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So, in about 2 months our newest product is coming out... Battery Chargers. But we believe we are doing it better actually than the top brand since we are a Lithium Battery company and know what we would like to see to charge Batteries. that are designed for Lithium Batteries and also work with Lead Batteries, and have some cool features other top brands don't have. We actually delayed the production as we added a few more features, but now we think about 2 months out.
@Antigravity sold! I've had issues with both NOCO and CTEK not properly charging and then failing to wake the BMS (without using another battery to jump it back to life). In my McLaren that caused error codes galore and every #@_$ subsystem had to be reprogrammed by a tech. Expensive flat battery.
So, yeah, I'm definitely down to try a new charger.
Please post when they are available!
..
As to the GT3RS owners hitting this problem, very sorry for you all. I'd be on the phone to the dealer and make sure they bark at Porsche DE and get them to fix it.
I managed to manually release the frunk today following the images getto822000 posted; so long as you've got your emergency key for access, turn the wheels (no jack required) over to the right for the outer and left for inner screws and that sould be enough to fit a T25 torx with a smaller rachet in to loosen and remove the 5 screws holding the front liner (a Wera 056490 set was perfect).
Honestly the hardest part is if you've got a bigger arm, you may need to really stuff it in there to grab and pull that release cable, but overall the job took about 25 minutes and less grief than the actual stress of figuring out alternative options.
Likely not the wisest choice removing the front trunk button on the key, but at least it's managable in the future for anyone who runs into this issue - but at this point, just leave that hood open on the latch.
Awesome write up and pictures...and car. I have a few points to make that might make it so you don't have to get to the cable again to open the frunk, or others in the same situation.
Your set up with the Charger pigtail is great, and I'm sure you'll be religous about keeping the RS on a charger, but unfortunately if your Lithium battery goes into its protection mode for any reason like losing power to the charger, or forgetting to connect it then you might be in the same situation of not being able to open the frunk without going to the cable. The reason for this is because the typical Porsche/CTEK Charger does not have the ability to awaken the Lithium Battery's BMS when it is in sleep/protection mode. To wake up a Porsche or other Lithium Battery's BMS requires a solid current and voltage to the battery to wake it up. In fact, when the typical Porsche/CTEK Charger is connected to a battery without voltage at it terminals (like when the Lithium battery is in sleep/protection mode) then it won't even start the charging process since it doesn't sense a battery and will not allow voltage to the Chargers Clamps, which is a sparkless safety feature. So it won't help to connect a most Chargers unless they are designed to provide the BMS wake-up feature, or have a solid Power supply. I believe CTEK actually has a larger model Charger that suppsed to do that, but we have not tested it yet. So the bottom line is you would want to make sure you have a Charger or have a Charger with a Power Supply capable of doing that, or the ability to connect a Jump Starter to your Battery directly as with our Antigravity Clampless Harness. The benefit of these items is that they are going to give you the ability to Wake-Up the Lithium Battery, or, since they are connected directly to your Car's battery, provide the entire Cars systems with sufficient energy (voltage/current) to allow your Frunk-switch to work to pop the frunk without going into the wheel well or messing around in the fusebox which is hit and miss.So you do want a cable as you have with your CTEK, that can deliver that... so you might have to go with the large CTEK since you have CTEK and they have that proprietary connector.
Now for the background and pitch... I had a 2016 GT3 RS, ( my first Porsche) I had this similar problem the 4th day I had it because I put our first Gen of Lithium Battery in it, didn't connect the negative lead and shut the frunk not knowing about Porsches doing this. The Key was locked in the ignition and I couldn't work anything or get into the frunk and basically had a panic attack thinking I screwed up my new very expensive Car.. then I went on the internet and found out about this. I still think the system is beyond absurd so we decided to make fixes for it. So the point is we made several products since then that work for this type of thing and not getting stuck or stranded by dead batteries in any cars. So, in about 2 months our newest product is coming out... Battery Chargers. But we believe we are doing it better actually than the top brand since we are a Lithium Battery company and know what we would like to see to charge Batteries. that are designed for Lithium Batteries and also work with Lead Batteries, and have some cool features other top brands don't have. We actually delayed the production as we added a few more features, but now we think about 2 months out.
So heres the features of our chargers. WE offer 3 sizes of 2Amps, 4 Amps, and 10Amps... but for all intents and Purposes we are going to suggest the 10Amp becuase for an Automotive Lithium Battery to awaken you want a solid amount of currrent so the 10A will charge the fastest and easily wake up most any BMS. Our 4Amp Models does the exact same things but if you have a higher load from your car during the wake up of a BMS it draws down the current the charger is putting out so I may not wake up a Cars BMS so easy, but it does Motorcycle Lithium Batteries easy.
