TrevTee Posted February 6, 2021 Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 I am only using the car 2 or 3 times a week, only for essential shopping etc, taking the long route home to make sure the car is fully warmed up. After two days of non use I get 'Low Battery, Run car for extended period' warning on the dash. Also interior light turn off after a few seconds instead of staying on until startup. Car is a Jan 2016 model 981 so only just 5 years old. Is the battery on the way out already or could there be another cause? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMA Posted February 6, 2021 Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 Do you have a dash cam installed into one of the 12v sockets? If so try unplugging it when parked. If it's the original battery and coming up to 5 years old then it will be getting a little tired. If you have a charger like the CTEK you can try a reconditioning charge to try and recover it or even just a full charge might help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenman Posted February 6, 2021 Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 Winter, short journeys, multiple starts, heavy battery use (fans, lights, rear defrost etc etc) not surprising the battery is low without a decent run at least every couple of weeks. If you can’t do this, do you have a trickle charger (Ctek or similar)? Suggest a full recharge. Do you use stop start or disable it? (Though if battery is low it shouldn’t be activating anyway). It is possible that the battery is duff but you just need to get it charged fully first and see how it fares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart21UK Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 mines doing the same...car a 2013 reg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menoporsche Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 Battery should have a date stamp WWYY by one of the terminals I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTSMarky Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 I plug mine into the Optimate every now and again to keep it topped up. Put yourself a flying lead on and connect up when needed, but by keeping a battery conditioned (not simply charging) you can give a battery a much longer and happier life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevTee Posted February 7, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 Many thanks for the replies. This has only just started to happen over the last few weeks with the cold weather, and increased use of the heater etc. I have nothing plugged in to any of the power sockets so have ruled that out as a cause. Having just bought a CTEK I will connect that up tomorrow on the recon cycle and see how the battery fares. Taking the car out for a 30 min run would normally put the charge back in a battery, has always worked for me before with other cars, but these an AGM batteries may need more. From what you have posted it sounds like it could be on its way out, so will need to check out a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxtastic Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 Just in case you are not aware, don’t connect the Ctek direct to both battery terminals... Use the battery +terminal and the special -post sited on the wiper mech. Or use a cig/cabin power point. Otherwise the battery manager system is bypassed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringmaster999 Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 39 minutes ago, boxtastic said: Just in case you are not aware, don’t connect the Ctek direct to both battery terminals... Use the battery +terminal and the special -post sited on the wiper mech. Or use a cig/cabin power point. Otherwise the battery manager system is bypassed. I’ve never been told this before😳 Mine has always had a Ctek lead from the battery then I just connect it as and when. Never had a problem🤞 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickLS7 Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 4 hours ago, Ringmaster999 said: I’ve never been told this before😳 Mine has always had a Ctek lead from the battery then I just connect it as and when. Never had a problem🤞 There are some which have done what you have and their car has ended up on the back of a flatbed lorry. At the dealers they find out the warranties void and get a £2000 bill. Sometimes it’s beneficial to read the manual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinewood Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 Noticed this time of year with less use than normal (987.2 not 981) that the battery labours ever so slightly on turn over. Wise to keep them conditioned via a CTEK into cig lighter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringmaster999 Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 4 minutes ago, RickLS7 said: There are some which have done what you have and their car has ended up on the back of a flatbed lorry. At the dealers they find out the warranties void and get a £2000 bill. Sometimes it’s beneficial to read the manual. Interesting so obviously bypassing the battery management system is not good and leads to what potential damage to warrant a 2k repair bill? Do you know? I did read the manual but can’t remember ever reading this so will have to take another look 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxtastic Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 18 minutes ago, RickLS7 said: There are some which have done what you have and their car has ended up on the back of a flatbed lorry. At the dealers they find out the warranties void and get a £2000 bill. Sometimes it’s beneficial to read the manual. I think the tongue-in-cheek emoji is missing here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickLS7 Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 You could ask the chap on here what work was required although it sounds like the AA’s battery pack was probably more to blame. https://www.718forum.com/threads/be-wary-when-using-a-battery-charger.16782/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxtastic Posted February 7, 2021 Report Share Posted February 7, 2021 1 hour ago, RickLS7 said: You could ask the chap on here what work was required although it sounds like the AA’s battery pack was probably more to blame. https://www.718forum.com/threads/be-wary-when-using-a-battery-charger.16782/ Wow - nightmare! