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Battery conditioners


Pops50

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Hi everyone,

Ok I'm new to Cayman ownership (yesterday I bought myself a 2.7 in yellow with 19" black wheels ) and I love it already, thing is I work away from home so the car will only be used at weekends  so it will parked in my garage and I'm worried that my battery may suffer...

so my question is battery conditioners which one and where from?

Car is going in for full detailing next week so will post pictures when done

thanks in advance for any replies 

pete

Edited by Pops50
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Hi Pete, 

 

I have a battery conditioner with a connector hard-wired to the battery for easy connection.  

 

The most recommended brand are the CTEK units, a few to choose from on the website.  Certainly worth investing in one though if you leave it for periods of time, the batteries are known for failing after a few years so worth investing in a new one too if it's more than 4/5 years old.  

 

http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/12v

 

 

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That was quick,

ok the car is a 06 Cayman with 37000 miles on it (full history) it's got a fairly new battery on , so do the Ctec chargers come with bits so I can also hard wire to battery for ease of connection? Or do I have to buy these separate..

 

pete

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Yes I hard wired mine in, they (Ctek) sell a separate harness with eyelets on the end to connect to the battery terminals and a plug the other for easy hook up to the charger.  

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  • 2 months later...

I've had several replacement batteries from the local OPC in the past through not keeping them sufficiently charged.  If you ignore it and don't drive enough it will last about 18 months.They are in my view a low quality product even though they are made in Germany, but if you change the battery for a well known brand the warranty on the car is invalidated.  The OPC sells 3 branded Ctek products  and your local Halfords sell the standard CTek products.  There is no difference other than labelling.  If you are regularly leaving the car for a week or driving less than 20 miles at a time then you need what the OPC calls a "maintainer".  This can be plugged into the lighter socket and left connected until you want to use the car. The CTek product  is the MXS 5.0 model  and is cheaper at Halfords but without the Porsche warranty. 

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7 minutes ago, mighty quin said:

I've had several replacement batteries from the local OPC in the past through not keeping them sufficiently charged.  If you ignore it and don't drive enough it will last about 18 months.They are in my view a low quality product even though they are made in Germany, but if you change the battery for a well known brand the warranty on the car is invalidated.  The OPC sells 3 branded Ctek products  and your local Halfords sell the standard CTek products.  There is no difference other than labelling.  If you are regularly leaving the car for a week or driving less than 20 miles at a time then you need what the OPC calls a "maintainer".  This can be plugged into the lighter socket and left connected until you want to use the car. The CTek product  is the MXS 5.0 model  and is cheaper at Halfords but without the Porsche warranty. 

I park outside my house so no way of plugging in and I only use at the weekends. The occasional long run but usually not (I KNOW!) hopefully it will last, we'll see now the weather is getting cold.

 

ive thought about a solar panel you can leave on the dash? They give a trickle, lower than a ctek but may at least slow the degradation? Anyone tried one? 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I used one of those cheap £30 solar panel chargers on my Explorer and had nothing but flat batteries. took ages to realise the problem wasn't the battery  which is why I put the solar charger in it in the first place or a drain caused by various 'gadgets'. the charger supposedly had a built in blocking diode to prevent reverse current discharge when the sun went in. it charged well  enough in daylight and flattened the battery overnight. only worked it out after I unplugged it to power a flashing beacon and forgot to plug it back in, left the truck for a few days and it started first flick. not used one since.

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19 minutes ago, Bushman said:

I used one of those cheap £30 solar panel chargers on my Explorer and had nothing but flat batteries. took ages to realise the problem wasn't the battery  which is why I put the solar charger in it in the first place or a drain caused by various 'gadgets'. the charger supposedly had a built in blocking diode to prevent reverse current discharge when the sun went in. it charged well  enough in daylight and flattened the battery overnight. only worked it out after I unplugged it to power a flashing beacon and forgot to plug it back in, left the truck for a few days and it started first flick. not used one since.

I bought a decent one from NOCO. It had a charge regulator etc. Thing is, the worse time for battery issues is in the winter in the cold which coincides with short and murky days so barely got any output let alone the 5watts it could get on a full sunny day. So in short, in theory yes but in the UK unlikley. It was made even worse by the fact that it's in the car so it will be in the shade for some of those short winter days. I sent it back for a full refund so no harm done to my wallet.

 

ive checked and you can get a top spec S5 Bosch for £80-90 quid so I can cope with a murdered battery. Not let me down so far this winter but it does crank slowley so may be on its last legs, not sure how old it was prior to purchase of the car.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My 981 came up with "Low battery - start engine" today after 4 days in the garage.

 

Might be the beginning of the end for the battery? It seemed fine after a 100 mile run.

 

As for a new battery, if it needs one, what would be recommended? Car's under warranty so I need to be a little careful it's a decent one.

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On 04/01/2017 at 23:00, DJMC said:

My 981 came up with "Low battery - start engine" today after 4 days in the garage.

 

Might be the beginning of the end for the battery? It seemed fine after a 100 mile run.

 

As for a new battery, if it needs one, what would be recommended? Car's under warranty so I need to be a little careful it's a decent one.

 

My battery is not what it used to be I've noticed the last week or so, I'll be replacing with a Bosch Silver battery.  

 

Im not sure if warranty requires a Porsche battery or not, I would hope it doesn't but you never know.  I'd certainly avoid buying a Porsche battery as they're junk! 

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On 04/01/2017 at 23:00, DJMC said:

My 981 came up with "Low battery - start engine" today after 4 days in the garage.

 

Might be the beginning of the end for the battery? It seemed fine after a 100 mile run.

 

As for a new battery, if it needs one, what would be recommended? Car's under warranty so I need to be a little careful it's a decent one.

I may be talking nonsense but does the 981 have the stop/start thing? If so I think it needs a more robust type. Bosch do one, not the same as the one for the 987 I don't think? My battery is OK but a little slow to crank, certainly not getting the porsche replacement. One of the specialist online battery suppliers will beat halfrauds and Eurocarparts, a decent indy will reset any spurious engine check alerts if they don't sort themselves 

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Yes, the 981 does have stop/start. I generally switch it off or switch to Sport which disables it, but I understand your thought.

 

However, I don't think replacing the battery is straightforward. Threads like this scare me: https://dorkiphus.net/porsche/showthread.php?t=33882

albeit from the USA.

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4 hours ago, DJMC said:

Yes, the 981 does have stop/start. I generally switch it off or switch to Sport which disables it, but I understand your thought.

 

However, I don't think replacing the battery is straightforward. Threads like this scare me: https://dorkiphus.net/porsche/showthread.php?t=33882

albeit from the USA.

I'm sure an Indy would swap one over if you supplied one for a reasonable fee, understand about the nervousness with a Porsche warranty though. 

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