Porsche Battery Maintainer

[z12358]

Thanks Jim! Schumacher it will be.
Z.

How long does it take to become fully charged? Are we talking hours or days here? Thanks.

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

How long does it take to become fully charged? Are we talking hours or days here? Thanks.

Hi,

It depnds on your starting point. But, usually, only about 4-6 Hrs. But, the maintainer keeps the battery from discharging by sensing a current drop and bringing the charger online to charge it back up. Because of this, the maintainer doesn't need the 3-10 Amps a Normal Charger uses and this is beneficial to the battery by eliminating the possibility that lead-sulphate crystals are permanently formed on the plates.

Sulphation is the formation of lead sulphate on the plates. As a lead acid type battery discharges, lead sulphate must form. There can be no discharge of such a battery without the formation of lead sulphate, it is the natural product of the chemical reactions by virtue of which current may be drawn from the battery.

When a battery has been discharged until the voltage per cell has fallen to the voltage limits, considerable portions of the lead peroxide and spongy lead remain on the plates. The sulphate which is then present is in a finely divided, porous condition, and can readily be changed back to lead peroxide and spongy lead by charging the battery.

If the discharge is continued after the voltage has fallen below it's voltage limits, an excessive amount of sulphate will form. It will fill up the pores in the active materials, and covers up much of the active material which remains, so that it is difficult to impossible to change the sulphate back to active material.

Plus, the expansion of active material which takes place as the sulphate forms is then so great that it causes the active material to break off from the plate. It is for this reason that sulphated plates should be charged at a low rate. A standard Charger (3-10 Amps) will get the battery up to charge faster, but at the expense of the battery's overall health and prolonged life.

Finally, there is a tendency for lead sulphate crystals to "tree" over from the negative to the positive plates, especially in an idle battery. Treeing will occur through the pores of the separators and as there is no flow of electrolyte in or out of the plates, the lead "trees" are not disturbed in their growth. A freshening charge causes this flow to take place, and break up the "trees" which would otherwise gradually short circuit the cells. This is another reason why using a maintainer is preferable to letting the battery sit for the off season and then recharging it in the Spring. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Thanks, Jim.

I checked the Battery Maintainer when I got home today. In total, it took about 2 days to charge-up and for the battery maintainer light to go off. I did not think it would take this long.

I will cover it tomorrow (still need to wash the windows and buff off some Zaino on the trunk lid) and then wake 'er up in March!

[MikenOH]

When I first hooked up my unit last fall, it was on for 24 hours + before the green light came on.

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

Thanks, Jim.

I checked the Battery Maintainer when I got home today. In total, it took about 2 days to charge-up and for the battery maintainer light to go off. I did not think it would take this long.

I will cover it tomorrow (still need to wash the windows and buff off some Zaino on the trunk lid) and then wake 'er up in March!

Hi,

Well, that's possible, as I said, they put out a very low amperage and it depends on your starting point (remember the Boxster really chews up the juice just sitting there), condition, age, and history of the battery etc. Plus, I don't know what the amperage is exactly on the Porsche unit. I've seen them from 0.3Amp to 1.5Amp, that's quite a difference.

Mine's already cocooned for the Winter. Mrs. MNBoxster has been away the past 2 weeks doing the AT&T Championship in San Antonio and I've been doing it piecemeal.

She gets in tonight about 9PM, then she's off again for another 2 weeks Wed. 7am for the Tour Championship in Atlanta, her last tourney for '06. That's when I'll be getting her S-Type all set for Winter - Snows, Clean-up, Oil Change (at the Dealer - free), Wax, etc.

I think I'm already gettin' the shakes...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[teacher]

just a moment to say it worked, I bought the charger from Porsche even though I had a friend start it up from day to day...I'm sure it's fine and it runs grrreat today so thanks for all your support and help...this is a good blog and my thanks go out to you all =)

[tomk17]

When laying up the car for 2-4 weeks do you guys just plug in the battery maintainer and let it do it's thing? Plugged in my 06' 987 and the red light was on for maybe 1/2 day then out. Have not really seen it come back on, who knows maybe it comes on for a few hrs when I not looking/ Maybe my battery being rather new just holds up well.

