I haven’t driven my car for so long that the battery is completely dead, not even a light on the dash. Taken it out connected to the charger, but its saying it already fully charged.

I’ve done this beofre loads of times, but never when the battery is quite as flat as it was today. Is it goosed, or do I have any options available to me.

Thanks

connect to a non-flat battery for a short while. Then try to re-charge.

If it smokes stop. you may have killed some of the cells. Check water levels before this.

If it’s dropped below a certain voltage then it’s done for.
Some chargers have a desulphate/recover function but unlikely to work.

If it’s dropped below a certain voltage then it’s done for.
Some chargers have a desulphate/recover function but unlikely to work.

ah baws….

could a garage fix it for a few quid?

ta

They can fix it for wahtever a new battery costs if it’s goosed.

Check Eurocarparts or the like for the same thing cheaper.

New battery (from the Internet, rather than a local garage) then find out what is making it go flat. They should hold charge for months and months without use. You can sometimes coax batteries back with a high power charger but that will cost more than a new battery and there is chance the old one was duff anyway, how old was it?

1 Year old

Its a Porsche Boxter. From looking on the internet its a car that can make a battery go from fully charged to dead in a matter of weeks, as its got so many electrical gubbins going on

A really good charger can work wonders- I have an ancient optimate, with a recovery/desulphate mode, it’s recovered quite a few totally dead batteries. Not usually at the first attempt- charge, test cycle, desuplhate, fail, disconnect, try again. Gets better each time.

It might not, though, some batteries are just dead. Sounds like a trickle charger would be a good thing for you to have anyway though?

Porsches can kill batteries very quickly – mine can flatten one in 2 weeks – you could spend time and money investigating but its a case of “they all do that sir!”

If you have access to a garage with power there are a range of battery conditioners / chargers you can fit to keep it topped up

If no power and kept outside there are some solar panel equipped chargers which might be worth a punt.

Try charging with 2 chargers (at the same time) if it is dead, that sometimes works with mine!

will try this approach

[/quote]Porsches can kill batteries very quickly – mine can flatten one in 2 weeks – you could spend time and money investigating but its a case of “they all do that sir!”

thats what I was told. Total pain in the ass as I live on a second floor flat. Will look into a solar powered one, but heard they aren’t great

Mine killed a battery in 4 weeks….have you figured out how to get into the front boot yet?! Wonderful piece of German reverse engineering there!

Mine killed a battery in 4 weeks….have you figured out how to get into the front boot yet?! Wonderful piece of German reverse engineering there!

Ha ha…yeah..what a total joke. I learned the hard way when I had to take the entire wheel lining off to find the cable!

I’ve now rerouted it through my towbar hole however, much easier fix!

Unbeleivably bad design. I’m guessing that they think anyone that can afford one of their cars can afford a garage and a trickle charger. Unfortunately not…especially when I bought mine second hand!

There is another way – provided you have a spare fully charged battery and jump leads….

i tried that…!

UNfortunately all it did was set the alarm off…didn’t manage to open the bonet hence the cable reroute!

Ive had to do the other battery thing a couple of times when the charge is so low that it wont even do the relay for the boot!

If you leave a charger on the special terminal thingy in the fuse box area it can charge the battery enough to pop the bonnet.