Solar panel charging?

bledd said:
You said after a few weeks, I figured you meant a few weeks of not using the car. If you're using it and it's going flat, then something is wrong.
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To clarify, If you are not using it and it is going flat then something is wrong. After about 2 weeks of non use the car should enter a sleep mode. I leave mine literally months on end with 0 use and all I have to do is wake it up out of sleep mode and start it. The car should be capable of being left for long periods of time without worrying about the battery, if it can't be then there is a draw causing you problems. If you cant find it get a decent auto electrician who can :)
 
Vince said:
OEDB port is underneath the passenger side foot well looking up at the dash. Should be a pink port.
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Thanks Vince. I assumed it was purely battery failing but i don't think it is. I can leave it for about a week and half. After that no.

You were the reason saying weeks of being left i was thinking originally otherwise I'd have just put it down as alarm drain. I've got a decent auto-electrician but couldn't afford to let them have it without an attempt to narrow it down first. Lots of people weird things with Porsches- like the window regulator clicking, seat clicking (and just moving the seat back an inch fixed it!?).
 
Sounds very similar to my old draw. Not going to lie mine got worse over time as the battery deteriorated. I replaced the battery and kept killing new ones one by one, In the end I gave up, went nuts finding an old tracker and some faulty wiring to the head unit. Now the draw is next to nothing at all, I worked out that if the car didn't sleep at all that the new big ass bosh battery would still manage more than 2 months before draining enough that the car wouldn't be able to start.
 
I've just been told on a Facebook group that a tracker would be on the back of the circuit board in the footwell.
I'll have it confirmed about the draw and then get that checked.
 
Just put your MM across the battery and pull fuses until the draw drops off. This way at least you can pinpoint what circuit your issue is on.
 
I'll have a proper look one day when i can get car out. I'm charging battery so it's full, ready for the weekend. Although i am convinced the ignition live and permanent live are wired wrong to the head unit. Although that's going to need rewiring if so.
 
helpimcrap said:
I'll have a proper look one day when i can get car out. I'm charging battery so it's full, ready for the weekend. Although i am convinced the ignition live and permanent live are wired wrong to the head unit. Although that's going to need rewiring if so.
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That's a 10 min job to sort, I am going to fess up here and admit to doing the same thing when I wired mine up. If that is the case then your battery will be running out in days not weeks. When I did that the battery was dead within 3 days. I can grab a picture of the correct way if you want me to? will take 5 mins tops to pull the head unit out. Mine is all aftermarket though but I do still have 2 single din becker head units for the car.

If I remember correctly all you need to do is hook yellow to red and red to yellow.
 
Vince said:
That's a 10 min job to sort, I am going to fess up here and admit to doing the same thing when I wired mine up. If that is the case then your battery will be running out in days not weeks. When I did that the battery was dead within 3 days. I can grab a picture of the correct way if you want me to? will take 5 mins tops to pull the head unit out. Mine is all aftermarket though but I do still have 2 single din becker head units for the car.

If I remember correctly all you need to do is hook yellow to red and red to yellow.
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Only if it's no hassle mate. It would be interesting to see. I'll be sticking a new head unit in soon anyway and tidying up the wiring.
 
Vince said:
That's a 10 min job to sort, I am going to fess up here and admit to doing the same thing when I wired mine up. If that is the case then your battery will be running out in days not weeks. When I did that the battery was dead within 3 days. I can grab a picture of the correct way if you want me to? will take 5 mins tops to pull the head unit out. Mine is all aftermarket though but I do still have 2 single din becker head units for the car.

If I remember correctly all you need to do is hook yellow to red and red to yellow.
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TBH im not sure if mine is like this, however my radio doesnt turn on if the engines not on so not sure. My battery was a bit low on tuesday morning as the car hadnt been started since friday.
 
theone8181 said:
TBH im not sure if mine is like this, however my radio doesnt turn on if the engines not on so not sure. My battery was a bit low on tuesday morning as the car hadnt been started since friday.
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With the key in position 1 your radio should fire up as this is when the ignition live kicks in. There are basically two give aways. 1) your radio always forgets it's settings when the car is turned on. If this is the case ignition live has been wired to the head units perm live. 2) battery drain but the head units settings are kept and the amp (If you have a Harmon or Bose system) is always live. If this is the case perm live for the car has been wired to ignition live at the amp. (Amp is blue cable if I remember rightly).

