Planning a month vacation - 12v battery protection?

[YWGT3]

I use the Porsche charge-o-mat Pro battery maintainer which plugs right into the 12v charge socket in the center console. In addition to charging traditional lead batteries for both cars and motorcycles, this battery maintainer has the options button to trickle charge lithium-ion batteries which the Taycan utilizes. I purchased additional units for my other vehicles since it's reliable, convenient to use, and works well.

[wem]

Unless they changed something in the Taycan, none of the power or usb outlets are hot in the Taycan after 30 minutes. I had to connect my trickle charger to the OBD II port for it to charge/ maintain the battery.

[YWGT3]

Hmmm. Good question. Not sure, I noticed that the battery charge indicator (low, med., full) on the trickle charger gets progressively filled, sometimes taking more than an hour or two to reach full charge, depending on the state of charge of the 12v battery. Whether the cigarette lighter in the center console goes cold after 30 minutes and will interrupt trickle charging back into the vehicle's battery from that outlet is a question I'll have to ask my SA.

[wem]

Your SA will be clueless. If you plug something into the 12v outlet that has a light (I used a USB adapter that had a blue power indicator) and come back after 30 minutes, you will see the power light is off. When you open the door, the power to the outlet will kick back on. I think turning off the outlets after 30 minutes was done by Porsche for the exact purpose of preventing unintended draining of the lithium ion 12V battery.

[blueline]

Hmmm. Good question. Not sure, I noticed that the battery charge indicator (low, med., full) on the trickle charger gets progressively filled, sometimes taking more than an hour or two to reach full charge, depending on the state of charge of the 12v battery. Whether the cigarette lighter in the center console goes cold after 30 minutes and will interrupt trickle charging back into the vehicle's battery from that outlet is a question I'll have to ask my SA.

My experience (with an ICE Lithium battery) is that as long as the charger is showing lit LEDs, the device is connected to the car and functioning properly. I use a Ctek (which makes the Charge-O-Mat) and it works fine. After a couple of weeks, give or take, the charger might detect UVP mode (Under Voltage Protection) and shut off (the LEDs will all be off). If that happens, disconnecting, turning on the ignition and reconnecting will reset the car and the charger. (It also has a reset feature on the unit that may or may not work without energizing the car's electrical system). Again, I want to stress that this is for an ICE car with a Lithium battery, not an EV.

Many have had issues with the Charge-O-Mat device sold by Porsche. Some dealers will tell you flat out not to get Porsche's version. Others have had no problems with Porsche's version. It's odd. The Ctek works magnificently for typical Lithium batteries for ICE cars, at least for me. (I've used use Granite Digital's products for many years for AGMs and other SLA batteries.) Again, I cannot speak to how anything will work for an EV.

One other thing is that different owners experience different results with charging their Lithium batteries. Maybe different options/electronics/OEM suppliers/etc? I just don't know. SA's will be all over the map on this so bear that in mind too - they don't know!

[toddinmd]

Your SA will be clueless. If you plug something into the 12v outlet that has a light (I used a USB adapter that had a blue power indicator) and come back after 30 minutes, you will see the power light is off. When you open the door, the power to the outlet will kick back on. I think turning off the outlets after 30 minutes was done by Porsche for the exact purpose of preventing unintended draining of the lithium ion 12V battery.

It's different for the charger, if you plug a charger into the outlet it's providing power. The system does not sense a power draw, and will keep the outlet live.

When connecting the charger, you need to lock/unlock the car and plug charger in, then lock the car.

If you plug something in that draws power, the system will shut the port down.

[blueline]

Your SA will be clueless. If you plug something into the 12v outlet that has a light (I used a USB adapter that had a blue power indicator) and come back after 30 minutes, you will see the power light is off. When you open the door, the power to the outlet will kick back on. I think turning off the outlets after 30 minutes was done by Porsche for the exact purpose of preventing unintended draining of the lithium ion 12V battery.

It's different for the charger, if you plug a charger into the outlet it's providing power. The system does not sense a power draw, and will keep the outlet live.

When connecting the charger, you need to lock/unlock the car and plug charger in, then lock the car.

If you plug something in that draws power, the system will shut the port down.

Others have said this regarding the lock/unlock/lock procedure yet I have never had to do this with any of our Porsches, including a previous 991.2 TT and an earlier model Cayenne. All have worked just fine by simply plugging in the appropriate maintainer (Ctek for Lithium and Granite Digital for AGM). I have no explanations for the many discrepancies that many seem to be encountering!

[blueline]

Your SA will be clueless. If you plug something into the 12v outlet that has a light (I used a USB adapter that had a blue power indicator) and come back after 30 minutes, you will see the power light is off. When you open the door, the power to the outlet will kick back on. I think turning off the outlets after 30 minutes was done by Porsche for the exact purpose of preventing unintended draining of the lithium ion 12V battery.

That's for a power draw or no draw as Todd mentioned. On the other hand, if you're charging via the port, it will (or should) stay hot. This has been and remains the case for me regarding five late model Porsche's. I use maintainers extensively, even for vehicles that get driven regularly. (None are EVs however.) I don't understand how or why so many are reporting such different experiences. It makes no sense.

[toddinmd]

Others have said this regarding the lock/unlock/lock procedure yet I have never had to do this with any of our Porsches, including a previous 991.2 TT and an earlier model Cayenne. All have worked just fine by simply plugging in the appropriate maintainer (Ctek for Lithium and Granite Digital for AGM). I have no explanations for the many discrepancies that many seem to be encountering!

Tim, that's interesting. But maybe it's a function of comfort access. The car will shutdown the power port after a certain amount of time (20-30 minutes) if left unlocked. lock/unlock activates everything again and restarts the timer.

The 991.2 and earlier GT3's do not have comfort access. I had a 981 Cayman S that also did not have comfort access. Both require the lock/unlock if the car is left unlocked for a period of time to reactivate the power socket.

So my bet is the comfort access option makes the difference.

[blueline]

Is Porsche's Comfort Access the feature that automatically unlocks the car when you walk up to it without touching the fob? If so, the '22 992 TTS and the '19 Cayenne Turbo do have their own versions of that feature. However, the GT4 has none of that. It's strictly a track-focused car with only the basics regarding comfort and extra electronic features. (So nice!)

However, I don't have to go through any procedure to keep the outlets hot when current is flowing into the cars (charging) for any of those three vehicles, including the GT4. That would appear to negate the Comfort Access as a variable for the lock procedure unless I'm not understanding something.