Charging 996 battery

This one is for the categorie stupid questions: after coming back from my holidays the battery of my 996 turned out to be flat. I have borrowed a charger and was wondering if i charge the battery overnight if i can still lock my car?! (its parked on the road). thanks Marlof

In other words: does the central locking still work after I have removed the battery?

Yes really that is a dumb arse question. The answer is no. It's a mechanical system that uses electricity to drive the motors/solenoids. They won't work without power. The circuits also need power....

I dont know what alarm system you have installed but if its the standard Porsche one it interprets a disocnnected battery as theft and the alarm goes off, powered by its own seperate battery. So charge the battery while its still plugged into the car.

I thought you could still lock the car with the key though? If the battery was flat, again, I thought you could manually unlock the car with the key? You're saying that if the battery is flat it's impossible to get into the car?

If you disconnect the battery, you need to have the key in the ignition, otherwise the car thinks its being stolen and starts telling your neighbours. I am yet to work out a way of removing the battery from the car, and then locking the car. I am loathe to play around with this, cos I reckon it would take 1 attempt to lock myself out of the car, or the front boot, and be completely screwed. I charge my battery in situ, with a long lead running from the charger inside the house, through the letterbox, across the pavement to the car. Once connected you simply lock the car up as normal. Next morning my battery is conditioned and fully charged. Lovely jubbly.

if the battery is flat, you can open the door with the key but to get to the battery (by opening the bonnet...which needs electricity) you need to connect another battery up (at the little panel near your right foot). I left my car for a month at my mums whilst I went on holiday and my battery died, setting off the alarm (which scared the death out of her) and my pensioner mum manged to work the above out from the manual. Bless Dosconnecting the battery will set off the alarm....as Halfords found out when they replaced mine. The guys ear bleeds have just stopped and he has dropped all charges against me :lol:

Best bet is to find a friend with a garage that has power and charge in situ (if the battery is very low use a conditioner to bring the charge up slowly rather than just blasting it with a straight charger). If must remove battery have the key in the ignition just before first click - then the car will not think it is being stolen. You should be able to lock the door with the key - no power required. How old is the battery? If it is the original one and a few years old then it is not likely to be in great condition. A very simple solution might be just to buy a new Bosch Silver from Costco and fit it!! Michael

So are we saying that you leave the key in the ignition to remove the battery, then remove the key to lock the car? :? TB

Thanks guys that is very helpful. I actually didn't realise the problem with the alarm so you saved me some embarrasement with the neightbours..

Has anyone ever had problems with elec windows after battery going flat. Had to do the donor battery on the terminal in the cabin to open the bonnet. Charged battery up on conditioner for a weekend, now althought windows drop during door opening , will not work from switches :? any ideas ?

When I had battery problems I found that the windows pretty much travelled down but seemed to lose the top position. I was completely stumped as to how to close them, but then I drove it for a few miles after jumping it to give the battery a bit of a charge and suddenly they sorted themselves out again. It almost seemed like the battery needed to be pumping out a bit more juice before a reset happened.