krell

I was checking out Suncoast's black Friday deals and they had the OEM Porsche battery on sale (although it was still $2k+, and there are cheaper options out there). In the description it said that anyone moving from a sealed lead-acid battery to the lithium ion needed to have the dealer reprogram the car. Does anyone know what changes this makes to the charging system, and has anyone actually done this?

Joe Weinstein

"Differences are found in that the lithium ion batteries have a higher voltage per cell. They also require much tighter voltage tolerance on detecting full charge and once fully charged they do not allow or require to be trickle or float charged. It is particularly important to be able to detect the full charge state accurately because lithium ion batteries do not tolerate overcharging.

Most consumer orientated lithium ion batteries charge to a voltage of 4.2 volts per cell and this has a tolerance of around ± 50 mV per cell. Charging beyond this causes stress to the cell and results in oxidation that reduces service life and capacity. It can also cause safety issues as well."

"The mechanism required by the lithium ion battery for charge and discharge include:

Charge current must limited. Typically the maximum value is 0.8C, but lower values are more usually set to give some margin.
Charge temperature monitoring - the cell or battery must not be charged when the temperature is lower than 0°C or greater than 45°C.
Discharge current protection is required to prevent damage or explosion as a result of short circuits.
Charge over-voltage protection - protection is required to prevent a voltage that is too high being applied across the battery terminals.
Over-charge protection - stops charge when voltage per cell rises above 4.30 volts.
Reverse polarity protection.
Over-discharge protection is required to prevent the battery voltage falling below about 2.3 Volts dependent upon the manufacturer.
Over-temperature protection is often incorporated to prevent the battery operating if the temperature rises too high. Temperatures above 100°C can cause irreparable damage.
When using a lithium ion battery, it is imperative that the manufacturers charger is used because different elements of protection may be used in the charger and battery pack dependent upon the design."

ShakeNBake

Just get a Braille. They have electronics to protect and properly charge the battery assuming you are substituting for an oem lead acid/agm unit. No need to code. I've been using mine for over 2 years, 1 year in the gt4 and 1.5 in my 997. Works flawlessly.

krell

Thanks for the feedback. Looking for users to confirm that the lithium works fine and isn't negatively impacted if no reprogramming is done.

Looking to go with a Voltphreaks.

jmartpr

+1 on this....I also have the Braille. 1 year and zero issues. BTW, its' cheaper than the OEM solution.

RDCR

+2 on this using the Ctek lithium maintainer.

ShakeNBake

Some crazy trivia that I didn't know....BMW F80 M3s come with a factory Lithium battery at no extra cost. The OEM battery is $800 on the street and weighs about 20lbs. Crazy...

Alan C.

Which Braille did you go with?
Thanks

ShakeNBake

i48CE

myBailey07

Hey bud, I think you already answered this somewhere else if memory serves me right. Does the i48ce physically fit plug and play, or did you have to modify brackets etc to hold it down?

Alan C.

Thanks for the part number.

Spyerx

I have a Braille and a voltphreaks. I like the voltphreaks. Feel it's better engineered than the Braille. Braille looks better... but feel the voltphreaks has better electronics. Smarter. Shuts off at low voltage, has on off switch, has remote on/off, etc.

RDCR

Mine was plug n play.

ShakeNBake

The "48" denotes a fit series for a any battery you'd buy for a cayman or 911. It fit without any mods, and while you are in there, you can remove some other stuff, like the tire pump. It's essentially plug and play - except that you need a different trickle charger. When I bought mine, the trickle charger came free with it. They advise very strongly to use their own trickle chargers. You can't use a standard lead acid/agm charger (no matter how fancy), you could damage the battery or cause it to go boom. There are also some other precautions with Lithium batteries like not letting them get below 50% charge, and not jump-starting them.

RDCR

Yep, I called Braille after I figured out my Porsche maintainer wasn't working with the I48ce. They suggested theirs or any after market unit designed for lithium. I bought the Ctek lithium unit and it's been working fine for me for about 6 months now. When I mentioned plug n play I meant from a physical standpoint but you are correct in pointing out one needs a lithium maintainer to go along with it. The new Porsche lithium maintainer appears to be the same ctek unit I'm using.