Question on Boxster Battery

Hello, I purchased an 03' Boxter last summer and stored it over the long NE winter. While in storage the car was connected to a battery tender using my cigarette lighter adapter. A few weeks ago, when I went to start the car, I found the battery was dead. I was able to jump it but the battery will no longer hold a charge. Based on the previous owner's service records, the battery was purchased in April of 2012. It should have more life left in it. Not sure if there was an issue with the tender or how I connected it, but the directions were pretty straight forward. Is the cigarette lighter outlet in the car "hot" without the ignition in an accessory "on" position? Just trying to figure out what went wrong. Thank you.

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[Nick at Pelican Parts]

I would suggest not going through the 12 volt socket in the interior. You are better off connecting directly to the battery. I don't have the wiring to check it against.

I would think the battery is faulty.

- Nick

[mikefocke]

Had 2 Boxsters and they hibernated with battery maintainers connected through the cigarette lighter socket for many years with no battery issues. So have hundreds of others.

You could have a bad connection between the socket and the plug that was inserted (any light or indicator go on?), or possibly the battery wasn't fully charged when the tender was connected (tenders will only sense and maintain charge between specific voltages, or a wiring defect somewhere. Somehow I recall someone posting that 7.8 was the lower limit for one model.

Are you sure there was power getting to the maintainer? What was the model name or number of the tender you used?

But there is nothing wrong with connecting a maintainer through the lighter socket on a US car. Don't try to charge through it though.

I've heard cars made for other markets do not have a live socket connection to the battery.