When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I wish I knew how Noco and Battery Tender were internally constructed. I'm an EE and have my own (possibly peculiar) ideas about what makes a good battery maintainer, or not.
1) Old school (i.e. Porsche wall-wart-style) battery maintainers were made by using a wall-voltage AC step-down transformer and a semiconductor rectifier circuit filtered by an electrolytic capacitor. This circuit performed just fine for as long as the crappy capacitor held its "capacity". Electrolytic capacitors sometimes "dry out" or otherwise lose their "capacity" to function over time or from power-line surge abuse.
2) After the capacitor lost some portion of its function, the 120 Hz (or 100 Hz depending on local power specs) rectified AC waveform caused ripple currents to appear in the charging current. It turns out that large values (you get to guess the critical amount) of ripple current cause all sorts of nasty chemical actions in the battery chemistry and the internal resistance of the cells begins to rise. After a sufficient amount of time of being charged in this high-ripple-current manner, the battery begins to resemble an anvil in its ability to hold a charge. Kaput!
3) I experienced many battery failures in my stored-for-the-winter vehicles during the time I was ignorant of the AC ripple-current battery destruction mechanism. I took "perfect" care of the batteries with impossible-to-know imperfect or failing battery maintainers. They seemed to charge the battery, but the battery failed anyway. I was really pissed.
4) The C-Tek method does not use a conventional transformer/rectifier that can output 120 Hz (or 100 Hz in Eu, etc) ripple currents if imperfectly reliable. C-Tek uses a 10's or 100's of KHz switching regulator that samples the incoming AC wall-plug voltage at this very high frequency and filters it with a small, but effective, inductor. This system cannot excite the same destructive chemical reaction if something goes slightly amiss. The inductor filter is much easier to guarantee its function over time and, if it failed, the frequency of operation is less molecularly active in the battery if the failure goes unnoticed. Ripple-current battery destruction is sooooo much less likely.
5) After changing to the C-Tek high-frequency switching-regulator battery maintainers, I have NEVER had a subsequent over-the-winter battery failure in any of my cars.
6) Anyone using anything BUT a C-Tek (or equivalent) battery maintainer is ignorant or a fool!
I got what I was told the last weeks production car. Built in December 1997. I took delivery in January and sold it last fall. Nice profit. I guess I should have keep it. Then I ordered 2015 GT3. Should have keep the 1981, 1982, 1986 Turbo, 1989 Speedster. Instead sold them last fall and ordered a 918. All fun cars.
Macca I got what I was told the last weeks production car. Built in December 1997. I took delivery in January and sold it last fall. Nice profit. I guess I should have keep it. Then I ordered 2015 GT3. Should have keep the 1981, 1982, 1986 Turbo, 1989 Speedster. Instead sold them last fall and ordered a 918. All fun cars.
Wow. great story! Never look back. It's about driving these things really. In our market no big profits to be had in P-cars, they are never worth more than what they sold new for yet not even 993RS & 964RS. Use them and enjoy them I reckon and the 918 and GT3 mean you don't have to worry about piling on the miles and replacing them should something bad happen...
No I don't have a 918 on order. Was trying to say that if I keep all my previous Porsche's I could have sold them last fall and had the money to order a 918. They all went up. Way up. Enjoyed the heck out of them when I had them.
Got my CTEK 3300 from Amazon. Plugged it in via cigarette lighter plug in the arm rest, easier access than the passenger foot well. Cord through the driverside window slightly open, then put the car cover back on. Selected snowflake mode and let her charge on. Easy. Thanks for everyone's suggestions. Saved a bunch of money not getting the "Porsche" branded one.
Got my CTEK 3300 from Amazon. Plugged it in via cigarette lighter plug in the arm rest, easier access than the passenger foot well. Cord through the driverside window slightly open, then put the car cover back on. Selected snowflake mode and let her charge on. Easy. Thanks for everyone's suggestions. Saved a bunch of money not getting the "Porsche" branded one.
I believe you will not the full benefit of the maintainer if the car is not in full "sleep" mode. Leaving a window open will keep the car awake. I believe it is better to run the wire down the door sill and just close the door. There is a rubber seal there that will just deform w/o causing any damage to the wire.
I believe you will not the full benefit of the maintainer if the car is not in full "sleep" mode. Leaving a window open will keep the car awake. I believe it is better to run the wire down the door sill and just close the door. There is a rubber seal there that will just deform w/o causing any damage to the wire.
Leaving the window won't let the car into sleep mode? Not sure why that would be the case.
I believe you will not the full benefit of the maintainer if the car is not in full "sleep" mode. Leaving a window open will keep the car awake. I believe it is better to run the wire down the door sill and just close the door. There is a rubber seal there that will just deform w/o causing any damage to the wire.
Window has no effect. Car enters sleep mode after about 5 days of being locked and alarmed, to save battery life.
I guess both of you guys could be correct. When I read the thread I thought the statement was leaving the door cracked rather than the window as clearly stated. The key is to set the alarm to maximize the charger benefit. IIRC the alarm system design is such that it will not fully set if certain parts of the car are not fully closed.
05-22-2015, 08:46 PM
