After reading and posting on the Engine Break-in thread (Warning: testiness abounds!) I decided to stop by the service dept. of my local Porsche dealership. After discussing the break-in period issue, the service advisor recommended I buy a battery maintainer when I get my car unless it is being driven everyday. He said when at home to always remove the ignition key (including the dummy entry and drive key) & lock the car as that shuts down some electrical systems and thus saves the battery. Then plug in the maintainer.

Seems to me to be one big (ok maybe not big but still) PITA. I wanted Entry & Drive so I could always leave my key in the ignition, even at home in the garage. With my current car I leave the key on the seat so I always know where it is. My question is has anybody with Entry & Drive who does not use a battery maintainer had any dead battery issues? Would also like to hear from those that use a maintainer.

 

I dont understand. The plastic thing in the car is not a key. Once you turn off the car, it is off.

You can leave the Porsche key in the seat if you want. You can't lock it with the key in the car- and that is a good thing. You can lock the car and leave the key anywhere outside the car in the garage, including on the roof if you like.

I have left my car without a battery maintainer for a couple of weeks and it started right up. I have a battery maintainer and would not bother to use it unless I planned to not drive the car for while. Daily sounds silly to me.

I do lock the car when I remember- that turns off the interior lights faster. But have never had a problem when I didn't. All in all it is a convenience thing not a necessity- but I like it.

 

Thanks Chuck. Not having used Entry & Drive before I'm kinda going in blind with it. Want it to be as easy as it sounds. The service advisor even told me not to leave the key in the garage as the car will pick up the signal and thus help drain the battery. Maybe he was just trying to get me to buy something?

 

I was going to ask what he told you about the break in period, but thought better of it after contemplating the notion of removing a piece of plastic when parking the car in your garage. This is such a nice thread.

 

991 C2S no entry drive. regular key. let sit for 2 weeks without battery charger. upon restart message in display (battery saver mode activated). had not seen that before.

 

991 c2s with entry and drive.......no problem leaving for 5 days so far. i cant believe porsche would sell a car that needed continous battery tender. i think your service guy is FOS, and he wouldnt be the first porsche one ive seen.

 

991 with the entry and drive system - left it for 7 days, no battery problems (though I did get a check engine light when I started it). The manual says that after a certain number of hours (30?) it shuts the system down to save the battery and to enter you have to lift the handle rather than just put your hand near it.

 

I too left mine sitting for 7 days over Xmas and had no issues. Off subject, but I have only had one other vehicle that will warm up as fast as the 991, and it is my trusted Chevy truck. Just keeps on impressing me......

 

I believe the interior lights go off after ~15 minutes (may be programmable) when the car is turned off if the car is left unlocked. Between Porsche battery paranoia and global warming, I tend to lock mine just to shut them off immediately.

 

I assure you, without any doubt, that the air cooled cars warmed up much much faster - I had nice warm air from my 993 within 1 minute of starting it, and fully warm air withihn another minute - driving gently. But the 991 does warm up faster than some cars - and there is a special "fast heat" option sold in cold countries.

 

lol!! I have sat outside the car waiting for them to turn off and they really have a long preset from the factory. There has got to be a setting for this..hmm

 

Sounds like Porsche knows the 991 has so many George Jetson features that it WOULD run down the battery if parked too long, and so they even engineered it to put systems to sleep to save the battery to prevent that happening. Probably if left parked long enough there will be another message, "scavenger recharge activated" and you will notice all your OTHER nearby cars have dead batteries!

 

Two completely different things. The air cooled cars use the exhaust manifold to heat cabin air. This tends to get hot and provide hot air very fast, at least apparently according to you in a 993, because my SC heat output was all over the map depending on throttle and outside temperature. In any case these are completely different than how fast the engine warms up, which certainly happens much faster - and more consistently- in the 991.

 

Someone from Porsche is reading this right now and just decided to put a solar panel on the roof to keep the battery charged...

 

I have entry and drive. After not driving my car for maybe a week or so, it started right up but informed me that, and it's a little vague to me now, that the auto stop/start function, that I always have disabled since I only use sport mode, would not work. After obsessing about this for a few minutes, I realized it was a battery voltage issue. I called my Porsche sales guy, who I respect greatly, and he said plug in a battery tender. There are some devices that draw current with the key off....who knows what. My 993 can sit for weeks without this problem, but then it was built before touchtone phones....magical nonetheless.