerself !

What about a trickle charger or one of those "jumper" units ?

 

Ohh yea you can take the Battery to most autoparts stores and they will check it for free ...and as stated above if the cells test good then its time for a shiny new alternator ...after you check /Tighten connections in the system and make sure the belt is tight ...

 

The battery needs charging by the charger.
Automotive generator never charges the battery completely. You'll have to drive a car from San Diego to New York. In normal city driving character this will not work. Chances are that you will again find yourself in front of a dead battery.
Buy a battery charger. It is useful to you now and in the future. The charger is not expensive. And you can help neighbors to charge their batteries.
Do not worry about checking the battery level. Most chargers are equipped with a special device charge level. That's not all. Modern batteries also have a charging indicator. If on your battery has a small clear lens - this indicator. Battery fully charged it glows green (like a traffic light). But that's not all. On-board computer measures the HHR battery level. This can be seen when reading the parameters through the staff plug.

 

I had found myself in almost the exact situation........left my 06 HHR sitting for 2 weeks while out of town, came back the battery was dead. I had to jump start it at least once a day for several days, even after driving over an hour on the highway. The battery just would not hold any charge if left sitting overnight. Took it to the dealer to get new battery, and much to my surprise, no charge cause it was covered under the original warranty.

 

the alternator does not charge the battery is maintains the battery at the level of charge when the car is started at .Best thing to do is to charge the battery
Also if you have ever replaced an alternator there is a tsb that comes with the alternator that states that the battery need to be fully charged or the alternator could over heat and fry the alternator and battery.

 

not dealers, but simply the angels in your Miami! Aliluyya!