Storing Cayman for the winter. Battery question.
 

I did a search and didn't see a thread about this.

I live in a Condo and cannot use a trickle charger. Usually I would just unhook the battery from my Lexus and Mercedes but with the Cayman, I am wondering what I can do since the hood release is electronic. Last year I drove the car periodically to charge the battery as we did not get much snow. But this year I'm going to leave it until spring.

I had a battery die in the car when I first bought it and had to use jumper cables with that little post thing that pops out under the dash to get to the battery. But, if there is no battery hooked up in the car will this method still pop the hood? I would prefer to remove the battery all together or at the very least unhook the cables from the battery, but do not know if this is even an option. I would rather deal with a dead battery that I have to jump in the spring as opposed to not being able to get under the hood. And leaving the hood popped open with the battery out is not an option.

How does one get into the hood area if there is no battery present?

There are some threads discussing accessing the frunk with a dead battery, but I think your best bet is to leave the frunk slightly popped with a car cover over the car. It is going to be a pain to get back in any other way you cut it. I'm not sure if you can get in the car with NO battery or not, but even if you can it is going to be an unpleasant process.

Why not use a battery tender?

My 2015 BGTS is stored with the battery disconnected. The storage place isn't allowed to have chargers connected due to code. This hasn't been an issue. All works fine in the spring. The facility owner parks the car, disconnects the battery and puts the cover on. The hood is left with just the safety catch. They store many Porsche's so they are aware of the challenges with the hood. If you are concerned someone may bump the hood down maybe a block of foam under the hood to prevent from latching.

I am in somewhat similar situation. I live in a condo and my parking garage stall does not have a near by electric outlet. The only difference I drive mine every single dayhttps://rennlist.com/forums/images/icons/icon10.gif

Do you run snow tires on it? I have some that I have never used. They are Nitto's and the exact same sizes as the stock tires for a 2006.

Oh I just bought Michelin Pilot Alpin tires for my 2015 Cayman. I have two sets of wheels and tires for summer and winter.

I figured you did. You'd have to be a maniac to drive in MN year round on all seasons or summer tires in a Cayman. Or wanting to become intimate with a phone pole or nearest ditch.

If your car is parked in an area that gets direct sunlight, a solar power charger may be a suitable option to maintain voltage.

As a ref., one trick if you do end up getting the voltage too low to activate the frunk release is to open the door with the key and put a trickle on the lighter outlet.
It may take a day+ but it will get the voltage high enough to activate the electric frunk latch. This was in a situation where the fuse box extension didn't work and I've done it with lead acid and lithium batteries.
Much less hassle than pulling the left front wheel, wheel liner and pulling on the manual cable to release the frunk. (which I have done on the dyno when the flash killed the battery due to the fans coming on)

I removed my battery in my 2014 981 for the winter. Will report back if the car disintegrates without having a battery for 4 months :)

What if you;

Pop hood and disconnect battery

Remove battery

Connect some reasonable gauge wire to each battery cable and then to the battery (now out of the car)

Drape the wire over the fender and close the hood securely. Obviously you don't want the wire to be too thick. You are not trying to carry enough current to start the car. Just enough to power the necessary modules.

Lock the car

Disconnect the battery from the wires and store the battery.

Now the car has the wires hanging out of it and you can just reconnect them in spring when you are ready to reinstall the battery.

Just make sure you label the + and - so you don't mix up the connections.

I'd probably put some painters tape and rags on the area of where the wires are contacting the fender so as not to mar the finish when covering the car.

I took the battery out of my '16 Cayman S when I stored it. Left frunk slightly ajar and put on cover. My understanding is that when I reinstall the battery in the Spring I will have to reset the "end position of the windows" and the TPMS. This is all from the manual. It also says that I'll have to do some funky stuff with the ignition and steering to reset the PSM module: says to turn ignition switch to "ignition lock position 2 twice" and then back, then start, turn steering wheel back and forth then drive slowly in a straight line until the PSM warning light goes out. IF it does not then it's to the dealer to get it reset (I'd think there might be another way to do this with Durametric or the like.