Hey Guys, on the GT4,
I have a Radar detector mounted on the windshield and plugged into the power outlet under the dash ( and have tried the one inside the glove box ) and even though they say in the owners manual that it "goes off after 30 mins", mine never does.
This is a pain in the %$s that you have to keep switching the Radar on and off every time. All my other cars are smart and shut it off, but not the latest from Porsche. Any thoughts or Ideas.. am I missing something important ?
Thanks in advance guys.

Jim

 

I used the outlet under the passenger footwell for the battery tender and that stays "live" all the time (at least for 2 months, the longest I've left it plugged in so far).

As far as the other outlets, I wouldn't be surprised if there is some circuitry that detects a current draw and keeps the port lit no matter what the manual mentions.

 

They must have changed something.
I use the passenger footwell power outlet in the GT3 and it shuts off when the ignition does.

 

I remember reading on P9 that the 981's power outlets are always hot, which was a change from the 987 to allow battery tenders to be used through the power outlet. I'm surprised the 991 works differently in this way according to RayDBonz, though.

 

You may want to check with Mfg of the radar detector. If it is one of the newer ones where you can access thru your USB port on your computer you may be able to manipulate this "turn-off" feature. Not certain but worth a shot

 

Interesting, the passenger footwell socket in my 2008 987.1 was always hot.

 

My 12v outlets seem to be hot, it's how I charge the LI battery (passenger footwell)

If you are interested in where to tap into the fuse box to get a switched line, there is a bus on the lowest row of the fuse box that is switched. See pic - black wire coming out.

IMG_5979.jpg

 

The outlets stay hot with ignition off so long as they're active (i.e., minimum current draw or charger). They'll also turn off if car voltage drops too low. Your detector may be drawing above the minimum.
I leave a 12v phone charger plugged in under the dash. When my phone is disconnected with ignition off the outlet disconnects after about 30 min. It stays hot if the phone is left connected.
Best bet is to hard wire to the easily accessed, switched source in the passenger side fuse box. Here's my V1 connection to Row D Fuse 3.

 

Then maybe only some of the sockets turned off a certain time after the ignition was turned off? I can't remember the details. Or maybe it's as was suggested above that they'll stay on if there's a sustained draw but won't come back on again until the ignition is started if they've already powered off. I don't have a 987 to experiment with.

 

I was pretty OCD about 987.1 details back in the day (since migrated to GT4) but the only gotcha was to never use the footwell plug for the air compressor because the fuse was too small for the draw.

Don't recall anything about plugs turning off. The car will go into a sleep mode after a week where the remote unlocking system is turned off however and you'll need the key to turn to door lock and "wake" the car up.

 

Thanks for the info guys, I will try to hard wire to the switched power source or have my dealer do ti, just in case I fry something : )

 

Where did you wire the ground connection to? And did you have to remove or loosen the carpeted kick panel to access it?

 

Have you checked it after 30 minutes without unlocking your car? Before I hardwired mine I noticed that it turned back on after I unlocked the car.

 

There is a nut just to the left of the passenger-side fuse box- it may be helping hold the fuse box on given it's position. The same nut is on the right of the driver-side fuse box IIRC.

Note that I didn't get a clean ground when I first tested the nut, but after taking it off I got a clean ground read on the bolt it was on. There was some body paint on it which I think was the issue.

 

Thanks for confirming. That's the one I chose too. I did not try the one below it though.