Decision Matrix at 13:42 on the video.

 

Thanks for the response.

Intriguing option for a few cars. I think what brought me back to your batteries is the jump start feature because this year I will be parking one car off site in the winter, no tender. Would there be enough juice for a jump in the spring if needed? 997.2

 

I wouldn't be leaving a connected battery in a car that will be left without tender all winter, regardless of the type of battery. Best to take the battery out and put it on a tender at home, then pop it back in the car in spring. I think this is what I did with my previous 987 Boxster that I kept stored away for a couple of winters without tender. If that's impossible, then at least disconnect the battery from the car.

 

Well lithium is excellent and in fact better for Start/Stop because it recharges faster than lead/Acid and also can go deeper into it's state of discharge.. BUT our RE-START Battery actually has the RE-START feature which has a reserve energy supply... but this also makes the system NOT go as low as a Lithium battery can actually go, meaning if we did not have the RE-START feature we could allow our battery to go even lower into its discharge. But, with that being said we do NOT have any problem with Start/Stop systems reported in any of the Cars system to date that have been made known to us. Also when you say the "latest 718 GT4" I am not aware they have something that will operate in any different manner than something like a 992 Porsche, which we have not had any issues with. I also assume Porsche is not making a completely new system for the latest 718 Start/Stop that would necessarily be harder on any battery in these Cars., or that is my assumptions. But regardless I never like to state something I am unsure of. So if the system is some new system that we have not had a Battery in then I cannot yet say. Though I can safely assume there would not be any incompatibility being that we are in many other brands of Cars with stop start systems and have not experienced any issues that have been brought to our attention.

The main issue we have encountered when any Porsche throws a flag has been the Porsche's that are actually putting out over-charge levels of voltages and that was corrected by some changes in our BMS that allowed more leeway in Cars that spiked over 15v. But we have never found any of the Cars while in Start/Stop to be allowing TOO MUCH over-discharge.... the only Car we found doing that was the Ford Mustangs that were sometimes allowing the voltage of the battery to drop below 12v.... and that is not normal since a Lead Acid battery is considered deeply over discharged even at 12.2v.

Last to get to the bottom line. in any of the Start/Stop applications.... more Amp Hours is ALWAY best. This just allows the system to work a bit better since you have a lot of extra capacity.... so the Car will not often be starved for Capacity.

 

Answers in bold...

If the battery puts itself into sleep mode below a certain charge, then wouldn't that disconnect it from all parasitic draws just as if it was physically disconnected from the car, thus preserving its starting power for much longer?

Yes, the battery puts itself to sleep and prevents further discharge of the battery, so no parasitic drains would NOT effect it, the car would actually be turned-off at that point. But keep in mind the battery is in a severe state of over-discharge to have gotten to the point of going into sleep mode. So it is at the bottom of its state of charge and Capacity, and even though turned-off and in sleep mode, it can only last a certain amount of time longer in that state and not be completely dead itself. For example after maybe a month or max 2 months in sleep mode will it still easily start the car, you don't really want to wait more than a few weeks to start it again after it enters sleep mode..
The RE-START is meant as an emergency function, and not as a replacement for typical battery maintenance. So yes it can even start the care a month or even more later... but that is not how we intended it to be used. We expect someone to come back to it within a month and start the car.

Do you have a decision matrix for choosing the appropriate (the lightest but still functional) battery model according to car model/year and intended use (daily, backroads, weekends, etc.)? I'm considering this when I need new batteries for my 996 GT3 and my 987 Boxster S, both 2005 models for backroads/weekend use, and mostly stored in winter. Also for the Boxster GTS 4.0 that I plan to get next year.

If you watch the video at the point that lovetoturn put that is a area where I go into that. But I can also try to answer here if that does not answer you question.

But in general the 40Ah is the main streetable battery that a sports car would need. It can sit usually for about 6- 8 weeks in most cars without needing a charge.... this depends on the level of parasitic drain on any individual vehicle. Then the 24ah is only for Track unless you want to keep it on a charge and be more involved in its maintenance... which we don't suggest at all. The the 60Ah is the best if you just want to have a car that can sit a long time without driving much and not needing to be on a charger ever, or if you are in colder weather.

 

I have one more question about the AntiGravity batteries. I recently installed the Group 48, 60AH AntiGravity battery into my 2014 Cayman S. I coded the CS ECU to indicate a Lithium Battery has been installed. Yesterday the weather here was cool when I took a long drive. Outside air temps were in the low 40's. During that drive I noticed that the alternator was charging in the neighborhood of 14,6 to 14.9 volts. The battery was on a Lithium Battery Maintainer for several days and indicated the battery was fully charged prior to driving. My question is will the AntiGravity lithium battery be damaged by those level of charging voltages? Also , after the OAT warmed up to temps in the 60's (F) later in the day the charging voltage was in the typical 14.2 to 14.5V range. Just curious!!!

 

No it will not...that still fits well withing the parameters for the battery's management system..what is curious though is that the "lithium" setting generally lowers the voltage output from what we've understood and received feedback on from Porsche so I'm wondering if that program took and saved or defaulted back to a lead/acid profile?

 

So there is a setting within the Porsche system that you should set to indicate that there is a lithium battery installed to replace the AGM that the car came with? My second question:

 

When I installed the AntiGravity Lithium battery I used the ICARSoft Por V2.0 OBD reader tool to indicate that the new battery was indeed lithium and also inserted the serial number as requested . However, the Porsche Cayman did not recognize the numbers off of the AntiGravity battery for the update. As others have recommended on this Forum, I used the serial # from the old Porsche battery that I replaced with the AntiGravity battery. The OBD battery update process then was accepted so I believe it now believes a lithium battery is installed. I was curious as well why the charging voltages seem to be the same as with the standard factory AGM battery. I'm not sure how to tell if the programming I did with the ICARSoft OBD tool actually was accepted by the DME or defaulted back to the lead/acid profile. I'll probably play around with it again but , if as you said, the AntiGravity battery will not be harmed by those voltage levels, I won't be in any rush and will continue to enjoy this amazing machine.

 

NO, PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE ANY SETTING IN THE CAR IF GOING WITH OUR BATTERY.... Again, not yelling just want to make this more than clear. I've stated it alot but not everyone gets to see all the previous posts, or posts from other threads.

1- You never want to change to the Lithium Setting in the Car initially. There is absolutely no need to UNLESS it is a dedicated Track ONLY Car. The only thing the Lithium setting does in PIWISA is lower the overall output of the alternator to a LOWER VOLTAGE which aids a Track Car which is running topped-out at RPM limits. I creates a minor bit of less drag on the Motor. You will not benefit at all from this on the street and it keeps the battery in a lower state of charge than we prefer since it only goes to 13.8v, and we want to see the Battery getting a full charge in the mid to upper 14 ranges.

2- Secondly you want a base line for the Car... you don't want to go and change settings when just installing the battery, its actually is a PLUG AND PLAY Battery replacement for lead/acid battery. You will not have to mess around, or change settings. It's a simple swap with NO CODING needed. If you start changing setting before you have installed or during install of the battery you have just eliminated the baseline of making sure the battery works as it was shipped to you. If you have any issues with the initial installation at all, then you know you have not changed anything in the car and any issue is very easy to track when you talk to us... but if you changed stuff for the install then we can't assist as well because there were changes to the cars computer, and sometimes you can't go back to the baseline. I don't want to be a broken record but for 99% of the Customers its simply a directly swap out the battery then go driving.

 

LOUD AND CLEAR SIR!!! lol!

Thanks!

 

Viper you have experienced what is now on most cars.... it is the Car's Computer system that is constantly monitoring the exterior air temperatures so that is can control proper fueling and several other factors regarding the Car. So most Modern Cars actually start to charge at a higher voltage during colder weather, so you will see the voltage go up a few points. This is because a Lead/Acid battery, when colder, will not take a Charge as fast as when it is warmer. So the Charging system takes the voltage a little higher when is senses colder weather. This will not effect our Lithium Battery at all, but this was actually the reason why some people got flags when using our battery about a year ago. It was because some Porsches actually go into the 15.5v range when its colder outside..... so our Batteries' Protection system started clipping those higher voltages when the cars charging systems jumped to 15.5v.... so the Car would then throw a flag. Normally Cars usually go up to about 14.9 Max.... but for whatever reason some Porsches go into the 15.5 and 15.7 ranges which no other manufactures do.... anyway that was something we learned about and had to correct in the BMS, so we have resolved that issue.

 

Very interesting! Well so far the highest voltage I have seen was 14.8 t0 14.9 V when the OAT was about 39F. Glad to now understand why Porsche is forcing the alternator output to climb during cold weather. Makes sense. But also glad that your BMS can handle that without any negative effects on the battery cells. Good Job on that design.

Thanks again for taking time to answer my questions.

Nick

 

This is a very well conceived and sorted product. From the recharge fobs to the battery status app. Well done across the board. If this holds up well through the winter and the the limited driving that occurs during that time it will be my first purchase for future Porsches.

i wonder if the techs at Porsche changed the Lead/Lithium settings when they installed my battery.

 

Got it. Great explanation as always. Thanks Scott.