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Leaving car for 2-3 weeks

lex524

Member
Joined
4 Nov 2018
Messages
13
Hi all

Just got my 997, and have read that the battery will likely drain after 2-3 weeks of non use. I am going on holiday in the summer, and will be leaving the car on my driveway.

What is best to do? Am thinking I could just leave it and use a CTEK to charge the battery back up again (via the socket in footwell) when I get home.... I don't want to leave it trickle charging across the drive as it's very obvious I am not in!

If I did disconnect the battery, what do I need to use to get back in the frunk? Would I need a spare battery to use on the fuse box connector?

Thanks for your help!
 
Lex,
This is topical for me. Hadn't used my 997 for a couple of weeks and wasn't going to use it for another 10days so I though I'll put the Ctek on, car is in the garage. But I found battery was completely flat, used key to open the door. My battery chargers (I have 2) would not work using the fuse box pin, both would just turn off and I think that's because the battery was completely goosed.

Anyway, there are a couple of emergency release cables. For the engine there's a cable between the bumper and the rear passenger light cluster. I got that with a coat hanger, but when open I couldn't see any where to use jump leads. I have the X51 conversion and it's different?

Ok, so to the front, hopefully your locking wheel nut socket is not in the front compartment - haha! Anyway, I had to push the car out of the garage, take off the passenger wheel off and inner wing liner, pull the cable and the front opened. Relief, but what a faff!

Bought a new battery, old one showed 8V. Now starts much faster, the battery must have been on the way out for ages. Once you disconnect the battery the PSM needs to reset and it did this by just driving along the road NP.

TBH, my 12yr old Audi A4 I'd leave no problems for 3 weeks, not sure why 911 would go flat if you have a good battery. Anyway, just a heads up, don't come back to dead battery?

Good luck!
 
I find 3 weeks is fine and the car opens and starts. It did that with the Porsche battery and later with the Bosch S5.
 
If you lock the car and then disconnect the battery the alarm will trigger .. if you disconnect the battery first then you can't lock the car so a catch 22 situation .

2-3 weeks with a fully charged battery and no prior discharge faults should be fine .. i think i would use a cetek to get it up to full charge then just lock the car as normal.



If the car has a flat battery or indeed a disconnected battery then its the same thing .. a jump pack on the red tab in the fuse board will open the bonnet .

Only thing to be aware of .. you need a good earth and i use the door stay .. Not the rear lock latch bar , and you also have to press the key fob bonnet button a lot as well as the bonnet open switch a lot .. it very rarely works on the first try with either of these .

Considering i've done this hundreds of times and never had a problem then you shouldn't either if it does go flat .

You Will need a boost pack / spare battery and leads though .
 
CTEK cig lighter adapter is great and saves the hassle of finding the cable to pop the frunk and access battery terminals.

Much easier and cheaper than a booster pack, (providing you're near a mains supply!)

You can close and lock the door over the cable (so you can charge overnight when you're back from holiday)
 
James M-S said:
CTEK cig lighter adapter is great and saves the hassle of finding the cable to pop the frunk and access battery terminals.

Much easier and cheaper than a booster pack, (providing you're near a mains supply!)

You can close and lock the door over the cable (so you can charge overnight when you're back from holiday)

Great, thanks James, sounds like the best option for me. I can run power ok from the house. Hopefully won't need it!

Power pack is option # 2 if that doesnt work!

I have left my Audi for over a month and not a beat missed, its odd the 997 drains so fast!
 
Actually - I'm not sure if the cig lighter adapter will work on a gen1 as I don't think the cig socket is permanent live like a gen2 :dont know:


I'm sure a fellow gen1 owner can advise.....
 
Interesting photo? Mini charging the porka But no luck as previous post There was defo an earth connection. :worship:
 

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First picture i've seen of the best place to put the earth lead .. The official instructions say the rear lock latch .. that's not a good place .. yours is perfect .

:thumb:

love the mini :)
 
James M-S said:
Actually - I'm not sure if the cig lighter adapter will work on a gen1 as I don't think the cig socket is permanent live like a gen2 :dont know:


I'm sure a fellow gen1 owner can advise.....

Ctek cigarette socket works fine on a Gen 1. Use it all the time :thumbs:
 
addavies said:
Ctek cigarette socket works fine on a Gen 1. Use it all the time :thumbs:



Happy days then for Lex. :thumb:
 

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