Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi all,

My good neighbour Steve has a Black edition 987, and he has led me to believe that I should get a trickle charger for my new Boxster.

Can someone please recommend a good, safe, (Fire), one that has a connector plug so I don't have to remove the battery cover every time I put her away. I guess the cigarette lighter option is one way of connecting, as long the socket is permanent live ?

Quite a few of us on here use the ctek xs3600, which I have been using for10 years(same one) connected all of the time when my car is in the garage(most)

I've used one of these for the last few winters (see link below) . as far as I can tell it's only advertised as a motorcycle spec because of the lower Ah rating of the smaller batteries on a bike, but I've never had any issues with it working fine on up to 72Ah car batteries.

It comes with a choice of clips or bolt on terminals, so you can easily leave the bolt on end in place and just attach the inline plug to the charger, as needed - makes disconnection for a quick spin very easy

It's totally fine for keeping it topped up but it does take literally days to do a recharge from too-flat-to-start-a-car (but it does work eventually).

Ring RSC4 Smart Charge Battery Charger
http://www.amazon.co.uk/RSC4-Smart-Char ... B000V7SQX0

Plus 1 works a treat.

Yep - ctek. Default choice.

fwiw, I've been advised to avoid cigarette lighter connections for charging.

oh, why is that, been working fine for me for more than ten years. Ctek supply a fag lighter adaptor as a standard method of connection

We have 10 race cars at work, which are all kept on ctek chargers 24/7 and have been for 8 or more years.

Only ever had 1 fault and they replaced it no problem.

the only problem I have imagined is the fact that when you have your batteries on these 'smart' chargers, which I have as I said earlier for 10 years on my 993, and on my boat batteries for about 14 years, you are never quite sure what will happen when you go off somewhere and park up for 3-4 days and your battery has died, it was only the charger holding it together so much so that I changed a ten year Exide battery on the 993 because it was so old, and it must be knackered by now! blinking thing is still running fine in my wife's defender 2 years later

To be honest, the fully reason wasn't spelt out.

Funnily enough, i was reading some 944 reviews online a while back (nerdy, I know!) and stumbled accross this comment from "Honest John"

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/answe ... he-battery

yep, he is not telling you why is he? the only reason I can think of is on some cars the fag lighter is only live when the ignition is switched on, this is certainly something which has been mentioned by some 993 and 996 owners. It works for me though

Works fine for me, but I probably would not try to charge a flat battery that way.

Can't be too bad if Porsche sell their own version of cigar lighter trickle charger.


Nick

Yes, I agree Nick, would probably take 3 weeks to charge a battery from flat I think the Porsche unit is in fact a Ctek unit, the only difference being the price

Wow, I am impressed with the amazing response here.

Thank you so much for all your advice. I will buy the Ctek unit and bolt the terminals permanently into place. The 981 has one large cover over everything under the bonnet and I don't want to have to remove it every time I put the car away, it looks a little flimsy. I can then cable tie the plug to something around the scuttle area and hey presto I have a trickle charger socket permanently in place.

Sam, I also have a Defender, and the battery in that is about as big as my Boxster's engine!! Surely the 993 Battery is too small??? 12 years old.. is that testament to the value of trickle chargers?

Thanks again everyone.

Ctek 3600 ordered from Amazon.. They are a couple of quid cheaper on EBay, but I know with Amazon, it'll be here by Tuesday.

The 993 is a Cab and they tend to have larger batteries.