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTSMarky Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 17 hours ago, boxtastic said: Just in case you are not aware, don’t connect the Ctek direct to both battery terminals... Use the battery +terminal and the special -post sited on the wiper mech. Or use a cig/cabin power point. Otherwise the battery manager system is bypassed. I didn't know this. Will have a check in the manual and on the car. In all my many years on bikes and cars of optimates and hard wired flying leads never an issue, but there is always a first time.. my newest bike a BMW GS does have a remote battery post but I think that’s more for access. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxtastic Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 See No.1 under Charging the battery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringmaster999 Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 13 hours ago, RickLS7 said: You could ask the chap on here what work was required although it sounds like the AA’s battery pack was probably more to blame. https://www.718forum.com/threads/be-wary-when-using-a-battery-charger.16782/ Ive read these posts and to be honest I think his electrical faults probably stemmed from the AA jump starting. I couldn’t see anything that mentioned trickle charging using the negative point on the wiper along with positive terminal if going straight from the battery. Yes most people are using the cigarette lighter point to connect their ctek. My local Indy did some battery work recently and never mentioned I shouldn’t be doing what I’m doing with the ctek which I’m sure he would have as he’s very knowledgeable. But I’ll dig out the manual AGAIN today and take a look 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringmaster999 Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 1 hour ago, boxtastic said: See No.1 under Charging the battery Didn’t see this before posting and now I can see it clearly states using the wiper negative point. So clearly the way of going off the battery. Ordering the cigarette connection adapter me thinks 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxtastic Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 I doubt if using both battery posts will do any actual harm; it’s just that the manager will not know the battery has been fully recharged; which may in turn affect other systems. eg. it may think the battery has not enough charge to activate Start/Stop... which in my opinion would be a good thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenman Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 You should be fine connecting a Ctek to both battery terminals as it’s low current and soft start etc, the major issues arrise if you are jumping from another battery (or high current battery pack). It’s not bypassing the battery management that’s a big problem it’s frying it with high current. Having said that, once you know then just use the recommended terminal instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartin Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 I've not seen that warning on the dash on my car and it has been doing shorter journeys lately. I probably don't let it get that far as once I notice the Stop/Start not kicking in, I usually stick the CTEK on it. Not sure if mine is on it's original battery still (8.5 years old) as I've only had it for the last 2.5 years. My previous 986 used to go through batteries at an alarming rate, until I ditched the Porsche ones and replaced it with a Bosch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zagamuffin Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 its normal i thought to not connect direct to battery if in the car whether jumping or charge/conditioning.ive always went plus to plus and chassis point for earth as starting cycle on a jump start is easier this was due to flow of ions....( runs through engine starter instead of direct to battery and then out to engine i believe) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickLS7 Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 You have to be careful to use an AGM compatible charger/maintainer, AGM batteries are voltage sensitive and are easily damaged if the voltage is too high (which is why cars need protective charging circuitry). They are also temperature sensitive which is why you won't find one in an engine bay. I had problems charging via cabin power sockets with my old CTEK 3600 when I got the 981, didn't matter which socket I used, none would charge the car when it turned itself off after 10 minutes (??). I now have an MXS 5.0 which resets itself when the car powers down rather than switching off. If you still have no joy charging via the power sockets when the car turns itself off, I'm told it's because they need coding on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevTee Posted February 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2021 Connected the CTEK this morning, using the correct earth point, and set it to AGM / Recon. 9 hours later its completed all of the stages needed. I will see how long the car lasts before I get any further problems. It would be handy to know at what battery charge level the interior lights turn themselves off and the dash warning is triggered. I would get interior lights turning themselves off after about 3 weeks of non use about six months ago, but no dash warning. I thought it might be some kind of guide to how much battery life is left? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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