not-so-stupid storage question

[remigio]

good morning, all. this is embarassing but what the heck, i've been embarrassed plenty before so i'll just assume you agree the only stupid question is the one not asked.

my wife and i are going on a long trip (>1~2 months) and our son is busy w/ school and does army reserve drills. my car's po had mentioned that while he had the car, because its clock keeps ticktocking, it had slowly drained the battery and he'd had to buy a new battery before it was time to do so normally.

so, the question is; should i isolate the battery while we're gone or should i just leave it be -- on line and serving up juice to the clock and anything else that will drain it?

i once had a 4.5 280se and i could go on long deployments an' it'll start up w/o any problem when i return after 6-8 months. no isolation required or anything.

could be too i just need a heavy duty battery? any recommendation brand & type-wise?

remigio

[pete3799]

If the only draw on the battery is the clock you have no worries.
I've left mine (hooked up) all winter with no charger on it and not had a problem.

[Green 912]

Batteries discharge even when disconnected. I would get a battery tender that keeps the battery charged up. Don't use a trickle charger that stays on all the time use a true full cut off tender. They come on charge to full then shut off. When the voltage drops down some they come back on and recharge.

[longhornchris04]

1-2 months shouldn't kill it, but it takes a whole 2min to disconnect the battery and another 2min to reconnect it and reset the clock.

Now, on a newer vehicle you have the whole 'learning ECU' issues, but on an older Porsche this is a non-issue.

[dad911]

Disconnect one terminal. It only takes a few minutes.

[brads911sc]

Get a tender. I got mine for $20. Keeps me fully charged all the time. Took 10 minutes to install...