Battery / electrics problem

Hi everyone, I am a relative newcomer but have had my 2001 model 996 for about 3 years now - I enjoying it immensely but it is testing me with a few big bills recently. The car is kept in a communal garage and only used at weekends. I went to use the car this Sunday - not having used it since last Sunday - only to find that the battery (about 2 years old) was flat and the alarm operated as soon as I tried to open drivers door. I suspect that the alarm had been going off regularly at some point and had completely drained the battery - just enough charge to trigger bonnet release fortunately and I noticed that ther was still enough to illuminate the bonnet light. I removed the battery and after a 24 hour plus charge have just replaced it to find that there is no sign of life in the car at all - no glimmer to bonnet light even. I don't think that there is a problem with the battery at this point (but haven't got the tools to test it) and wonder if there is a fuse that could have gone during the process of removing replacing the battery? It was the usual process of working under deafening alarm sren conditions whilst disconnecting it at the start. I also cannot recall which of the terminals I removed first but was careful not to let them touch anything. Does anyone have any ideas please. I have had to have the car recovered from the garage once this year and it is not a thought I relish again so soon! Any help would be appreciated. Cheers, Paul.

Have a look here http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=331718 There is a specific way to remove and replace a battery. Not sure if it will help you now or not but still good reference for the future Steve

Welcome Paul! Unfortunalely you won't be able to see the thread that Steve is referring to, not being a PCGB member. However, if you promise not to tell anyone, you can download a pdf of the article by clicking this link: https://www.porscheclubgb.com/legacy/clientftp/Register/996/tec_battery.pdf You really need to at least check the battery voltage. What does the voltmeter in the car read? If it's less that 12.5volts or so, the battery has had it. Batteries prefer to be used than left for long periods, so even though it's only 2 years old it might have died.

Steve and Richard, Thanks for the responses and I am a PCGB member but haven't logged the membership no. Will find it and do so shortly. I will try to test the battery but just don't think it would die totally like that. I also had another old battery that had been on trickle charge that I tried too. Nothing. I have changed the battery before without any problem and having looked at the weblink etc feel the only thing that could have gone wrong is that I either disconnected or reconnected the terminals in the wrong order. There was no evidence of shorting out and I was pretty careful but if it did short out what would be the problem and fix required? Any thoughts or do I need the tow truck again? Also could there have been an issue caused by the alarm being set off - immobiliser etc? Cheers, Paul.

Just testing to see if membership now logged

And again - seems technology not my strong point either!

If all the electrics are as dead as a dodo, then I feel sure it's the battery, or a dodgy connection on one of the main cables. Taking the battery cables off in the wrong order won't have damaged anything - it is just safer to remove the earth (-ve) first to avoid a short. Even if you got ot wrong, and shorted out the spanner between the positive terminal and earth (with the earth cable connected), it would make a bl**dy great spark, but shouldn't blow a fuse. I doubt if it's an alarm issue - if the immobiliser cuts in all it will do is stop you cranking the engine.

Unfortunately, it isn't as simple as just entering your membership number in your profile. You have to contact the club office to get them to tie up the number with your forum name.

Richard, Thanks for your response which is comforting and you have convinced me that I need to get the baterries tested. It could of course even be the charger not working properly - although this too was bought two years ago when original batery let me down. I will let you know how I get on. Cheers, Paul.

Hi Paul. Sorry to hear about your woes.. I had the exact same problem a while back (hence the link that Richard has kindly pointed you at). My battery was completely flat, dead as Dillinger, not a sausage, bugger all. I was subsequently led to believe that the (original) battery on my car, which was a Porsche one, was not of the highest quality. In short, one of the cells had collapsed (which I think is the case with yours) and I couldn't push any charge into it at all - despite the other five cells having reasonably good readings on my hydrometer. I ended up getting a new battery and buying a solar powered trickle charger - and tried to drive the car a bit more regularly too! This is what I bought: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=98358&C=Maplin&U=SearchTop&T=battery%20chargers&doy=14m4 They're not to everyone's liking but it seems to work for me - despite having the car under a cover! Anyway, all the best. Adrian.

My solar charger was useless (yes I did check the cig lighter remained live) so I stumped up £60 for a CTek charger , connected the "extension" bit to the battery and its a simple job to pop the snap connector on or off. Haven't had any battery problems since. [ ]

so I stumped up £60 for a CTek charger ..what a shame. They were doing the exact same charger with a different sticker on it in Lidles for £12 the other day.

I looked at the Lidl one and a little research showed it is not intelligent ie it just pumps charge in, it can't be left on continuously or it fries the battery. I plumped for the CTek instead. I am away a lot with work so I couldn't safely leave the Lidl one connected whereas I can with the CTek. [ ]