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Can you bump start a manual Boxster with a flat battery?


Pordave

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Well I've just ordered the 'Hotsnap' charger (NOT THROUGH AMAZON.......) £4.99 carriage but I don't care! My problem is that although I replaced the battery just three years ago and don't use it for a couple of weeks it is touch and go whether it will start. I can recharge the battery, but it takes time and I need it to do my hospital duties, so have to reschedule. I'll let you know how well it works when I hear 'clickclick,zzzzzzz!!!! 

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1 hour ago, Rev Ken said:

Well I've just ordered the 'Hotsnap' charger (NOT THROUGH AMAZON.......) £4.99 carriage but I don't care! My problem is that although I replaced the battery just three years ago and don't use it for a couple of weeks it is touch and go whether it will start. I can recharge the battery, but it takes time and I need it to do my hospital duties, so have to reschedule. I'll let you know how well it works when I hear 'clickclick,zzzzzzz!!!! 

It shouldn't drain after a couple of weeks unless there is a fault somewhere draining the battery. These Boxsters are terrible at cold cranking, so if you hear it struggling to turn over in the winter, it is pretty normal. You tend not to get this if you use it daily, I don't know why, but this is common. 

Do you give it a good run to recharge the battery? If you get click click (drained battery) after two weeks, I'd suggest pulling fuses and using a multi-meter on the battery, a pain but should help diagnose the drain. 

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12 hours ago, Rev Ken said:

Well I've just ordered the 'Hotsnap' charger (NOT THROUGH AMAZON.......) £4.99 carriage but I don't care! My problem is that although I replaced the battery just three years ago and don't use it for a couple of weeks it is touch and go whether it will start. I can recharge the battery, but it takes time and I need it to do my hospital duties, so have to reschedule. I'll let you know how well it works when I hear 'clickclick,zzzzzzz!!!! 

I wouldn’t be surprised if you found that your three year old battery needs replacing, if it’s subjected to repeated deep discharge from lack of use. Ideally you’d replace it and keep the new one on a battery conditioner between drives. 

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  • 2 months later...

Well, I have ordered one of these HotSnap jumper packs (£55.39 delivered). Reason is because I tried starting my wife's 916 Spider this morning and the battery is dead. I do have a Halfords jump pack but....that has discharged through lack of use. So, now I'm waiting for the Halfords charger to recharge and decided I am not going to do this again. Use the code SPRING10 for a 10% discount. Will let y'all know when it arrives and if it's as good as they say.

image.png.71fb4c125948efd5d8ba6c38a697042f.png

 

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1 hour ago, RedBarediver said:

Well, I have ordered one of these HotSnap jumper packs (£55.39 delivered). Reason is because I tried starting my wife's 916 Spider this morning and the battery is dead. I do have a Halfords jump pack but....that has discharged through lack of use. So, now I'm waiting for the Halfords charger to recharge and decided I am not going to do this again. Use the code SPRING10 for a 10% discount. Will let y'all know when it arrives and if it's as good as they say.

image.png.71fb4c125948efd5d8ba6c38a697042f.png

 

Not a bad price, good find. They have rocketed in price since I bought my Artech one 4 years ago. They are great, fit nicely in a seat pocket. 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Well, this morning I had an opportunity to use this charger in anger for the first time. My trusty daily driver struggled to start once or twice for some reason. I could hear the battery is not as strong as it usually is but thought that it would still be strong enough for a second or third attempt. After the third attempt the battery was so weak that the dash lights would go out when I turn the key. I whipped out the little jump pack, connected it up and tried again. Amazing. The thing swung the starter like a brand new battery and had it going in just a few turns of the engine :) Very pleased customer here I have to say. I also have to point out that my daily driver is a 1.9 diesel Alfa so I am pretty sure it will have no issues starting the Boxster if it ever needed to. 

I'm keeping that thing topped up and in the car that's for sure.

Edited by RedBarediver
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4 hours ago, RedBarediver said:

Well, this morning I had an opportunity to use this charger in anger for the first time. My trusty daily driver struggled to start once or twice for some reason. I could hear the battery is not as strong as it usually is but thought that it would still be strong enough for a second or third attempt. After the third attempt the battery was so weak that the dash lights would go out when I turn the key. I whipped out the little jump pack, connected it up and tried again. Amazing. The thing swung the starter like a brand new battery and had it going in just a few turns of the engine :) Very pleased customer here I have to say. I also have to point out that my daily driver is a 1.9 diesel Alfa so I am pretty sure it will have no issues starting the Boxster if it ever needed to. 

I'm keeping that thing topped up and in the car that's for sure.

I've had one for a few years now.  I think I paid £20 for it.  I check the charge once a month but probably only charge it twice a year or when it has been used (usually for pumping tyres as it's easier to lug around the cars than threading the lead through to the cigarette lighter).

IIRC they usually only take about 100 charges before they are no longer useful - but for me that will be around 20 years.

I used to use it on a 6.2 litre V8, even though they're only supposed to be for engines up to 2 litres.  Very handy bits of kit.

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