Porsche Trickle Charger? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

hjkim550 · 04-07-2008, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9fourteen

When I hooked it up the charger showed it only had about 6 volts on it.

914,

I ran into the same problem early this winter. I had no idea that our Boxster had so much draw while just sitting in the garage, and I did not have the battery on a trickle charger.

We know that all lead acid batteries sulfonate if it is drastically discharged and will not hold a charge for long. I looked into this on the PCA website last year and found the following:

12.5 - 12.8 80 - 100% Battery is ok
12.2 - 12.5 50 - 80% Recharge battery
11.6 - 12.2 0 - 50% Low state and recharge immediately
Below 11.6 0 % Battery should be replaced

When I checked my battery at autozone it was much less than 11 volts and therefore sulfonated and not able to hold a charge.... I replaced it. Now is working fine.

I have a sneaking suspicion that your "new" battery was significantly discharged several times and will now not hold a charge. I have heard that a standard battery will tolerate 4 - 5 major discharges before it becomes significantly sulfonated. I am suspicious that this occurred while the car sat on the dealer's lot. I know that was the culprit for my 4 year old battery.

Hope this helps,

9fourteen · 04-08-2008, 06:35 PM

what you described sounds like my problem. Doesn't look like the battery will hold a charge at all now. I had it fully charged yesterday morning and put it back in the car to pull it back into the garage. I just went out to check it and tried to start it and it was dead again after only one day. I pulled it and it showed 6 volts again on the charger. I'm guessing it is cooked. I'll take it somewhere to have it tested tomorrow just to verify.

Assuming my battery is shot. I'm going to hit up the dealership first and blame them for selling me a bad battery. But assuming I get the typical dealership runaround and have to buy a new one, anybody have a suggestion? I have always bought Sears Diehard batteries for my other cars and had good success. At least what I expected for life. OEM batteries suck in my opinion.

hjkim550 · 04-09-2008, 12:56 AM

914,

IMO, I think your battery is shot. 6 volts after a full night of charge? I think your battery is as sulfonated as it gets.

So far as replacement battery goes... stay away from Porsche OEM..... it is overpriced and terrible. I think they wanted to charge me $120 for a replacement.

You can search this forum and you will find different opinions.... Duralast from Autozone (what I chose), Braille, Optima and Toolpants recommended a cheaper battery from Walmart. You will find that he is quite knowledgeable and he found a battery from Walmart for about $60 or so. I found his thread after I bought mine from Autozone for $85.

I will try to find his thread for you after I try to go to sleep.

9fourteen · 04-09-2008, 07:38 AM

At lunch I'm going to run to Autozone and get a battery. Even if I fight with the dealership and got them to replace the battery I would just be getting another crappy OEM. Its not worth the hassle.

I went to Autozones website and when I punched in my car type it came up with a 94R-DLG batter for $125, 650 CCR, 8 year. The 48-DL which is the one which was recommended in the "battery suggestion" posts is $85, 700 CCR, 7 year. The 94R-DLG looks just like the OEM battery. I'll get the 48-DL since that is what most people are recommending.

Thanks everybody for your help. Hopefully I'll have it back on the road tonight!

9fourteen · 04-09-2008, 10:24 AM

Autozone tested the battery and it was bad. I bought the 48-DL battery for $85 vs the 94R-DLG battery which they recommended. The guy gave me a bit of a hard time because he said the 48-DL battery is not for the car.

Anyways, did I get the right one? Is there any reason why this battery would not work? The other posts I saw concerning this battery said that it fit right in. I noticed that it about 2 inches shorter than the OEM battery. Width wise it looks about the same. I'm just wondering if it will mount tight with the existing clamp. I guess I'll find out tonight when I try to put it in.

2000SoCalBoxsterS · 04-09-2008, 10:36 AM

I don't think the size of the battery matters that much as long as it is secured well in the holder. As long as the Volts and Amps and all that sort of stuff are correct for the car the size shouldn't matter.

For example, take a look at the Braille lightweight racing batteries. They are small and light but also have models for everyday use.

http://www.brailleauto.com/

hjkim550 · 04-09-2008, 11:46 AM

Hey 914,

2000SoCalBoxsterS is correct, you just need adequate specifications... i.e. 875 cranking amps and 700 cold cranking amps.

I bought the Duralast 48 as well (which we could have bought cheaper at Walmart or Costco.... I did not know). I am not sure why your battery is smaller. The battery that I picked up at Autozone for the same price was the exact same dimensions as my battery from my 2004 SE (OEM). It fit perfectly without any problems, continues to hold its charge and turn over the engine without any hiccups.

If you look at some of the other posts.... people swear by Braille, Optima and so forth. I think it all works well.

p.s. If you store your Boxster over the winter months like I do.... I would recommend a battery maintainer.