Charging Battery

P

Pecky1964

Member
 Suffolk
Hi all, I have just purchased my first Zed and I am VERY happy with it! It’s a 59 plate 30i. (Just waiting for my daughter to upload a photo of it on here for me)
So, it’s 10 years old and still has the original battery fitted. I have been reading on this forum that when a replacement battery is fitted it has to be registered to the car....... I would like to top up the charge in the battery but I am unsure if I disconnect it to charge it I will have to have it registered again when fitting back on the car.
The other option is to just connect a charger to it without disconnecting it from the car.
I know this is probably a simple question to all those in the know but I want to make sure I don’t damage any of the electrics.
Many thanks in advance for your help
 
Pecky1964 said:
Hi all, I have just purchased my first Zed and I am VERY happy with it! It’s a 59 plate 30i. (Just waiting for my daughter to upload a photo of it on here for me)
So, it’s 10 years old and still has the original battery fitted. I have been reading on this forum that when a replacement battery is fitted it has to be registered to the car....... I would like to top up the charge in the battery but I am unsure if I disconnect it to charge it I will have to have it registered again when fitting back on the car.
The other option is to just connect a charger to it without disconnecting it from the car.
I know this is probably a simple question to all those in the know but I want to make sure I don’t damage any of the electrics.
Many thanks in advance for your help
Click to expand...

Hi, you can charge the battery without removing it from the car, there’s connection points under the bonnet which some say is the preferred option. You only have to register a new battery, not a recharged old one :thumbsup:
Rob
 
As Smartbear says a 10 yr old battery is a potential mine field of problems.First thing I did after buying an e89 last year was to buy a premium make new battery.
 
I've just replaced my battery on Saturday (battery was around 9 yrs old). I did it via the RAC. They supplied and fitted a VARTA battery for a bit under £200 - thought it was a good deal. :thumbsup:

The original BMW battery was also a VARTA, at least on my E89.
 
Thanks all for the replies. I have a six month warranty, I will have to check to see if it covers battery replacement as I had to jump start it this morning. I have had the car less than a month
 
Smartbear said:
A below par battery can cause issues with these cars, if yours is 10 years old it’s probably on thin ice
Rob
Click to expand...
I have a 3.0i 2009 still with original battery, at present (in between houses) it sits in a car port protected but open to the cold without electrics available for a conditioner, it is not used daily but when I start it starts without a pause. I will be moving to a new house in Feb and will be able to put my C tec back in action. Curious as to what issues can be encountered by keeping a battery to long?.
 
Smartbear said:
A below par battery can cause issues with these cars, if yours is 10 years old it’s probably on thin ice
Rob
Click to expand...
I have a 3.0i 2009 still with original battery, at present (in between houses) it sits in a car port protected but open to the cold without electrics available for a conditioner, it is not used daily but when I start it starts without a pause. I will be moving to a new house in Feb and will be able to put my C tec back in action. Curious as to what issues can be encountered by keeping a battery to long?.
 
Baza said:
Smartbear said:
A below par battery can cause issues with these cars, if yours is 10 years old it’s probably on thin ice
Rob
Click to expand...
I have a 3.0i 2009 still with original battery, at present (in between houses) it sits in a car port protected but open to the cold without electrics available for a conditioner, it is not used daily but when I start it starts without a pause. I will be moving to a new house in Feb and will be able to put my C tec back in action. Curious as to what issues can be encountered by keeping a battery to long?.
Click to expand...

Hi, roof operation problems & terminal ebrake issues that can only be resolved by reflashing updated software to the car are just 2 potential problems bought on by an under voltage battery, they happen to cars that have still started ok as well! :oops:
Rob
 
Pecky1964 said:
Thanks all for the replies. I have a six month warranty, I will have to check to see if it covers battery replacement as I had to jump start it this morning. I have had the car less than a month
Click to expand...

