2002 Porsche 996 - make cigarette lighter live all the time? - Page 1 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

I've acquired a solar charger to try and combat the ever popular 996 battery drain. Problem is, it tops up via the 12V socket which I believe post '99 is ignition controlled. Ergo without the key the charger won't do anything once the circuit cuts. Is there a way to make the 12V socket always live so it will accept charge? Obviously I realize without the charger this will only accelerate battery drain!

It should be live permanently. I would search for ctek and ciggy lighter and look at the results. You have to plug it in and lock it within a certain timeframe otherwise it sleeps. Maybe the load is not enough to keep it awake? How quick does the battery drain? Mine went 5 weeks in December and into Jan and started no problem. Used to be about a week, but went round looking for things that drained it and there was a bluetooth audio adapter not plugged into the 'remote' on the back of the stereo and a tracker on the rear parcel, both pulling far too much. I also double press the lock so the interior sensor goes off, you get a single beep when that has happened, I found that will give you a bit less drain. My calculations based on battery size and current draw is mine will last around 2 months now. 5 weeks is the longest I have ever manage to test it though.

Ed.Neumann said: It should be live permanently. I would search for ctek and ciggy lighter and look at the results. You have to plug it in and lock it within a certain timeframe otherwise it sleeps. Maybe the load is not enough to keep it awake? How quick does the battery drain? Mine went 5 weeks in December and into Jan and started no problem. Used to be about a week, but went round looking for things that drained it and there was a bluetooth audio adapter not plugged into the 'remote' on the back of the stereo and a tracker on the rear parcel, both pulling far too much. I also double press the lock so the interior sensor goes off, you get a single beep when that has happened, I found that will give you a bit less drain. My calculations based on battery size and current draw is mine will last around 2 months now. 5 weeks is the longest I have ever manage to test it though. I'm not sure it is permanent live, I read elsewhere that this was changed post '99 so it's only live with the key in. Happy to be wrong though! From full charge I might get 3 weeks till it's dead, with not enough charge to start a few days before then. 2 weeks seems the 'safe' limit of being able to start but of course it then needs a decent drive to top up the battery. I suspect a combination of a battery past its best and the nature of 996; perhaps there's something on my car that's overactive (hello alarm I'm looking at you). Will try the double press thing

I would put a multimeter on it and start pulling fuses, or even better, borrow a clamp meter, that is draining far too quickly. Mine is 2001 and ciggy lighter is permanently on.

My old 2003 996 had the cigarette lighter permanently live, I used it for a CTEK charger

Mine is an early 996.2 C2 (51 plate, 2002 MY) and has a permanent live cigarette lighter socket. I leave it plugged in to the Ctek MXS 5.0 when not being used and the battery has never been an issue.

Sadly my cheapo eBay solar charger seems to be a useless paperweight. The little led is on to show it's making electricity, but nothing seems to flow into the car as advertised.... or the battery drain is faster than it can provide charge. I'm parked on street so a plug in solution isn't viable Best option I think is just bloody drive the thing more often

trackdemon said: Sadly my cheapo eBay solar charger seems to be a useless paperweight. The little led is on to show it's making electricity, but nothing seems to flow into the car as advertised.... or the battery drain is faster than it can provide charge. I'm parked on street so a plug in solution isn't viable Best option I think is just bloody drive the thing more often You just need to work out what is drawing the current and draining it. You should be able to last weeks between drives. You can do this with a £10 multimeter. I take it when you lock the car you don't get any beeps? Any aftermarket stereo fitted? Or audio adapters etc.? When you come back to the car parked up your instrument cluster is not lit? You car has actually gone to sleep?

Ed.Neumann said: trackdemon said: Sadly my cheapo eBay solar charger seems to be a useless paperweight. The little led is on to show it's making electricity, but nothing seems to flow into the car as advertised.... or the battery drain is faster than it can provide charge. I'm parked on street so a plug in solution isn't viable Best option I think is just bloody drive the thing more often You just need to work out what is drawing the current and draining it. You should be able to last weeks between drives. You can do this with a £10 multimeter. I take it when you lock the car you don't get any beeps? Any aftermarket stereo fitted? Or audio adapters etc.? When you come back to the car parked up your instrument cluster is not lit? You car has actually gone to sleep? Yeah I probably should check at some point; car doesn't beep on locking but gives a single flash of all indicators. Everything is OEM, no extras. Instrument cluster wakes up when I unlock (if there's charge!)....

My 52 plate 996 Turbo connects to the solar panel via the cigarette lighter. I can see two options to keep your battery fresh, aside from driving it for an hour every week. 1. Get someone to sort out your cigarette lighter so it works how you want (or have a second one routed into the cabin or the glove compartment). 2. Buy one of these https://amzn.to/3OFJVi5 after checking out this thread: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... Actually, I only just had a thought - there might be a third option... https://amzn.to/49xAp8X !

I keep this in my car, just in case. Boost pack It will give 3 starts of these, maybe 4, and seems to stay charged for months.

G-996 said: My old 2003 996 had the cigarette lighter permanently live, I used it for a CTEK charger Same here

My 997.1 has 2 cigarette lighter sockets. One is always live, the other one is switched.