hey all i just installed the ctek 3300 charger on my 2010 panamera through the cig lighter port on the middle console. It seems like after awhile the port automatically shuts off and the CTEK charger is flashing an orange light. as soon as i open the door the charger light goes solid and it continues charging.

I thought the porsche cigarette lighter port is always on? thats why i bought the ctek. am I missing something? any help is appreciated.

 

In my 2010 PTT I plug my CTEK into the port in the rear hatch area, it is always on.

 

hey i didnt try the rear hatch area but i can confirm for the panamera it looks like the center console 12v plug also works for the cigarette lighter adapter, i used the 12v in center console and now its continuously charging i think.
What I notice on the CTEK 3300 is after charging for 12hrs I now see that the charging light alternates between the half battery button solid orange for 30 seconds and then it goes to the full battery button solid green indicator light for 30 seconds or so and it kept alternating between the two lights. Is that what is supposed to happen?

 

We must have a different model of CTEK. Mine is showing fully charged, and I have not seen it flash ever.

 

you're version looks nicer than mine, i got the 3300 version.

its not actually flashing between modes, it stays on the half charged orange light for 30-45 seconds and then it alternates to the fully charged green light and just keeps alternating, i couldnt find if that normal on the ctek 3300 model, it may be doing that to show of a slow pulsing charge since the battery is now full?

 

I have attached the CTEK 3300 manual.
The answer to your question is on page 8, item #6. Looks like you likely have a bad battery.

 

damn you're right high self discharge of battery, its not flashing it stays on for about a minute but its alternating between the two the battery worked fine while driving it the last 6 months never had any issues, does it mean immediate replacement? will the CTEK still maintain the battery if its in this stage or do you think i would need to take the maintainer off?

 

Your car is a 2010, so if it is the original battery I would absolutely replace it. Even a 2014 battery would now be pushing 6 years old... Just look at the date stamp on the battery label, that will tell you what you need to know.
For a couple hundred bucks I would get a new one and then use the tender whenever the car is parked for more than a day or two and you should get years of carefree use out of it.

 

i took picture of the battery but i couldnt find a date on it. it seems it had a model code of 000 915 105 ce i guess thats the original?

i understand about replacing the battery if it is original. should i wait until i drive it again next summer before i do that? would there be any harm by keeping it on the ctek battery tender with it constantly alternating between charging and fully charged? i can call ctek and get their opinion on it on monday too

 

Every battery I have ever bought for a car has had a date stamped on it. You likely will need to remove it to look it over thoroughly. I have no clue what could happen if you keep a bad battery hooked up for months over the winter. A quick search showed new battery prices as low as 120, average 150. For such a little investment I personally would get a new one now so my car is 100% ready to go at a moments notice. Plus then you won't have to worry about what might happen putting a tender on a bad battery for months.

 

yeah true i was just looking at it while installed with all the wires everywhere so it was hard to spot the date.
what you say makes sense, ill see if this condition improves over the next 24hrs regarding the alternating lights and then go from there (just been hooked up for 10hrs thus far).

thanks again for your help

 

btw i love that white panamera turbo it looks sick

 

so as an update it seems like the past day the batter has been alternating between green fully charged and orange "charging" more infrequently....the first day it would be 1 minute on green full charge and 10 seconds on orange charging, now it stays green for 2 minutes and charges for 10 seconds so it seems to be keeping its charge better?

 

Thanks! It was a custom paint job. Lexus white covered in matte pearl clear. It also has a Mansory carbon fiber hood with limo tint all around. I call it my Stormtrooper car. It also has the Vivid Racing tune and plenum upgrade for 600+hp.

If you think your battery might be getting "better", you can always unplug the tender, check the battery level with a volt meter, leave the car unplugged for a day or two, then check the levels again. If it drops significantly then you have a bad battery.

 

for reference my new battery dropped about 0.01 to 0.02 volts a day