Porsche Battery Maintainer

Originally Posted by teacher

Hi all,
Thanks for your help and information for the battery charger situation. Well, I bought a charger from Porsche...cost $75 so I didn't complain about that. And the red light is still on after 2 days, even though the battery is relatively new (1 year old), but my question is, how much electricity is required to keep the battery maintained? I plugged my charger into the landlord's outlet, and no where on the lease does it say that this is unacceptable...but still, how much of a jump in an electricity bill should be expected for charging the car for three weeks? Anyone online now or into tomorrow who could help me would really be appreciated! Thanks in advance =)
Bill

Hey Teacher, it took my car about 2-3 days before the red light went off. I was getting worried that it was not working.

I don't think your landlord will see any significant increase in the electric bill. Maybe a couple bucks per month. If so, offer to pay for it.

[porschegeorg]

Mine has been on for more than 2 weeks....and it is still red-lit!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by porschegeorg

Mine has been on for more than 2 weeks....and it is still red-lit!!!!!!!!!

This does not appear to be good. Is the charger warm or hot? Is it a Porsche battery maintainer?

[z12358]

May not be relevant but my Schumacher maintainer/charger was in charging mode (amber light) for 5-6 hours before it switched to maintaning mode (green light). It's a 1.5 Amp charger and the battery had been sitting unhooked (and out of the car) for three weeks before being connected to the charger.

[NickCats]

My car sat for 2 weeks while I was on vacation.

I hooked up the charger when I got back. It took 3 days for the light to turn off.

Nick

[porschegeorg]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

This does not appear to be good. Is the charger warm or hot? Is it a Porsche battery maintainer?

Yet is is a Porsche battery maintainer. It's warm, but it's not hot. Do you
think the maintainer is defective?? The battery itself is only a year old and I've
never had a problem with it.

Originally Posted by porschegeorg

Yet is is a Porsche battery maintainer. It's warm, but it's not hot. Do you
think the maintainer is defective?? The battery itself is only a year old and I've
never had a problem with it.

Give another day or two. Try it on your daily driver, and see if the red light goes off after several hours, as a test. Just a thought.

[teacher]

Originally Posted by NickCats

My car sat for 2 weeks while I was on vacation.

I hooked up the charger when I got back. It took 3 days for the light to turn off.

Nick

let me understand, your car was on it's own to 2 weeks before the recharge, and that didn't impact your battery

[teacher]

Originally Posted by teacher

I have covered parking with good ventilation, I think =)
Bill

sorry it's late but my friend started it up every two days, so I still don't know about the recharger (as known by Porsche) but it worked out well, and thanks for all info =)

[teacher]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

Hey Teacher, it took my car about 2-3 days before the red light went off. I was getting worried that it was not working.

I don't think your landlord will see any significant increase in the electric bill. Maybe a couple bucks per month. If so, offer to pay for it.

it does work, plus if you buy it from Porsche, two year guarantee

[teacher]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

Hey Teacher, it took my car about 2-3 days before the red light went off. I was getting worried that it was not working.

I don't think your landlord will see any significant increase in the electric bill. Maybe a couple bucks per month. If so, offer to pay for it.

He's been around, at least his associate, he's more concerned with the lighting and door security, as I'm told, but I'll pay him the extra pesos, so far so good, I mean get real =)

[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

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by 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

Hi,

Starting the car to maintain the battery isn't the smartest thing. 75% of the wear an engine receives during it's lifetime comes from starting it. This is why high mileage Highway cars have traditionally been more desireable than the one the little old lady drove 2 mi. to church on sunday.

The Highway car may be started once for every 100-200 mi. or more of driving while the little old lady starts her's 50-100 times to cover the same mileage. Starting the car unecessarily, or for few miles or to freshen the Battery is a bad thing. A low ratio of starts/miles is a good thing. This is why a maintainer can make sense, especially for a seldom driven car.. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[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

[drburton]

If you want the light to go on for sanity reasons open your car door and the maintainer light will go on to recharge the battery.