Cayman Battery Conditioner

[ralphmusic]

Try

[link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/r.html?R=1Y9IHGOW47GZP&C=2PLWJIK85A5HM&H=T3VBRDMJCARKLMRVPC81AG1U8QWA&T=C&U=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2Fdp%2FB00FC42HAA%2Fref%3Dpe_385721_51767431_TE_dp_1]CTEK MXS 5.0T Battery Charger with Automatic Temperature Compensation [/link]

As you can see from the image, it comes with direct battery connectors. I had my OPC connect these to the battery whilst it was there for other work. Not sure how if used outside you can make it all water proof but I am sure others can advise on this.

 

[tscaptain]

My car is outside at the moment on the drive. I have an extension lead from the garage which goes into the car, just in front of the wing mirror, and the Ctek is connected in the passenger foot well and then into the cigarette lighter. The gap between the door and the frame is at it's widest there and doesn't compress the extension lead either. Works a treat.

 

[Tony C]

I just had a battery die which resulted in my Cayman being recovered to Porsche Reading. I have had the battery replaced and enqiured about the the Porsche battery conditioner as I am a weekend driver with a low annual mileage. As my car is kept covered on my drive, I wanted the conditioner hard wired to the battery so that I could simply plug, unplug the conditioner when I use the car. Porsche emailed me to say that they could hard wire the conditioner cable to the battery and the company CITEK who manufacture the device in fact make a lead for this purpose. However, when I collected the car yesterday, I was told that hard wired meant attach crocodile clips! Not what I wanted. As the car is still in warranty, I did not want to attache the cable myself and this is why I wanted Porsche to do this for me so that I did not invalidate the warranty. The conditioner cost me £87 and having done some research online and with the UK distributor, the same charger can be purchased for around £60, the only difference being that it does not have a Porsche label on the front. Unfortunately, the Porsche version only has a cigarette lighter adaptor and cannot be used with the hard wired cable that CITEK make and the Porsche unit cannot be supplied with a hard wire lead.

I plan to return the Porsche charger and purchase another product and I would appreciate any recommendations from other members that use a similar device. As my car is on my drive, I cannot use the cigarette lighter and require the product to be connected to the battery in order that I can run the cable from my garage.

Many thanks

Tony

 

[dpoynton]

Our Cayman is on the drive year round. Under an outside cover for the 6 worst months - Oct - Mar.

I have used CTEK in the past with no problems. When my last CTEK unit "gave up the ghost" I bought a Halfords Automatic battery charger which conditions the battery when fully charged on a 4 hour cycle. Cost c. £40 a couple of years ago. Have had no problems with it.

I plug my extention cable into a socket inside the house through the letter box and place the cable carrier in the front boot. I then put charger in the boot and, having first connected the croc clips to the battery, plug it into the extension carrier.

It if rains, the water runs down the bonnet which is left on the catch and not fully locked.

Works for me.

David

 

[Motorhead]

Tony,

As others have said, the CTEK is the way to go [the Porsche device is just a rebadged CTEK + £%]. You can see from Ralph's link that the unit comes with both croc clips and eyelet extensions, so you can attach the latter permanently to the battery posts and just use the online connector. If appropriate, I think that the 981 has a separate earthing post which you should use - check with your dealership.

Red-to-red; black-to-black. The CTEK will even tell you before you switch it on if you're dumb enough to connect it up the wrong way round. Foolproof.!

Jeff

 

[JonathanB]

I'be got a CTEK Multi MXS 5 wired To the battery.

With the battery cover removed the charger can sit next to the battery and the power cable routend through the gap between frunk lid and decker panel. There isn't an issue with trapping the power cable, ventilation or weather proofing.

HTH.

 

[Buddy]

Mine came from LIDL after a Porsche unit stopped working, the LIDL unit cost about £11 and after cutting the lead and fitting a plug and socket have the option to charge through the lighter socket or by clips to the battery.

It works brilliantly just plugged into the socket.

 

[Tony C]

Hi

Thanks to all of you that replied with some very helpful information.

I intend to return the Porsche unit and and purchase the CTEK unit with eyelets connectors for a more suitable fit.

Regards

Tony

 

[Nicks]

If you are like me and don’t like to run mains cables to the car, then a solution is to connect a spare 12v car battery (not shown) to a 300W 12-230v Inverter and then to a CTEK MXS 5.

This works for boot direct connection or passenger foot well and 8 hours a week keeps the battery happy.

Nick

 

[Buddy]

Certainly on the 987, the cigarette lighter has a 10 amp fuse, higher than the other sockets which have 5 amp fuses, just in case anyone is concerned about which to use but Porsche recommend to use the lighter socket.

And as a matter of using my charger, it is fitted to the brickwork of my garage wall with the lead passing under the closed door, I plug into the lighter socket, then connect to the mains ( important to connect to the car first to prevent sparking on connection and to disconnect from the mains first for the same reason ).

Once connected, using the mode button select as appropriate and leave it connected until required.

If it was outside I would place the charger on a brick underneath the car although it is probably showerproof but depends on where the car is if water can flow underneath or not.