Archimedes

Has anyone figured out how to get the Porsche trickle charger to work through any of the power outlets in their 981 Spyder? I've tried all three outlets, even tried plugging in when the ignition was on as someone suggested on here, and the outlets still keep going dead within 30 minutes. Has anyone figured out a way around this without having to run pigtails directly off the battery.

Phil G.

Sounds like the identical problem I had with my 981S. Porsche dealer twice tried to reprogram the outlets to remain hot, but no luck. The instructions were for the Macan, as there were no instructions for the 981 at that time, but there may be updated information. Marty Siler (tech at Paul Miller Porsche in NJ) sent me this info on 8/14/16:

"I performed an automatic coding on the Gateway in the vehicle. Tell the tech that there is a bulletin out for the Macan 58/14 2750 concerning 12 volt trickle charging. The gateway cu is supposed to recognize that a charger is plugged in an keep the 12 volt sockets active. If it is not coded correctly the 12 volt sockets will shut down after a short time (maybe 15 minutes)."

Hope this works in your car. It did not for mine. I had to do the pigtail setup.

Suicide Jockey

I've run my Porsche charger off the cigarette lighter since the car was new. No issues for me. Works perfectly in my case, but you are certainly not alone since chargers and charging are a frequent topic here. Good luck getting it sorted. Starting to think I may have lucked out/dodged a bullet.

il pirata

It appears to be based upon when the car was built. I have an early Spyder, build was finished 10/2/2015 and can charge the car for months off the cigarette outlet. To my knowledge no one has been able to get a later version recoded to allow the socket to stay on.

For the record do you know the build date?

Phil G.

You're correct. My 981S was a late early winter '16 build, one of the last to be imported to the US. I'll bet Archimedes Spyder is a very late build also. The earlier '16 cars allowed the outlets to stay hot indefinitely with ignition switch off.

SpyderSenseOC

So what's the sure-fire method of determining whether your outlet (and I assume we're referring to the actual cig lighter port and not the passenger footwell port) stays hot? Just plug in something with a tell-tale LED or similar and watch it? How soon do the ports that shut down actually do so? 30 minutes?

Suicide Jockey

My date of production (according to my COA) was December 18, 2015, in case this is helpful to anyone who is trying to figure out this issue. As indicated above, I've had no charging issues whatsoever.

Phil G.

Yep. Typically 15-30 minutes.

il pirata

Apparently there is a Technical campaign WG38 gateway control unit recode which was originally issued to deal with a car's lithium battery charging issue through the outlets but also fixes the charging issue with standard lead batteries. I have not confirmed this with Porsche myself.

G-forceGT4

Porsche has stated that with using their CTEK charger that it has to be connected immediately after the car has been shut off, mode set, & then doors locked to avoid the ECU activating automatic sleep mode on the car.
My GT4 is 05/2016 car & I charged the battery with the trickle charger just fine over the holidays. These things can be quirky & I had a battery go flat & sulphate on one of my turbos. At that time ~ 3 or 4 years ago, it didn't say anything in directions for charger or manual. I learned the expensive way, in buying a new battery

Hoosier_Daddy

For the life of me I don't know why folks put up with the issues with these things... not to mention... if one buys the CTEK without the Porsche name printed on it is $50 bucks cheaper.

I've used a simple Schumacher Maintainer or Battery Tender hooked directly to the battery posts on 10 Porsches over the years including late model cars with zero issues. Works perfectly every time, every winter and yes, the truck light shuts off after a few minutes. Each of those maintainers all sell for under $30 and using one is not committing Porsche Hari-Kari no matter what you read on these forums.

skl

Like G-force said-- noticed in the latest ad from Suncoast they say you have to lock the doors after putting the charger into the center outlet or it does go "dead" after a period of time. I just hardwired a socket directly into the battery and hook it up that way when storing for longer periods of time.