Alternativly, I could plug it in for a week, unplug it for 1-2 days, plug back etc.

[thomschoon]

I leave mine plugged in two weeks out of the month using a 1-2 amp Black & decker maintainer from Walmart (cost $17). It pretty much charges for a day at 1 amp to make up for the clock & alarm, after 7 days the locking system is suppose to shutdown to save the battery so there really shouldnt be much charging at that point.

The other thing is that many folks have someone start their car and let it idle, that is always debated as does it do more harm then good as the oil never warms up enough to drive out the moisture and you could be getting more fuel dilution from a cold start, just wondering what folks think

[NickCats]

Originally Posted by tomk17

When laying up the car for 2-4 weeks do you guys just plug in the battery maintainer and let it do it's thing? Plugged in my 06' 987 and the red light was on for maybe 1/2 day then out. Have not really seen it come back on, who knows maybe it comes on for a few hrs when I not looking/ Maybe my battery being rather new just holds up well.

Alternativly, I could plug it in for a week, unplug it for 1-2 days, plug back etc.

My car is sitting on the Porsche battery maintainer right now. I would just plug it in and let it do its thing. When the light is on, it is charging the battery to full capacity. Once the light goes off, it goes into "maintenance" mode. No need to plug and unplug.

Hope this helps...

Nick

[teacher]

Originally Posted by MNBoxster

Hi,

It depnds on your starting point. But, usually, only about 4-6 Hrs. But, the maintainer keeps the battery from discharging by sensing a current drop and bringing the charger online to charge it back up. Because of this, the maintainer doesn't need the 3-10 Amps a Normal Charger uses and this is beneficial to the battery by eliminating the possibility that lead-sulphate crystals are permanently formed on the plates.

Sulphation is the formation of lead sulphate on the plates. As a lead acid type battery discharges, lead sulphate must form. There can be no discharge of such a battery without the formation of lead sulphate, it is the natural product of the chemical reactions by virtue of which current may be drawn from the battery.

When a battery has been discharged until the voltage per cell has fallen to the voltage limits, considerable portions of the lead peroxide and spongy lead remain on the plates. The sulphate which is then present is in a finely divided, porous condition, and can readily be changed back to lead peroxide and spongy lead by charging the battery.

If the discharge is continued after the voltage has fallen below it's voltage limits, an excessive amount of sulphate will form. It will fill up the pores in the active materials, and covers up much of the active material which remains, so that it is difficult to impossible to change the sulphate back to active material.

Plus, the expansion of active material which takes place as the sulphate forms is then so great that it causes the active material to break off from the plate. It is for this reason that sulphated plates should be charged at a low rate. A standard Charger (3-10 Amps) will get the battery up to charge faster, but at the expense of the battery's overall health and prolonged life.

Finally, there is a tendency for lead sulphate crystals to "tree" over from the negative to the positive plates, especially in an idle battery. Treeing will occur through the pores of the separators and as there is no flow of electrolyte in or out of the plates, the lead "trees" are not disturbed in their growth. A freshening charge causes this flow to take place, and break up the "trees" which would otherwise gradually short circuit the cells. This is another reason why using a maintainer is preferable to letting the battery sit for the off season and then recharging it in the Spring. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

hi, you sound like you know your stuff, what is the best maintainer to buy? I need something that lasts at least 3 weeks...last time I went on vacation I had to buy a battery, and you know that ain't cheap! Any ideas?

[NickCats]

Originally Posted by teacher

hi, you sound like you know your stuff, what is the best maintainer to buy? I need something that lasts at least 3 weeks...last time I went on vacation I had to buy a battery, and you know that ain't cheap! Any ideas?

I picked up this one from one of our sponsors :

http://www.epiqautosport.com/pro_battery_maintainer.php#?

Hope this helps...

Nick

[teacher]

Originally Posted by teacher

hi, you sound like you know your stuff, what is the best maintainer to buy? I need something that lasts at least 3 weeks...last time I went on vacation I had to buy a battery, and you know that ain't cheap! Any ideas?

Thanks for all your posts, especially MNBoxster, I do have a neighbor who was willing to start up the car during my absence. About how many days should the car be started up? I'm thinking 4 days, to be sure, and it is a relatively new battery...thanks for all your suggestions.
Bill