-We didn't like the colored LED "lights" on Chargers like the CTEK, NOCO, Optimate that tell where you are in the Charge Cycle. We actually manufacture Lithium Batteries so we wanted to see the actual Voltage and Current going into the Battery during the Charge Cycle. So, we made a Digital Display that shows the actual Voltage and Current that the Charger is Charging the Battery at. That Digital display also will have a easy to read Battery Icon Showing the level of Charge on the Battery and also display other information when used in other modes which I will describe below.
- We wanted the Charger to do MORE than just Charge a Lithium Battery or Lead/Acid/AGM Battery. At Antigravity we are always testing and recharging batteries of all different types and didn't like the wasted time of having several different types of Chargers. So we built in the ability of our Chargers to Charge, (at the correct profiles for each type of battery) 6v and 12v Lithium (Lifepo4/LFP) Batteries, 12v Lead/Acid batteries such as AGMs, Gel, or Flooded forms of Lead/Acid. So our charger does them all. You can charge your Trucks Lead/Acid Battery, and then charge a Lithium Battery in your Motorcycle, Porsche or any other 6v or 12v Lifepo4 Lithium Battery with our Charger.
- We wanted to have a Voltage Meter on a Charger because sometimes you want to know what the Battery Voltage is at without having to pull out a Multimeter. So we incorporated a Voltage Meter into our Battery Charger. Its a great useful feature we did not see on other chargers.
- Since we are a Lithium Battery Manufacturer specifically, we wanted our Charger to be able to WAKE UP a Lithium Battery that is in it sleep protectino mode and then have it start Charging in it Lithium profile in one easy step, which is something that most the other Charger companies do not realize is an issue, and they don't have a product for. As I stated previously in this thread, the issue is the if a Lithium Battery over-discharges it;s BMS will put it into a Sleep Mode, but a regular Charger cannot wake up a Lithium Battery because it willnot see Voltage at the terminals due to the battery being asleep, but our Charger when set to its BMS Re-Set Mode, will automatically wake up the BMS, than begin Chargin the Battery in a Lithium Profile if the wake up is successful. This has been a problem for people with Porsche Lithium Batteries as well as other brands of Lithium Batteries.
-We stayed with the Typical SAE Battery pigtail type of Connection for our Clamps, Charger and Pigtail. We do not like how it works with the brands with proprietary connections for thier Battery Chargers. For example CTEK and NOCO...We deal with alot of every type of driver, racer, and riders and if you do not bring your special CTEK charger on the road or track and have ever needed assistance it not alway easy to find a CTEK charger. Maybe this is rare for most, but if your tracking or traveling you want a standardized tyypical plug in the event you don't have your charger.
- I does have the recondition mode for Lead/Acid Batteries as well as and Automatic Winter mode for all battery types, no need to select Winter mode it does it automatically with it built in temperature sensor.
So anyway it will be a definate step up in Chargers and good for those wanting something like this.
Can you let us know when this is on the market and whether we can buy one in the UK/Europe. Thanks
Can you let us know when this is on the market and whether we can buy one in the UK/Europe. Thanks
Yes we will have two different versions for EU and USA. We'll keep everybody updated.
I caused a 2 month delay because I wanted the display a little larger after recieving the production samples, and I changed a few other things so Charger would awaken the BMS easier then we wanted to include a Cig Lighter Adapter for the Power Supply which then changes packaging. Then we found the European Certifications changed and had to pass testing for those. In any event we are moving into final production a 2nd time and hope for about 8-10 weeks which is a bummer for us, but the unit will be awesome, and we are excited.
We are conservatively estimating our 10Amp Version will roughly the same cost as the CTEK 4.3 Amp Unit, but will give much faster charging, and also have a powerful BMS RESET as well as the other features I mentiioned in an earlier thread...
@Antigravity - just backing up what @marklondon said, let us know as soon as it's available. I have little faith in my CTEK and NOCO battery tenders as both have been silently "failing" and showing "Green" while not actually maintaining/charging the battery on my 911 and McLaren after days in the garage.
@Antigravity - just backing up what @marklondon said, let us know as soon as it's available. I have little faith in my CTEK and NOCO battery tenders as both have been silently "failing" and showing "Green" while not actually maintaining/charging the battery on my 911 and McLaren after days in the garage.
For sure will and thanks for the interest. I think we just passed all the Tests for USA and EU for our certifications to sell everywhere, and have all the top certifications.
Also we are having our largeest discount on our Car Batteries this weekend for our Labor Day sale, but it also goes for our Jump STarters and Deep Cycle Batteries. Have a Great Labor day all!