2016 Chevy Tahoe with Battery Safer Active message??

[84wildcard]

I've worked on vehicles for a long time...usually battery and alternators are pretty straight forward. So a couple of weeks ago my wife sends me a photo of here dash with a "Battery Safer Active" message. I've looked it up and the battery or alternator are the top 2 suspects as I would have guessed. The battery was replaced back in Oct 24 so I've had everything checked and they say its good. I pulled the positive battery terminal while it was running. There was a slight hesitation, but the engine kept running. So it was driven another week without incident. A few days ago my wife sends me another picture of the guages. The battery guage was reading a bit low as it usually hovers around 14VDC. What she showed me was around 12. I told her to take it to Orielly's since thats where we got the battery. The guy told her that everything read good on the battery, but the alternator was around 12.5 VDC output so the next day I replaced the alternator. Drove it around for about a half hour and it held strong at 14. Three days later and the guage is back at 12 VDC. This would be easier to diagnose if she was here, but she drove it 3 hours away and concerned about it's reliability.

Has anyone else run into this type of problem? Our Tahoe has about 160k miles so a ground wire wouldn't be out of the question if it was corroded or loose. Just trying to see if there's something I'm missing. Thanks in advance.

 

[Fless]

See this link for some tips for things to check. https://www.backyardmechanic.org/battery-saver-active-causes-and-fixes/

 

[Doubeleive]

I've worked on vehicles for a long time...usually battery and alternators are pretty straight forward. So a couple of weeks ago my wife sends me a photo of here dash with a "Battery Safer Active" message. I've looked it up and the battery or alternator are the top 2 suspects as I would have guessed. The battery was replaced back in Oct 24 so I've had everything checked and they say its good. I pulled the positive battery terminal while it was running. There was a slight hesitation, but the engine kept running. So it was driven another week without incident. A few days ago my wife sends me another picture of the guages. The battery guage was reading a bit low as it usually hovers around 14VDC. What she showed me was around 12. I told her to take it to Orielly's since thats where we got the battery. The guy told her that everything read good on the battery, but the alternator was around 12.5 VDC output so the next day I replaced the alternator. Drove it around for about a half hour and it held strong at 14. Three days later and the guage is back at 12 VDC. This would be easier to diagnose if she was here, but she drove it 3 hours away and concerned about it's reliability.

Has anyone else run into this type of problem? Our Tahoe has about 160k miles so a ground wire wouldn't be out of the question if it was corroded or loose. Just trying to see if there's something I'm missing. Thanks in advance.

if the message does not return then you should be fine, you can check the alternator operation by using a meter on the battery post's with the engine running, should read 13.4 min,

 

[84wildcard]

So I'm on my 2nd alternator, since someone at an auto part store said that the new one I bought was bad...ok, maybe. Has anyone ever replaced the Battery Current Sensor? Did it fix your problems. Currently the gauge is sitting at or around 14+ and then it'll go down to 12 and back up to 14 and eventually go back to 12. I've heard this is normal, but it never did this before we started having the Battery Saver Mode message. I've checked the ground on the frame that the negative battery terminal is attached to and its good. The negative battery terminal reads 1 ohm from the battery terminal to ground.

 

[swathdiver]

Alternator output is controlled by the BCM. Look up Regulated Voltage Control and Electronic Power Management if you don't know about this already.

Lots of short runs or long durations of sitting will deplete the battery charge. Consider a battery tender or taking your wife to dinner in another town once in a while.

BUT...

From the shop manual:

Battery saver mode—After a predetermined time without engine RPM, the ECM commands the Battery Saver mode. During the Battery Saver mode, the TAC module removes the voltage from the motor control circuits, which removes the current draw used to maintain the idle position and allows the throttle to return to the spring loaded default position.

 

[Fless]

An ohm test won't tell you if the circuit can carry the current. Try using a voltage drop test for that: