Jerry911

Bought my 87 carrera in spring and have had zero problems. Parked in early Sept and has not moved due to poor weather and excess time at work. Went to start last week to clean and drive and all she did was, click..click..click. Jumped at started right up. Should I buy some type of trickle charger or just remove battery for winter?


Thanks

Barbara

I've used the trickle charger for over ten years and never had any probs. Great if you don't get to drive as much as you'd like; car's always ready to give you that incredible sound when she starts up after a rest period. Oh, my. Be still my heart.

Recently heard some folks discussing sports cars and all I could wonder was, "is there another?"

BTW: my compliments on this forum. Asked a question yesterday, w/in a few minutes, not only had response but gave me just what I had been looking for w/o luck elsewhere. I am convinced the folks who own and drive Porsches are a class among themselves.

Bill Gregory

Winter prep tips, and an article about trickle chargers, were just discussed on the 964 forum <a href="http://forums.rennlist.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=002757" target="_blank">here</a>. I take my battery out and store it in the basement on two 2x4's, to keep it off the cement. On the first of the month I throw my charger on it for several hours, and it's always been ready to go each spring.

Todd

Why would you throw your charger on it??

Anger and violence are no solution to charging a battery, you simply hook it up... <img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" />

WillyC4S

I'd get a trickle charger like a Mity Mite by Schumacher (or WalMart, they have an identical unit for about $10 less, $27ish). It's an automatic charger so it won't overcharge your battery. Trickles out ~ 1.5amps.

It's made to be mounted inside your engine compartment next to your battery and has a short wall plug to connect to an extension in the garage. I ended up fabricating a cigarette lighter plug for the charger's 12 volt leads and I just insert the guy into the lighter plug and then forget about it; much more cleaner than mounting it inside the engine compartment or forward luggage space in our case. Total peace of mind after that.

I'd check to see if your battery is leaking also. Doesn't take much time to destroy your battery tray and cause rusting of the general area. If you clean out the area, make sure you use baking soda to neutralize the battery acid. I had acid all over the bottom area and ended up replacing the original battery w/ a sealed Optima yellow top so that wouldn't happen again.

Good luck on your battery.

*****

Wil R. Ferch

*****:
Ahh...shouldn't there be a disclaimer ( charging through the cigarette lighter plug)...to first check if your car has one that is always active...or one that is active only if the ignition is on ??? Porsches come both ways.

--Wil Ferch

PS- I agree on the "chiped" chargers. I have the Schumacher clone from Wallmart.and it trickle charges at 1.5A or less , turns off when charged ,and comes back in when the battery drops a small ( 1 volt or less) amount. works fine. I mounted mine on the forward bolt hole where the "large" car battery mounts. My smaller Optima uses a bolt hole more toward the rear of the car, and this allows fitting the charger near the front hole...very neat and sanitary.

Bill Verburg

I have both the Schumacher which mounts next to the battery and an Exide version of the chipped charger. The Exide/Wallmart/NAPA unit is so convienient to use that the Schumacher was never mounted. Just hook it up and forget about it.

Either beats the old days were I had to remove the battery, put it on a shelf in the basement and then remember to turn the charger on at regular intervals all winter long. The only downside is that the battery fluid level doesn't get checked as often as it should and the case exterior doesn't get cleaned as often.