Serious Design Flaw - No easy access to vehicle if 12v battery is very low

[BigApple]

my 240mls new Macan Turbo was dead after 4 days being parked. It was plugged in a for a day then the plug was used for the other car. I don't understand why Porsche would not just make a little msg pop up when the 12V power drops or reaches a critical voltage. If i leave my car alone for a few days knowing it has 80% SoC why should i worry about it not driving. Now i have to worry about 2 batteries... That should not be. Is there a way to replace it with a larger Lithium battery. I was planning to add a dashcam soon. That will for sure drain the 12V .... My e-tron has no issues sitting around unplugged for 4 days even with a dashcam in parked mode recording.
The one thing that may save me is with the Blackvue Dashcam i can remotely see the Voltage level for the 12V side of the car. Such a simple thing yet Porsche seems to not care or know how to implement this to their app. I did had to do the little 12V unlock Frunk and the 12V charging of the car to get it back going. But the Battery has reached / showed 3V and that usually means it is damaged (Lead batteries should not get below a certain voltage) i think. No protection for the Batterie in place it seems. Now who pays for the new Batterie? Porsche or the customer.

Sponsored

 

[JonoNZ]

my 240mls new Macan Turbo was dead after 4 days being parked. It was plugged in a for a day then the plug was used for the other car. I don't understand why Porsche would not just make a little msg pop up when the 12V power drops or reaches a critical voltage. If i leave my car alone for a few days knowing it has 80% SoC why should i worry about it not driving. Now i have to worry about 2 batteries... That should not be. Is there a way to replace it with a larger Lithium battery. I was planning to add a dashcam soon. That will for sure drain the 12V .... My e-tron has no issues sitting around unplugged for 4 days even with a dashcam in parked mode recording.
The one thing that may save me is with the Blackvue Dashcam i can remotely see the Voltage level for the 12V side of the car. Such a simple thing yet Porsche seems to not care or know how to implement this to their app. I did had to do the little 12V unlock Frunk and the 12V charging of the car to get it back going. But the Battery has reached / showed 3V and that usually means it is damaged (Lead batteries should not get below a certain voltage) i think. No protection for the Batterie in place it seems. Now who pays for the new Batterie? Porsche or the customer.

Are you sure it's not the dash cam that is draining the battery?

 

[BigApple]

Are you sure it's not the dash cam that is draining the battery?

don't have the Dashcam in yet. Only on the E-tron so far. The Macan was next.

 

[PanameraFrank]

It takes 5 minutes max to jump a dead 12v on a Taycan or electric Macan.

On a Taycan you just zap the hood latch circuit on the driver's side left of the brake pedal, then you just zap the battery. Easier on the Macan.

Any tow driver should know how to do it or you can carry a $50 starter with you from Amazon. It's a non issue.

This is also a very common issues across both ICE and EVs. The 12v is very often the weak link. Thankfully it's both a really easy problem to avoid (battery tender) and remedy ($50 starter from Amazon & 5 minutes.)

 

[DHS]

It takes 5 minutes max to jump a dead 12v on a Taycan or electric Macan.

On a Taycan you just zap the hood latch circuit on the driver's side left of the brake pedal, then you just zap the battery. Easier on the Macan.

Any tow driver should know how to do it or you can carry a $50 starter with you from Amazon. It's a non issue.

This is also a very common issues across both ICE and EVs. The 12v is very often the weak link. Thankfully it's both a really easy problem to avoid (battery tender) and remedy ($50 starter from Amazon & 5 minutes.)

Your solution assumes that you can get into the car to "just zap the hood latch circuit on the driver's side left of the brake pedal", but how can you do this if the car is locked and can't be opened due to the dead battery?

 

[BigApple]

It takes 5 minutes max to jump a dead 12v on a Taycan or electric Macan.

On a Taycan you just zap the hood latch circuit on the driver's side left of the brake pedal, then you just zap the battery. Easier on the Macan.

