Quick battery question

[crystalmethod]

After a year's 'rest' in the countryside my 997 GTS will be coming back to London. I've found an underground parking space for it near my house which I can rent.

However I'll probably use the car once every 4-6 weeks for the odd hoon. Have been through several of Porsche's lightweight and rubbish batteries - and am thinking of fitting a decent battery from someone like Bosch.

My question is: if do put a quality battery in, do you think it'll stay in sufficient shape for me to start and use the car every 4-6 weeks? Know the car will go into sleep mode but I'm hoping it'll be fine when I wake it up.

Would be grateful for any expert opinions. Know a trickle charge would be ideal but don't think it's practical in the garage, and also I'd ideally like to just jump in the car and go.

Thanks everyone - and Happy Christmas to you all.

[WG]

I think you would be pushing your luck. A period of 4 weeks MIGHT be OK with a new battery but 6 weeks would be pushing it. You could try a product like Dis Carnect ( if its still available) which I used several years ago. This is a simple attchment that fits onto the battery terminal and allows you to disconnect the power by simply unscrewing a nut.

PS Just checked and product is still available at £9.99 at Halfords - have a look!

Edited by WG on Tuesday 25th December 12:10

[arcamalpha]

Could you leave a second battery safely in the parking space? I’ve used a massive battery as a second in parallel to the one in the car as a way of extending things. Hook it up in the garage like a trickle charger and very occasionally take it inside to charge up.

[Dammit]

£140 of solar panel keeps mine topped up, panel itself is a little larger than A4 and can be bonded in place- how underground are you?

I riveted the panel to the corrugated metal roof of my garage, then ran the wires to the charger, and from there I terminated the wires with a cTek connector which plugs into a lead permanently attached to the battery.

[p4cks]

Just disconnect the negative terminal?

[crystalmethod]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Would love to disconnect the power but it'll play havoc with the tracker and I'll get calls checking whether it's been stolen or not. Will give this some more thought. The standalone battery in lieu of trickle charge may be an option.

[Rossco196x]

I would simply buy a good quality portable jumper like this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ring-Portable-12v-800A-...f:0

This gives you the option to charge it up inside your house and then transport it down to the car the night before and run a trickle charger off the invertor to top the battery or simply connect and take the doubt out of wondering if the car will start or not then simply carry back to the house to recharge. I've had mine about 10 years and it still works fine.

Long term though an oxford trickle charger would be best though, there available for circa £35

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Oxford-Motorcycle-Car-O...f:0

I've tried others but the Oxford has been the most reliable and has an accurate ammeter

[Pip1968]

Bear in mind a couple of completely flat battery situations and it will be FUBAR meaning you will have to buy a replacement battery. So a starter pack will only be the answer in that you will be able to drive it to pick up your new battery.

I would look at some sort of power lead and trickle charger, a switch to isolate the battery or taking it for a spin every couple of weeks. There is not much point owning one if you don't enjoy it.

Let us know what you end up doing. Best of luck.

Pip

Ps perhaps you can run a solar charger to the outside world to keep it charging if there is no mains power - ???

[p4cks]

Pip1968 said:

I would look at some sort of power lead and trickle charger, a switch to isolate the battery or taking it for a spin every couple of weeks. There is not much point owning one if you don't enjoy it.

This is a far better idea. My weekend car used to be connected to a smart charger 24/7 via a 25m extension cable from the mains. I'm not sure about the car park owner allowing it due to insurance reasons but I suppose it's worth asking

[AW10]

I have my 981 stored in a garage without power. Every fortnight I connect it to a CTEK battery maintainer which is powered by a small inverter which is powered by a large spare 12V battery. Once the CTEK reports the battery as fully charged (about 12 hours later) I disconnect the CTEK. Once the inverter complains the 2nd battery is low on charge I take it home and recharge it using the CTEK powered from the mains. A bit of a faff perhaps but works just fine. A solar panel is not an option for me.

[SV_WDC]

AW10 said:

I have my 981 stored in a garage without power. Every fortnight I connect it to a CTEK battery maintainer which is powered by a small inverter which is powered by a large spare 12V battery. Once the CTEK reports the battery as fully charged (about 12 hours later) I disconnect the CTEK. Once the inverter complains the 2nd battery is low on charge I take it home and recharge it using the CTEK powered from the mains. A bit of a faff perhaps but works just fine. A solar panel is not an option for me.

Interesting, can you share what inverter you are using and also how do you manually charge up the 12v battery at home?

I looked into this message myself but was concerned what happens if the 12v battery runs out whilst still connected to CTEK.

[AW10]

The inverter is a small Sealey unit; it shuts off when the input power drops below 12V so the CTEK therefore stops charging the 981's battery.

As the 2nd battery hasn't dropped below 12V the CTEK happily recharges it back home when powered from the mains.

As I said a bit of a faff but it does work. What helps is that the 981 draws very little current when dormant.

[Nick981]

If the car is safely stored in a locked garage, would the battery use less power if the car itself wasn’t locked - presumably the alarm system wouldn’t be activated and therefore not using power?

[AW10]

It might use slightly less. A compromise might be to turn off the motion sensor?