Basically there are 3 cables that need to be right. I'll pull my head unit at the weekend and take some pics.
 
Vince said:
With the key in position 1 your radio should fire up as this is when the ignition live kicks in. There are basically two give aways. 1) your radio always forgets it's settings when the car is turned on. If this is the case ignition live has been wired to the head units perm live. 2) battery drain but the head units settings are kept and the amp (If you have a Harmon or Bose system) is always live. If this is the case perm live for the car has been wired to ignition live at the amp. (Amp is blue cable if I remember rightly).

Basically there are 3 cables that need to be right. I'll pull my head unit at the weekend and take some pics.
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Not sure on the 2nd one. Ill have to dig out my dvm and check.
 
theone8181 said:
Not sure on the 2nd one. Ill have to dig out my dvm and check.
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My car has Harmon but the wiring was the same in my old Boxster that had bose so its fairly easy to get some readings. The amp should be in the frunk and is normally branded as "Nokia 49134" so it always helps to get some readings directly from it. If its wired permanent on you should be able to (but not always) hear a faint hiss coming from the door speakers while the key is not in the ignition. My car was wired by a monkey so had many of these issues when I acquired it. 30 mins with a dvm should be able to point you in the right direction.

Forgot to mention that the best way to get the readings is to lock the car up with the frunk open then with a screwdriver pop the frunk lock closed. The car should take about 3 or 4 minutes to drop down to pretty much no draw. I want to say mine was a fair bit less than 1mAh once I found all the issues, I think it was 0.4mAh but cant be sure on that. Ill put a dvm across it and post in here what the draw should be for a properly working car.
 
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Vince said:
With the key in position 1 your radio should fire up as this is when the ignition live kicks in. There are basically two give aways. 1) your radio always forgets it's settings when the car is turned on. If this is the case ignition live has been wired to the head units perm live. 2) battery drain but the head units settings are kept and the amp (If you have a Harmon or Bose system) is always live. If this is the case perm live for the car has been wired to ignition live at the amp. (Amp is blue cable if I remember rightly).

Basically there are 3 cables that need to be right. I'll pull my head unit at the weekend and take some pics.
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Mine nearly always 'forgets' as it will automatically start to a default volume of 20 which is higher than I ever have it. I wasn't sure because the head unit turns on without ignition but wasn't sure if that was a car feature. I'll look at sorting that.

Tried pulling fuses and retesting today but radio was out and it was constantly 0.01 amps (DCA). When I plugged in it never changed but maybe it's something you have to leave for a few minutes?

I'll wait for your pic mate and then rewire mine to suit.
 
helpimcrap said:
Mine nearly always 'forgets' as it will automatically start to a default volume of 20 which is higher than I ever have it. I wasn't sure because the head unit turns on without ignition but wasn't sure if that was a car feature. I'll look at sorting that.

Tried pulling fuses and retesting today but radio was out and it was constantly 0.01 amps (DCA). When I plugged in it never changed but maybe it's something you have to leave for a few minutes?

I'll wait for your pic mate and then rewire mine to suit.
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If yours comes on without the key in the ignition and it forgets it's settings then yes you have perm live wired into ignition live on the head unit and ignition live in perm live. I'll just grab some pics at the weekend but it is a nice easy fix.
 
Vince said:
If yours comes on without the key in the ignition and it forgets it's settings then yes you have perm live wired into ignition live on the head unit and ignition live in perm live. I'll just grab some pics at the weekend but it is a nice easy fix.
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Cool. Because it's an old head unit i wasn't sure if the stereo was working right or the car wiring? I was going to get a new head unit and see.
 
helpimcrap said:
Cat 1 alarm on car and after a few weeks battery is flat. I have no power to a garage nor the ability to as it is not near house. Could i use this to maintain it or to power a trickle charger:
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...goryId=255205&productId=1222434&storeId=10001
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Had the same problem, sorn'd car to fix up had an alarm and it would go off every time the battery went flat. Brought one from maplin even on a sunny day it does not generate enough to power the alarm I killed the battery in the end.

Think it's more for caravans
 
I fear i may have a parasitic drain now, i had my polyrib belt changed on sat, and when i started the car this morning the voltage on the battery is 12.05V, and i have an annoying squeaky till its charged at 14v. Whats more likely, a 3 year old bosche battery not holding its charge or a drain on the system somewhere else? Im going to check with my multimeter tonight. Does the car have to be off for a period of time before checking current draw?
 
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