Any tow driver should know how to do it or you can carry a $50 starter with you from Amazon. It's a non issue.

This is also a very common issues across both ICE and EVs. The 12v is very often the weak link. Thankfully it's both a really easy problem to avoid (battery tender) and remedy ($50 starter from Amazon & 5 minutes.)

So how do you get into a Macan when the battery is dead ? Can you use a key to manually open the doors to get access to a 3rd part 12v battery to then jump with the 12V the hood. Or should Porsche drivers now carry little 12V batteries with them at all times to get around this problem ?

 

[SergeyIndy]

Your solution assumes that you can get into the car to "just zap the hood latch circuit on the driver's side left of the brake pedal", but how can you do this if the car is locked and can't be opened due to the dead battery?

This is what I found and this is a very new and unusual way to do it, compare to other Porsches with emergency key built into the keyfob. This is just the beginning. There are more steps to it.

 

[Wivenhoe]

I hope you’re right but I read that as being used when the fob is dead not when the 12v is. As the doors are electronic then don’t they need the 12v battery to drive the unlock ?

 

[CDW]

I am really concerned now. I left my Macan in my office parking garage before I
left for a 5 week trip. It’s already 3 weeks now.

 

[fubar.droid]

It takes 5 minutes max to jump a dead 12v on a Taycan or electric Macan.

On a Taycan you just zap the hood latch circuit on the driver's side left of the brake pedal, then you just zap the battery. Easier on the Macan.

Any tow driver should know how to do it or you can carry a $50 starter with you from Amazon. It's a non issue.

This is also a very common issues across both ICE and EVs. The 12v is very often the weak link. Thankfully it's both a really easy problem to avoid (battery tender) and remedy ($50 starter from Amazon & 5 minutes.)

According to OP, "In my case, I was advised to have the car towed to my dealer, who opened the hood and was able to jump-start the battery for me. The process took almost an hour for three experienced Porsche mechanics."

 

[krissrock]

you can jump the battery from outside the car....there are leads in the front bumper...on the nose

queue TRMS "did you read the manual?"

either way, the car should not have died that fast...especially since the batteries are new. something may be a foul

 

[tmrqs]

I don’t get it… my car was not driven for 10 days, left with 50% charge, it’s been cold, no issue at all - and it was *not* plugged.

The 12V shouldn’t lose charge like that, there’s something else going on.
Don’t believe this is a thing that impacts everyone / every Macan.

 

[Fly4ever]

Is there a chance a USB flash drive was left connected to any of the car's USB ports?These ports have 5V power and in most cars the port remains active even if the car is switched off.I killed a perfect 1 year old battery some years ago because of this,the tech guy who replaced my battery told me it was the probable cause.

 

[PrudentOcean]

In the Macan EV the USB ports only remain powered for 30 minutes after operational readiness ends.

 

[SimonEV]

At least in the UK, the Macan EV has a 12V AGM lead acid System Battery.

The manual say the System Battery will discharge so trickle charging it with an external charger if leaving for a prolonged period. That’s what you already have to do with an ICE Porsche.

Manual says you can’t leave the bonnet open and still lock the rest of the car, so that’s a security concern and might invalidate the insurance.

Keeping the bonnet open so that the battery can be left to go flat wouldn’t be good for its long term health so no advantage to be gained by not closing the bonnet to recover it except as a last resort.

Manual says connecting the car to the mains to charge the HV battery will ensure that the System Battery is also trickle charged.

It doesn’t guarantee that the HV battery will also maintain the System Battery e.g.. only the mains may be directly charging the System Battery

It may be going to far to have the System Battery control the HV connecting/isolating/controlling and also be itself trickle charged by it.

The Comfort Access is a convenient way to unlock the car, it it drains the battery, but it doesn’t have to be the only way to unlock the car.

Without the option, or with it turned off, Pulling the door handle initiates the unlock if the key is nearby and isn’t going to be a constant battery drain.

Sponsored