Battery Drain on 2005 Cayenne

[omolddesign]

I disconnected one by one the terminals under the seat off my newly purchased Cayenne until the battery drain went away. I had to disconnect them all including the large one I assume goes to the alternator before the voltage drain went away. It did not matter which one I reconnected the voltage drain came back. Does this mean the alternator is shorted? I have had the car running with a freshly charged battery but left overnight the battery is flat. Any ideas

[JFP in PA]

I disconnected one by one the terminals under the seat off my newly purchased Cayenne until the battery drain went away. I had to disconnect them all including the large one I assume goes to the alternator before the voltage drain went away. It did not matter which one I reconnected the voltage drain came back. Does this mean the alternator is shorted? I have had the car running with a freshly charged battery but left overnight the battery is flat. Any ideas

 

Not necessarily. All Porsche's have a low, but continuous background drain on the battery to run the alarm system, retain radio station presets, keep the clock in time, etc.  This is completely normal, and typically would be around 40-60 mA, and is why Porsche has set these vehicles up to easily use battery maintainers.  If your drain is higher than that, the correct way to track it down is to measure the drain at the battery with a multimeter while pulling fuses one at time until you hit the circuit causing the higher drain.

[omolddesign]

Thank you JFP, I redid the test for amps, I am starting to understand the car burns quite a few amps waking up and takes several minutes to drop from about 8 amps to .03 - .07 amps when finally asleep. I spent a full 24hr day charging the battery at first then spent the next day cleaning it with doors open car never went to sleep. I then took the battery to have it checked out, I got the ok from the store but I am starting to believe although it took charge and it was only 1-1/2 years old its amp/hr life may have been shortened. The car has been idle for some time so I think the battery has been completely drained several times. I'll let you know how it goes with new uprated longer amp/hr battery as my multi meter is telling me it is only drawing .02-.07 amps when left alone and locked. I will be adding a solar charger to the dash for $25, seams like a good idea for this car.

[omolddesign]

New battery solved issue

 

thanks