Advice battery 996 turbo - Urgent

I have now my new 996tt and it is a fabulous car, I am very pleased with it. I may have an issue with the battery though. When I got the car on Thursday this week, the voltmeter was between 14 and 16. I drove a few miles yesterday and again today and now the volmetre is between 12 and 14 :shock: . Is the voltmeter the right indicator to check whether the battery is nearly flat or not ? Does this mean that the battery is not charging ? How many miles roughly do I need to drive for the battery to charge itself ? The car started without any problem today and yesterday.

What year is the car? And is it still on the standard Moll battery? If so get it changed, replacing it with a decent Bosch Silver or something.

not sure the volt meter is any indicator of how good the battery is? more about the voltage the alternator is putting out. Even then it's more of a "worry" meter than anything conclusive. If you put a volt meter accros a battery you will see approx 12v, what you see on the meter could be more of an indication that the battery is actually better charged than it was, ie the alternator is working less hard to charge. If you have no issues with starting then I wouln't bother spending money until you need to.

Thanks - The car no longer has the orginal battery, it has a replacement one although I am not sure about the brand, will check tomorrow. Do you guys drive your car at least once a week to make sure the battery if fully charged ?

Mines a weekend warrior. If you're worried about the battery going flat and don't use the car frequently I suggest you get a Ctek trickle charger or similar to keep the battery tip top.

Battery Fred,it sounds normal to me.The voltmeter will always vary a bit depending on how long it has been sitting and what equipment is being used .Leaving it a week or two shouldn't matter to a healthy battery although giving it a run helps everything stay in good order.If the battery is on the way out the starter motor will begin to sound sluggish when you first start it after a break.

http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=33085 PS - there is a search function on the forum.

This is a very good summary but it also says that if the car is left with no action during 4 days the battery will go flat . Is it indeed something that 996 owners have experienced ? I will certainly have to travel on business trips outside the UK for longer than 4 days...

I haven't had this problem at all and my car is left 1-2 weeks between being used. I've now given it the kiss of death, but I'm still on my first battery.

I only use my car at the weekend, consequently I always leave the trickle charger plugged in, since doing this the only problems encountered were created by me moving house from a 110v supply to a 220v supply. I don't think the people who build trickle chargers took into consideration the fact that the people who use their kit may have slightly less common sense than they were born with. The financial hit was bad enough, the hit to my pride was far worse. The moral of the story? I'm an idiot. Max

Why thank you. It says: "9) The car 'goes to sleep' after 4 days of no action. Various systems shut down, including the remote alarm facility....". This means that the electronics systems go into a sleep mode, to reduce power consumption. To wake the car up, follow the steps in the manual, or on the thread. Sleep mode shouldnt be confused with "battery goes flat"...

In order to recharge your battery you need to push through current from the alternator. The voltage will naturally rise as the current increases. So once the battery is charged the current will fall and the voltage will fall with it, but only down to about 13V. As suggested by other owners you should consider a trickle charger so that your battery stays in peak condition. These are available on ebay or your local independant parts retailer. Everyone raves about Ctek! Hope you continue to enjoy your new car! Ray

Had a few problems myself with battery in a C4S. Managed to get a replacement under warranty from OPC . Go with the rest of the sound advice and get a ctek charger. top job ! If you drive the car every other day or so there should be no issues. Anyone know if there should be a warranty on my replacement battery as the guy in OPC Belfast says theres not :?: Seems a bit strange !

I think the sale of goods act covers you, perhaps there is a lawyer in our midst who can answer?

Am not a lawyer (thank the lord) but I think Nig's new battery is covered under his original warranty. So if his warranty was valid for 2yrs and they replaced your battery under warranty after 18mths, it would have 6mths warranty on it. OPC batteries have a 2 or 3yr warranty on them, which I find amazing given how poor Porsche electrics are and hence how quickly they chew batteries. The warranty terms above are common practice in most warranty situations in my experience (including life outside OPC...). You wont get a brand new 1 or 2yr warranty on replacement goods, or the manufacturer could end up with a perpetual rolling warranty. The latter would be fair to me as a consumer, but obviously manufacturers dont want that, so essentially they are promising you that the goods you buy will last for 2yrs, no matter how many times they have to repair/replace them. After 2yrs, you are on your own, regardless of how many times they have replaced the items. Regarding OPC warranties, my understanding is that if they replace my RMS under warranty 3mths before my warranty expires, if the RMS blows 1 day after warranty expiry, I am not covered. I am not 100% sure about that though - anyone else agree/disagree?