[Grasshopper]

I have been trying to set up the configuration on my new 718 Cayman and what's bugging me is that you have to have the ignition on before you can do this - or most of the menus don't come up. So I have to have the ignition on, the DRLs on, A/C on etc while I potentially spend hours going through the menus. Quite apart from the drain on the battery what really worries me is that leaving the ignition on with the engine not running has always been a big No-No on every other car I've had - burns out the coil or something. Is the Porsche set up differently or what. Any ideas. The Porsche dealer is of no help obviously.

 

[TEST DRyVer]

I have been trying to set up the configuration on my new 718 Cayman and what's bugging me is that you have to have the ignition on before you can do this - or most of the menus don't come up. So I have to have the ignition on, the DRLs on, A/C on etc while I potentially spend hours going through the menus. Quite apart from the drain on the battery what really worries me is that leaving the ignition on with the engine not running has always been a big No-No on every other car I've had - burns out the coil or something. Is the Porsche set up differently or what. Any ideas. The Porsche dealer is of no help obviously.

I'm not sure I completely understand the question. If you're talking about setting up all the menus, PCM, seats, personal preferences, etc... You will only do this once or twice. Maybe 3 times at the most. Your car will be fine. To my knowledge, you're only using your battery to operate these functions. And if you're in the car playing with the configurations and the ignition partially on (accessories position) for over an hour (at least on a new car or new battery), I would recommend turning your car completely on and running the engine for about 15 minutes to keep the battery charging. You can continue playing with your configurations while the car is running. After 15 minutes have past, you can then turn the car completely off, then turn back on to the mentioned "accessories position" and continue your configuration. You're not damaging the car by doing this, you just have to keep the battery in mind, hence why I say to turn the engine on if you go over an hour in "accessories position". As far as I can remember, I can't think of a single modern car that's not operating the same way (with the exception of full electric cars). Did you have a previous car that did not operate the way I mentioned? I'm curious... I hope I understood your question properly enough to answer...

 

[Grasshopper]

As far as I can see there isn't an "accessories" (we call it auxiliary in the UK) position on the Cayman. There's just the neutral position when you put the "key" in, then ignition on and then start engine. Nothing else. So all the time I'm looking at various stuff - like Trip info, config info etc etc, the ignition has to be on. It's kind of like having a house where you can't access your computer without turning on the central heating. Why on earth should someone want to turn on the ignition (and prime the fuel injection etc etc) when all they want to do is look at various configuration information. Every other car I've had (and there have been many) has had big warnings about leaving the ignition on without the engine running. The last one I had (an Audi) started beeping loudly after a few seconds if you did this.

 

[aeronca65tl]

The PCM screen can be switched on by briefly pressing volume control knob (left knob) and switched off by pressing and holding the volume control knob, regardless of whether the ignition is on or off.

I know you can adjust the clock like this (without the key). Might work to adjust other setup circumstances....I haven't tried.

 

[My718isPorsche#5]

The 1st mod I did was to connect a batter tender hard wire to the battery & run the cable through the louvers in the battery cover. When the key was on & I was learning/setting, the battery was on the smart charger. You could plug in a smart charger into the recepticle in the passenger foot well. I charge all my toys weekly wether driven or not.

 

[GregW]

The climate control can be switched off by reducing the fan speed to zero.

When the dealer ran me through the set-up to get it the way I initially wanted, he ran the engine for 30 minutes. As I adjust any preferences I just turn the ignition on for a couple of minutes. No issues so far.

 

[Grasshopper]

The PCM screen can be switched on by briefly pressing volume control knob (left knob) and switched off by pressing and holding the volume control knob, regardless of whether the ignition is on or off.

I know you can adjust the clock like this (without the key). Might work to adjust other setup circumstances....I haven't tried.

There are only a few things that you can do without the ignition on - and almost all the configuration stuff has to have the ignition on. Also stuff like the TPM and even the Trip information requires the ignition on.


Are there any electrical boffins on here that know whether this will cause damage? It seems crazy to me. I'm less worried about discharging the battery than causing damage.

 

[GregW]

There used to be issues with early transistorised systems that used points triggering--in certain conditions the battery could die--but I haven't heard of anything like that in years.

Always interested in being educated.

 

[[email protected]]

Leaving the ignition on will not hurt anything besides draining the battery. As GregW said, this used to be an issue with points ignition systems.

 

[Grasshopper]

Leaving the ignition on will not hurt anything besides draining the battery. As GregW said, this used to be an issue with points ignition systems.

This may well be true but I'm still wondering why I have to have the ignition on to do many tasks which don't seem to have any relation to the engine. For example I can program the SatNav without turning on the ignition, but when I want to look at configurational data I have to have the ignition on. Why? Turning on the ignition primes the fuel injection, heats up the plugs, turns on the DRLs etc etc - all things that are completely unnecessary when I'm not going to drive the car.


So why doesn't Porsche have a different key setting (like almost every other manufacturer I can think of) where you turn the key to a different position to perform these functions. I personally feel very uncomfortable spending potentially a significant time with the ignition on without the engine running when there seems to be absolutely no reason for it. Surely I'm not the first person to complain about this. Every other car I've owned beeps loudly at you if you do this - and there are warnings in the handbook of the Audi TT about damage caused by this - and I can assure you it didn't have a points based ignition system.

 

[Grasshopper]

I think I've found out the answer to this - i.e. why leaving the ignition on in the 718 without the engine running doesn't cause serious damage, as on every other car I've had. It's apparently due to the start/stop function. Basically when you turn on the ignition with they key it doesn't necessarily turn on the ignition. There's a higher intelligence behind this. It needs to have this because the start/stop function would potentially result in the engine being stopped with the ignition "on" for a long time when you're stuck in traffic. That's why there is no "accessory" key setting on the 718. It's all handled in software.