Coming home exterior lights suddenly stopped working

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Col Lamb
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Post by Col Lamb »

Do you have any additional non Porsche kit fitted to the car that uses electrical power?

A dashcam installation perhaps?
Col
Macan Turbo
Air, 20” wheels, ACC, Pano, SurCam, 14w, LEDs, PS+, Int Light Pack, Heated seats and Steering, spare wheel, SC, Privacy glass, PDK gear, SD mirrors, Met Black, rear airbags

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pmg
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Post by pmg »

Jon A wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 8:32 pm
Nuclear Nick wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 8:10 pm
Jon A wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 7:24 pm
Putting it on charge may be the answer to the current issue as a fix but there’s no way in the world a modern car should need this no matter how few miles are covered.
So where do you suppose the battery will get its charge from? ‘No matter how few miles are covered’.
It should hold its charge hence being a battery I imagine. I have left my mercs at Heathrow long stay for six weeks (several times) and returned for it to instantly turn over with no loss of any functionality. I’m no technical guru but my experiences tell me that this kind of fault is not normal for a healthy modern battery I think?
We are saying it won't hold charge .We are saying if journeys only short, with the extra strain placed in modern cars by the likes of auto stop and heated seats, the car is not being run long enough to replace the charge taken out during initial start etc.
2019 Macan S Porsche code PKW8WKI8
Jon A
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Post by Jon A »

pmg wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 9:31 am
Jon A wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 8:32 pm
Nuclear Nick wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 8:10 pm
So where do you suppose the battery will get its charge from? ‘No matter how few miles are covered’.
It should hold its charge hence being a battery I imagine. I have left my mercs at Heathrow long stay for six weeks (several times) and returned for it to instantly turn over with no loss of any functionality. I’m no technical guru but my experiences tell me that this kind of fault is not normal for a healthy modern battery I think?
We are saying it won't hold charge .We are saying if journeys only short, with the extra strain placed in modern cars by the likes of auto stop and heated seats, the car is not being run long enough to replace the charge taken out during initial start etc.
Understood. I am saying it shouldn’t be losing charge, or at least not enough to force protection measures. What NuclearNick said earlier makes sense but I have never experienced this in dozens of cars I’ve owned over the last twenty years - ergo something is over draining the battery or the battery itself is faulty?
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Jon A
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Post by Jon A »

I just read it takes 6-8 minutes of normal running for a battery to recoup the initial charge expenditure of a start up in a modern car assuming all systems are running at optimum. So you might be right if journeys are regularly less than say six or seven minutes long, there would be a very low level (but accumulative) battery discharge 👍
718 Boxster - lava orange (2019)
992 C2 racing yellow (2020)
https://configurator.porsche.com/porsche-code/PRIMAJB4
Ex - Macan S - Carmine (2022)
http://www.porsche-code.com/PNZVYTE0
On-Track
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Post by On-Track »

Jon A wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:07 am I just read it takes 6-8 minutes of normal running for a battery to recoup the initial charge expenditure of a start up in a modern car assuming all systems are running at optimum. So you might be right if journeys are regularly less than say six or seven minutes long, there would be a very low level (but accumulative) battery discharge 👍
Did your internet source say what car and battery were referenced for the "6-8 minutes" and what "normal" running is?

The original Macan SC came with a 105Ah battery because of the effort of turning over a 3L diesel. AFAIK, the current standard Macan battery is 95Ah. More effort is required to turn over the 2.9L engine that the 2L.

I live two miles from a motorway junction. Leaving home and joining the motorway means that even with heavy traffic within a few minutes I can be cruising at 60mph. The alternator will produce more charge at those speeds than for someone who leaves home and immediately joins a queue of stop/start traffic.

Even when shut down, your car is never completely at rest. There's the alarm system, basic timekeeping and possibly other functions that are still working. Your battery is not "losing charge" it's just responding to continuous low level demands. Even after 4-5 weeks, it will still start the car but will delay bringing certain systems back on line and it might take thirty to forty miles running until it's fully recharged.
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Post by Deleted User 4325 »

We run a fleet of vehicles. Some do motorway miles, some stay in town barely moving from one location to the next so never get properly recharged and some might sit around for days or weeks.
We very, very rarely get issues with batteries. If there is a fault it's almost certainly down to lights being left on somewhere.
Modern batteries are remarkable good compared those we grew up with.
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Post by Bluesnose1812 »

Nelladrahcir wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:57 am We run a fleet of vehicles. Some do motorway miles, some stay in town barely moving from one location to the next so never get properly recharged and some might sit around for days or weeks.
We very, very rarely get issues with batteries. If there is a fault it's almost certainly down to lights being left on somewhere.
Modern batteries are remarkable good compared those we grew up with.
I agree. Compared to the time it used to take an engine to start, today the load on the battery is 2 or 3 seconds and less than that on stop start cars. I once had a battery problem. The car would lose charge if left for more than 4 days. A new battery solved it for a month and then it came back. Solution? Turned off the interior light. Being summer I never noticed it was on permanently.
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bennachie
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Post by bennachie »

Are you leaving it unlocked in a garage by chance? The system does not then 'go to sleep'
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Neil1911
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Post by Neil1911 »

Come on, OP has stated that: "To be fair, mine usually is only driven at the weekend for less than 10 miles total about 45 weeks of the year"

"10 miles total", so not even in one go, what bloody chance has that poor little battery got? Next thing is going to be "its only done 1,000 miles but needs its oil changing, how ridiculous, grumble, grumble." I could go on but won't for fear of being blunt, tactless, sarcastic, or asleep (is that the opposite of woke?)
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Percymon
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Post by Percymon »

I charged my battery (105Ah) on a new CTEK 5A charger two weeks ago. Since then its sat in the cold n wet and down a couple of very short 1.5 mile trips, as well as numerous times the doors being opened for various things like replacing the luggage compartment bulbs to LEDs. I just put it back on the charger and it came up with 4hours charging time to full.

The only feature / warnings i'd had prior to the first charging was a lack of ACC; which tied in with completing lots of stop start journeys on a 4 days break in Devon. I've not seen the ACC warning since.
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