SpyderSenseOC

Shumacher's aren't fancy enough.

terbiumactivated

LOL well you better order some some Porsche caliper stickers for that unit you purchased. Look at us charging Spyders with non factory equipment, good way to get bounced from the PCA

FlamsteadHill

What's a landlocked guy (or gal) to do?

VirgilKane

terbiumactivated

Or barter with Ben & Jerry's

ghartke

Knowing that my right arm was going to be immobilized for an extended period due to shoulder surgery, I asked my Porsche service manager if I would need a battery tender for my 2014 Cayman S with MT. He said that I would absolutely need one if the car was going to sit for more than 3 or 4 weeks and, further, told me not to plug it into the cig lighter because it would disconnect after 15 minutes. He told me to make sure I plug it into the receptacle in the passenger side footwell because that one stays active. I bought a CTEK MUS 4.3 plus the adapter needed for the receptacle and after 7 weeks, it seems to be doing exactly what it's supposed to do (according to the display). FWIW, I'm finally going to disconnect the tender and fire up the car tomorrow. 'Bout time. It's been a lo-o-o-o-ong 7 weeks.

Regards,

Greg

Jedi

For what it’s worth, I had my vehicle parked with a CTEK maintainer hooked up. Just happened to open the frunk for some reason to find that the battery had exploded. It created quite a mess, insurance has covered it, but I’m still out $300-400. It’s in the shop getting fixed right now, probably has $1000 damage.

I’m not sure of the cause, whether it was a short in the battery or the CTEK malfunctioned and overcharged the battery causing the explosion.

I’m thinking from now on to remove the battery from vehicles or boats that might be sitting for awhile, don’t want to go through this again.

terbiumactivated

I check the battery vent at year end for any obstruction, leave the frunk open a foot and check it frequently while it's sleeping. It's right next to the truck so it's not like the old days for me when my Porsche was at the 24x24 garage at my rental.

FlamsteadHill

Does the light turn off after X minutes?

terbiumactivated

I remove the bulb for winter it's an easy press fit, that little sucker can get hot though so don't leave it on a while before removal

FlamsteadHill

Duh...

Thanks!

various cheeses

Uh oh. I usually keep mine hooked up to a CTEK just for the hell of it, since it sometimes will sit for 2-3 days straight. Maybe I shouldn't do that huh?

terbiumactivated

Cheese, the battery tenders are designed not to over charge the battery. When functioning correctly they only begin charging a full battery after it loses charge to a given threshold. So a few days on the Ctek should be absolutely fine. Mine has been on the Schumaker for more than a week now. Now in the old days what one did want to avoid was using a standard battery charger and "cooking" the battery by overcharging it that way. We had a Snap-on fast charger on wheels, thing was a beast, it would have been an easy day to go overboard with such a unit. An hour tops was more than enough but that charger was far more powerful than a trickle charger and had no ability to shut itself off other than a timer.

John Ferguson

Jedi, sorry to hear of your misfortune.

My BGTS has been hooked to a CTEK for nearly 3 years with zero issues except my car starts everytime, only gets driven a couple times a month. Plugged into cigarette lighter socket which stays energized as long as you plug it in before it goes to sleep. If you have a power outage and your car goes to sleep, you will need to wake it up again for the cigarette lighter socket to wake up and stay connected (with Entry and Drive that's how it works). Learned expensive lesson letting previous Cayman S battery run down once too often. Keep Harley plugged in too as it sits for long spells during the winter. Discharged batteries sulfate / die an early death.

Phil G.

I've used the CTEK chargers during storage periods (winter) of up to 3 months with no issues. My understanding is that the recommendation is not just to start the car for a few minutes, turn off, then reconnect to charger, since condensation can cause engine damage. Once started, the car should be run up to normal operating temperature and driven prior to reconnecting to the charger.