The Perfect Storm

A nice 3 day weekend is over, and it's time to head back to work. Last time I took the Boxster out was last Thursday, and everything was just aces at that point. The car runs like a champ. Always puts a smile on my face. Since we're well into the season that the car doesn't sit for long, I did not hook up the battery maintainer (this was mistake number one). I figured that I'd be taking at least one drive over the weekend anyway (I didn't, chores and malaise got in the way. Mistake number two). I often pop the frunk just in case, but I didn't this time (mistake number three). Silly me. Since some chowderhead clipped the back end of my (100% reliable) daily ride last week, it is currently in the shop getting some unanticipated and very much unwanted body work, so that option is not available to me (random life issue number one). The backup car (the wife's ride) is with her at work, so that too is unavailable (random life issue number two). As you might suspect, I put the key in the ignition this morning and got a whole lot of nothing. 5 days of sitting is now apparently the gold standard for a completely drained (2-year-old) battery. And now the key is stuck in the ignition, too. Ah, well. The joys of relying on a 15-year-old sports car, no? I don't even have the option of trying the maintainer on the fuse box terminal, as the wires are under the frunk lid. All I have is the Porsche Charge-O-Mat gizmo that one of the cars' previous owners left me. I plugged it into the lighter socket, but I doubt that it'll do much of anything. Maybe let me get the key out, though I doubt it. So, until the wife comes back (always a roll-of-the-dice when you're stuck with someone like me), I'm pretty much SOL. But at least I have the interwebs to complain (okay, whine) to. In the meantime, I've ordered some extra NOCO maintainer cables and an Antigravity Battery Tracker gizmo because why not? I feel certain that I'm facing some parasitic drain on the battery. Thanks for listening!

I would be looking for a parasitic drain also. My '09 can sit for a month at a time and still start up reliably. My battery is probably 2 years old now.

Yeah, it looks like I'll be sacrificing my knees, back, etc. for some multimeter troubleshooting, if I can remember how to do it at all. On the plus side, after getting the frunk lid open, 12+ hours on the NOCO Genius fully recharged the battery. It (the Genius) is certainly smarter and more energetic than I am.

I routed the connection to my CTEK trickle charger to the small port on the windshield cowl near the wiper arm. The original intention was to make it easier to hook up the CTEK without needing to access the vehicle to open the frunk or to grab the key fob to pop the frunk, then remove the battery cover for access. But additional benefits are being able to connect to a trickle charger to refresh a dead battery. What I plan to do is create a corresponding plug for the end protruding in the pic with a length of wire attached to be able to reach a donor battery or jump pack to be able to at least pop the frunk for a proper connection to the battery should I experience a dead battery on the road.

If you manufacture a plug-n-play part, I will purchase one.

@WTFChuck , I used a battery extension with a standard ASA cable connector and ran it from the battery and out the same as yours. I bought an ASA to Ctek adapter and use that with my charger in the garage. But since my cable is ASA, I can use most chargers and there's lot of ASA type extensions available (including with jumper type connectors) to handle emergency situations away from home.

@RSchwerer The plug end that is pictured is a male connector. I also purchased from CTEK the battery clamp accessory which also terminates in a male connector. I had figured on carrying that in my road kit, and in the case of a dead battery on the road I could ask a fellow traveler for a quick connection to power the electrical system to enable the frunk button to open the bonnet. But I would need a cable with both ends terminating in female connectors. I called CTEK to see if they could make one on request but they do not offer that. What is this ASA cable connector you mention, and the ASA to CTEK adapter you mentioned? And where did you source one, if you don’t mind? The only other way I could fashion the double female cable would be to purchase two CTEK extension cables and cut off both female ends, and create my own cable but they aren’t cheap. The cable ends on the CTEK seem to be proprietary otherwise I could source the ends and create my own cable. I might try reaching out to to CTEK to see if they could either sell me two female connectors or else inform me of the form factor of their cable ends. Failing that I will try to use some barrel terminals and McGyver a crude cable that can make the connection. Probably something I may never need, but in a pinch could save time and effort.

@WTFChuck Sorry, I meant ASE, not ASA. This is the CTek to ASE Pigtail I use. From the battery to the access door/cap in the cowling I ran something like this. My first attempt I used a 10AWG cable from the battery, but I found it difficult to tuck back into the cowling and attach the cover. I think I now use a 14 AWG.

Thank you for the info, I will look into that. I too, found a little difficulty getting the terminal end tucked back into the recess under the cowling cap, but was able to solve this by shaving away some of the plastic in the little tunnel that leads from the area under the trim near the wiper assembly with a thin scalpel-like razor knife, then finishing with a Dremel to enlarge the passage. Now it tucks away neatly with plenty of room. None of this would be necessary except for Porsche ’s boneheaded design of making it nearly impossible to access the frunk when the battery fails.

FWIW - that is a standard SAE sort of connector. Used on MANY motorcycles to connect accessory equipment or a trickle charger, and available at about any big-box auto parts store for small money, also in marine supply stores, and probably AliExpress and Amazon . Just make certain to observe polarity. Coming from the battery - you want the enclosed connector to be the positive and the exposed connector to be negative. That's standard on most battery maintainers.. it's that way so the exposed connector is not going to spark if it touches ground. Obviously - the other connector (from your external power source is the oppostie, exposed +, insulated -.

Good discussion! I would like to have something in place just in case of that rare instance. Added to my to-do list. Much appreciation!