Dead Battery

Had the boxster off the trickle charger for about 3 weeks and the battery died . Used a battery charger to get charge back and back on the trickle charger. The porsche service manager said need to be careful as the discharge could have caused the battery to "sulphinate" quickly and reduce the lifetime of the battery. Any truth to that statement?
Battery is 2 years old and never died before

Quote
sdm100
Had the boxster off the trickle charger for about 3 weeks and the battery died . Used a battery charger to get charge back and back on the trickle charger. The porsche service manager said need to be careful as the discharge could have caused the battery to "sulphinate" quickly and reduce the lifetime of the battery. Any truth to that statement?
Battery is 2 years old and never died before

Sulphination occurs all the time in a lead/acid battery during normal operation.

If you want to know more here's a link:

[en.wikipedia.org]

A battery can die at any time. Sometimes, often times they last a long time, years in fact, but a few will experience early or premature death due to a number of factors.

You might just have gotten a not so good battery that was pushed over the edge by the full discharge.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

A solid battery wont die in 3 weeks sitting. I had surgery and my car sat for 3 weeks after, plus almost a week before.

Started (yesterday) right up.

So either your battery was already dying, or you have a significant drain that should not be there.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

So how can one identify if one has an excessive drain source on the battery?

with a meter, in series with the battery, or with a clamp-on device that can do so without disconnecting the battery.
Don't leave it off long, or you can require resets of various memories. if you suspect certain areas, you can put the ammeter where the fuse goes and avoid disconnecting the battery entirely...

By and large if you have to ask how, someone else should do it. Its quite simple. The complex part is:

1. making sure you dont kill the various memories
2. figuring out WHAT is drawing the power

What on the car is after-market? Usually they fail first.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

New aftermarket stereo is the only aftermarket item. Took it to them and they said no drain on the system. The device you mentioned that would not involve disconnecting the battery...name?/source?

measure amperage non-intrusively. I think i've also seen such things as stand-alone doo-dads.

I would say google is your friend.

In fact, i tried something wild and crazy - i typed "clamp on ammeter" into google and found:

[www.bing.com]

Certainly Fluke will sell one. Its also likely to be costly.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

The easiest way to determine if there is a drain is (as Grant says) to connect an ammeter in series to the battery.
The easiest way to determine what is drawing current is to leave the ammeter connected and pull the fuses, one by one, until the ammeter reading drops.

If your battery is significantly sulfated, it will lose its charge with no battery drain.

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

The word is "sulfation" and it is mostly reversible by connecting the battery to a desulfating battery charger. You can buy one for much less than the dealer would charge for nearly anything. I think Pedro sells them.