Good luck with the battery Dennis, be aware that a low battery can cause other expensive issues with these cars :cry:
Rob
 
In addition, a new battery only needs to be registered if it is of a different type or capacity than the previous one.
 
Cees Klumper said:
In addition, a new battery only needs to be registered if it is of a different type or capacity than the previous one.
Click to expand...
Pardon, that is not quite correct:
https://bimmerscan.com/bmw-battery-registration/
 
That's an interesting read.
So does not apply to E85 then according to that?
With regard to the auto start/stop function, when it says car must not be woken for 6 hours, I assume that six hour period can occur at any time? ie. Get new battery fitted and coded, drive home, then leave it in the garage overnight and it will sort itself out then?
My car sits on a CTEK all the time it's in the garage. If I were to change the battery and get it coded, then put it away in the garage, would attaching the CTEK make any difference (its become second nature to me now). Would having it connected prevent the auto stop/start from resetting itself for example?
It also implies that no Zs should need the steering angle sensor reset?
 
The main issue / difference is the E89 onwards uses regenerative breaking...that is..the alternator is disabled for long periods of time by the engine cpu to improve acceleration / improve fuel consumption...the battery is under heavy strain providing lots of electrical power to consumers ...then when the car goes on the overrun and especially when being braked the very very powerful alternator 230 amps throws a lot of energy into the battery...

To cope with this the battery technology is AGM..better suited to repeated heavy drain / fast charge..and...
a shed load of clever electronics to to do all manner of predictions / computations..

Is there enough energy reserve for electronic power steering
Is there enough energy to do engine restarts
how much capacity does the battery have
what percentage charged
How is the battery ageing
Etc etc etc

So if you mess with the IBS, DME, battery , float charging you at best are not getting the best you can from your car , at worst you cook /prematurely age the battery...
 
Pbondar said:
So if you mess with the IBS, DME, battery , float charging you at best are not getting the best you can from your car , at worst you cook /prematurely age the battery...
Click to expand...

What by using a CTEK?

Please bear in mind I'm an airframes and engines tech, electrics is not my strongest suit.
 
enuff_zed said:
Pbondar said:
So if you mess with the IBS, DME, battery , float charging you at best are not getting the best you can from your car , at worst you cook /prematurely age the battery...
Click to expand...


What by using a CTEK?

Please bear in mind I'm an airframes and engines tech, electrics is not my strongest suit.
Click to expand...

There's absolutely no problem with charging /trickle charging the battery providing you use the jump /charging point in the engine bay..

There will be a diatribe from someone about this but that's BMW's offical policy and technically makes sense as the IBS (intelligent batteyr sensor) is in across the earth return and will pick up correctly the charging issues..

Of course like the old "my dad smoked 197 Woodbines per day and he never got lung cancer" there will be others that point out that the world did not end if they did it differently..just like some people don't change their oil very frequently and their engine hasn't failed, but others have!
 
Pbondar said:
enuff_zed said:
Pbondar said:
So if you mess with the IBS, DME, battery , float charging you at best are not getting the best you can from your car , at worst you cook /prematurely age the battery...
Click to expand...


What by using a CTEK?

Please bear in mind I'm an airframes and engines tech, electrics is not my strongest suit.
Click to expand...

There's absolutely no problem with charging /trickle charging the battery providing you use the jump /charging point in the engine bay..

There will be a diatribe from someone about this but that's BMW's offical policy and technically makes sense as the IBS (intelligent batteyr sensor) is in across the earth return and will pick up correctly the charging issues..

Of course like the old "my dad smoked 197 Woodbines per day and he never got lung cancer" there will be others that point out that the world did not end if they did it differently..just like some people don't change their oil very frequently and their engine hasn't failed, but others have!
Click to expand...

Thank you for clarifying. :thumbsup:
 
I've ordered a new Bosch 80ah AGM battery for my 35i today as it's now 10 years old and I've been having a few low battery while stationary warnings just a late so thought I'd best get it swapped. A mates managed to get me one for £130 plus vat :thumbsup:
 
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