Marine Blue

I decided to splurge on the GT this spring and I purchased a OE Porsche Battery. I have a couple of questions which I'm hoping someone here can help with.

Question 1.
The battery was shipped dry to me which means I need to add liquids to it and charge it if I'm not mistaken. Problem is that the battery didn't include any instructions and I'm young enough that I do not know the procedure.

Can anyone provide the exact instructions for getting this battery operational? I did a search online but it seems that everyone had different instructions which made me nervours.

Note that I have access to a trickle charger.

Question 2:
From what I've ready, this battery will discharge sulfuric acid gas naturally as the chemical reaction occurrs. I have also heard that these batteries have a drain to allow excess liquid out (which I assume is also sulfuric acid ). I see two connections at the top of the battery (one on the positive side and another on the negative side) but I'm not sure which is which. I also don't know which tubing would be compatible with sulfuric.

The battery didn't include either of these hoses and unfortunately my car doesn't have them either.

Any instructions would be very much appreciated.

Note that I can post pictures later if anyone needs to see the connections.

Thanks!

123quattro

Don't know about filling the battery. However, it should not be venting a liquid. Those drains are really vents for gases. They just need some tubing run outside the body so the battery doesn't exhaust into the passenger compartment and give you a headache.

Mrmerlin

Did you get any acid in a seperate box with the battery??
If not then you should return it to the seller or they should supply you with acid. I would return it.
Buy a battery thats already filled most of them come with drain tubes, if you dont want to return it then .
Filling the battery with a box of electrolyte is pretty easy.
First work in an open space, wear gloves and safety glasses put the acid on the top of an inverted bucket, with battery below it so its on the floor, then fill each cell to the bottom of its cut outs , charge the battery for atleast 6 hours 12 is better at a 6 amp charge, trickle isnt good enough.
For the tube go to Azone and see if they will give/sell you a drain tube.
Im sure they would have a few floating around, rout the tube to one of the holes in the front of the battery box make sure it wont be dripping onto any exhaust parts, you can use mechanics wire to wrap around the hose once its out of the car this will keep it in a curved shape.
More than likely one of the holes that you see on your battery has a small plug in it possibly both of them you should only need to connect the drain to one outlet, posting a picture would be helpful here

Marine Blue

Thank you for the information, very helpful.

I did a search on compatible tubing just now and found Viton to be a good fit. I also have the old Tubing from my Autozone battery but it is oversized and didn't stay on so I was hoping for an alternative. I think I will use a zip tie and tighten it onto the connection so it doesn't fall off. I will still need an extension tube to get it to the opening at the front of the batter box but that shouldn't be a problem.

I will post a picture of the connections tonight, I agree it would help explain what I'm seeing.

Mrmerlin

go the Azone and get new hose they should have some floaters, you dont want any leaks of acid/fumes in the battery box

ROG100

Stan,
Do not be so hard on the battery supplier 8>)

All Porsche batteries are supplied dry and do not come with Battery Fluid Acid.
That is added by the dealership or the customer.
Transporation of batteries filled with acid is not an easy thing.
Also as the battery holds up to 6 quarts of fliud far cheaper to ship dry.

Battery Fluid Acid can be purchsed for a few $ at any local auto store.

As for the tube - does not come with one. Comes with an elbow for the tube but no tube.
We tried to find the tube but to no avail. If you know the number please let both myself and Porsche in on the secret.

Roger

bgibby

Afshin,

Make sure the vent tube is not crimped in any way. My old low mile GT was starting to get serious corrosion in the battery box after a relatively short time with a new battery (Interstate). The tube had been squished & cracked. I replaced it with some silicone tubing I had- tough stuff & virtually impervious to most chemicals/oils.

Brian

Marine Blue

Roger was the elbow supplied loose in the parts box? I didn't see it anywhere...


Brian thank you for the tip. I'm going to make every effort to make sure I have proper tubing in place. My last car had a similar issue with sulfuric gas buildup and corosion (before I bought it) so I plan on being really careful to make sure I don't make the mistake with this car.

You might want to check the compatibility of silicone with sulfuric. When looking at the charts I noted that most were not comaptible or only mildly compatible depending on the concentration of the sulfuric. Viton was safe across the board but Viton does harden over time so it should be monitored yearly.

SharkSkin

When you buy a new battery, all they have done is fill it with acid to the bottom of the cutouts as Stan says, then they put it on the shelf. No charging should be needed. For the vents, I just used hardware store vinyl tubing, it's still fine after ~5 years. Just make sure the exit of the tubing is in a spot where it will not drip on any exhaust or suspension parts, and make sure it isn't kinked. My battery box is much different from yours, but the pics below may give you some ideas anyway. Not shown, I used some small zip ties to hold the tubing on the battery nipples.

Mrmerlin

Very sanitary Dave

dr bob

I'll let you guys in on my double-top-secret vent tube strategy but you have to promise not to tell anyone else...

The rubber elbo/tube supplied with the battery has a small end that fits 1/4" poly tubing perfectly. This is the same stuff that Home Depot sells for drip irrigation systems, so if your neighbor has a drip system installed you know where to find some. Otherwise it's cheap to actually buy it. Route the tube forward out of the battery well through the big grommet where the positive cables pass. Send the tube down behind the heat shield so the exhaust doesn't cook it, and cut it of just below the level of the bottom of the battery box. That way the airflow beneath the car will carry the fumes away with minimum chance of aic deposition on precious undercar materials. Plastic cable ties make good hose clamps for tubing in this service.

For the acid fill, I strongly recommend that you weara face shield, long rubber gloves and at least a plastic apron to protect your clothes. Wash the battery thoroughly if you spill any acid on it at all. Keep the battery and acid away from your clothes for sure; you'll see every little spatter later when you wash them, as either a white spot or a hole.

Follow Stan's recommendation on filling. It's often a good idea to let the battery degass itself a little

Alan

I second Dave's comment - any vinyl tubing is fine. if you get electrolyte dripping out of this you have bigger problems... - its a gas vent only in all normal conditions.

Alan

Mrmerlin

Alan i think you win the prize for having the most things stuffed into your battery box/ spare wheel well

SharkSkin

As Bob & Alan say, normally the tubing will only carry fumes. OTOH, if an alternator is overcharging you might get a bit more than fumes coming out. Most people will drive many more miles when overcharging than they would if undercharging, so it's a good idea to plan ahead and set things up so that acid coming out the tube won't damage anything else.

Alan, is that lower pic an early one? I thought you had your cutoff on the negative side under the tool cover?

Alan

Dave - No - my main battery switch has always been at the GP VII. This one is something else - its basically the isolation switch for my audio supply. The audio supply to my dual Amps and the head unit & preamps is via that big decoupling capacitor (0.5F). The head units and preamps also have inductor fed switched supplies (relay switching).

It is all a bit unusual (of course). The capacitor is fed via the maxifuse, a HUGE heatsinked diode pair (1200A) and has this isolation switch on its ground side - along with a parallel charging resistor and an LED indicator to show when its not fully charged.

Thus my audio system is almost completely isolated from the rest of the car - this helps reduce noise and the diodes avoid the cap discharging when the main battery switch is off. Meanwhile the Cap isolation switch can serve a similar purpose and also allows slow cap charging if the audio supply must ever be turned off.

Alan