987.2S: Frequency of driving to maintain battery life - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

My car use will be infrequent for the winter but I want the excuse to get out often enough to keep the battery in good shape. I was planning to stretch it's legs once every fortnight on some good A-roads for 30mins. Question is, will this be enough?

If you have a power point in the garage I'd go for a trickle charger instead, that's what I use. If that's not an option or it's parked outside then personally I'd think of weekly runs, if only to stop everything seizing up. Fortnightly runs might end up with a gradual deterioration if we have a long winter. Brian

I did consider a trickle charger but I really want the excuse to take it out. If I don't 'force' myself to it could sit there for weeks on end which isn't good for it.

HappyBoxster said: I did consider a trickle charger but I really want the excuse to take it out. If I don't 'force' myself to it could sit there for weeks on end which isn't good for it. It should be regarded as a pleasure, not a chore. Get out there and drive the thing.

HappyBoxster said: My car use will be infrequent for the winter but I want the excuse to get out often enough to keep the battery in good shape. I was planning to stretch it's legs once every fortnight on some good A-roads for 30mins. Question is, will this be enough? Drive it as often as road/weather conditions permit. If the battery is reasonably fresh every 2 weeks for 30+ minutes should suffice unless this usage involves mostly city driving, with the lights on, the A/C on, it should be longer. And you really should try to run the A/C during this time to circulate compressor oil and help keep the A/C in peak operating condition. But don't approach this like a chore. I mean limiting yourself to just 30 minutes in your Porsche is like limiting yourself to one bite of bacon or a sip of beer or just a kiss with a pretty girl...

Why not do both? I used a battery maintainer and kept the car under a cover outside. There were occasional days where a nice day or two followed a snow and I'd wait for the roads to be plowed and drain, then take the car out of hibernation and it would be good to go. Sometimes I was in such a hurry I'd just disconnect the extension cord and leave the maintainer on the floor in front of the seat and then off we'd go. By using a maintainer, I never had to worry about how long the really bad stretch of days was going to be. Consider driving and maintaining both.

I agree - it has got to be both. I have got a 987.1, and I went to use it on Saturday for the first time in a month, and it was totally dead. 24 hours on the trickle charger bought it back to life, and a good couple of hours driving yesterday should have topped it up completely. My car is garaged and very infrequently used. In the summer months, it can go a good few weeks without the battery running down, but it could certainly run flat in less than two weeks in the winter. I normally leave it on charge 24/7 in the winter and it was only not on this time because I have been away since before it got cold. Like you, I'd like the excuse to drive it every two weeks, but I know this sometimes won't happen. When my battery ran down last year, I charged it back up to find that the car had 'forgotten' that it had heated seats installed and I had to pay £80 to the dealer to plug it in and reactivate them. I am not sure if they fixed that issue on the 987.2, but if not that alone goes along way towards the cost of the charger and the electricity it will use.

All great advice. I've just got back from a 30min spin in the Peak District under a clear blue sky. If I could get this weather every Tue going forward then keeping the battery fresh won't be a problem.

Perhaps! Depends upon many things, how cold it gets, and health of your battery. My 987.2 lives outside and went through last winter with no problems but I have a little solar panel trickle charger which plugs into the cigar lighter socket. I took the car out when there was a nice day but it went for four weeks without being started and was fine.