Normal battery output?

Kugaman1

Member
 North East Scotland
Evening all.....

What should my battery be outputting without the engine running but the ignition at switch 2?

Did a scan today as Ive had a couple of little glitches that could be due to a dodgy battery.....

Mines showing 11.6v on a carly live scan.
It then goes to 12.8v when the engine is started.

Im thinking 11.6v is a bit low?

Time for a new battery before the weather gets much colder?
 
Remember the E89 has active battery management though so if it decides the battery doesn't need charging it might set the alternator voltage low. Saying that, if it really is 11.6 V (defo check with a multimeter first) then it should be charging at more than 12.8V to bring it back to full capacity. Confirm with a decent multimeter before going much further.
 
Ok thanks, will try it on the way to the gym tomorrow.

See what the voltage is whilst driving.
 
Ok.
Put a meter on it this morning. With the car turned off, battery is showing 11.7v

Then Put Carly on and during a drive, battery went up to 13.4v

Question is, is my battery on the way out or will I be ok?
 
You cannot tell if the battery is failing from measuring the voltage.

You need to do a discharge test to measure the max amp output, most motor factors can do this for you, it takes around 20 seconds.
 
did you not get a warning light on the dash ?
I turned mine on yesterday and the battery warning came up, checked the voltage and it was 11.9v
 
Kugaman1 said:
Ok.
Put a meter on it this morning. With the car turned off, battery is showing 11.7v

Then Put Carly on and during a drive, battery went up to 13.4v

Question is, is my battery on the way out or will I be ok?

11.7V sounds a bit on the low side to me. If your battery is over 6 yrs old I would just replace it for new.
 
Just changed mine yesterday for a Varta AGM - the original battery was putting out 11.9v, and being charged at 14.8v.
Registered the new battery via Carly, and all is good.
 
Poltergeist1966 said:
Just changed mine yesterday for a Varta AGM - the original battery was putting out 11.9v, and being charged at 14.8v.
Registered the new battery via Carly, and all is good.

Is there a difference in the charging voltage of the new battery, what voltage is it when driving?
Rob
 
ph001 said:
11.7V sounds a bit on the low side to me. If your battery is over 6 yrs old I would just replace it for new.

Car is 4 years old.
However, no idea if it got a lot of stop/start use, so the battery may have had a hard time.....

Im going to give it a week or two and see how it goes....

Car seems to be performing fine today, so not sure if theres an issue or not....

Thanks for the feedback all.
 
Offload a freshly charged 12 v AGM battery should be sitting around 12.6v minimum. Even with some very minor current drain should sit above 12v

So whilst it’s true to say that only a capacity test will definitely show how much of an issue there is, a recently charged 12v battery completely off load that reads 11.6v is on its way out.

Having said that if the battery is still connected in a Z4 then it’s not truly off load as when you open the doors all sort of circuits fire up...

So the simple test I sent run the car for a few minutes, then stop, then disconnect a battery lead , wait 30 minutes measure voltage , if below 12 v fhen it’s going to the happy hunting ground of AGM batteries... :thumbsdown:
 
Was looking at this....exact same battery as the halfords branded one but a fair bit cheaper!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EK700-4-Year-Warranty-Exide-Stop-Start-AGM-Commerical-Micro-Hybrid-Battery/252606943691?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908131621%26meid%3D68bfbd30118f416bb12a4ec105dc2443%26pid%3D100678%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D3%26sd%3D282275987687&_trksid=p2481888.c100678.m3607&_trkparms=pageci%253Aa23d5842-c16b-11e7-985c-74dbd1808a04%257Cparentrq%253A8769a4c515f0aa16214930eefffd420c%257Ciid%253A1
 
My 2010 appears to have the original battery but it's not an AGM
I think mine may also be on its way out, but as I've only had the car less than a month I shall hope the dealer is sympathetic, I have a warranty with the car but batteries are not covered.
 
Ive had mine less than a month but am not thinking I will get anything out of the dealer....

The battery still works ok, it just throws the odd glitch.....

I put it on an intelligent charger this afternoon at 3pm.....its now 10pm and its still charging!

Ive turned it off for the night.....will maybe give it a go again tomorrow to see how it fares...
 
Left mine on an intelligent charger for two days and it was still charging, at least I didn't get the red light of doom, but then I didn't but get the green one either
 
Kugaman1 said:
Ive had mine less than a month but am not thinking I will get anything out of the dealer....

The battery still works ok, it just throws the odd glitch.....

I put it on an intelligent charger this afternoon at 3pm.....its now 10pm and its still charging!

Ive turned it off for the night.....will maybe give it a go again tomorrow to see how it fares...

If it’s an intelligent charger I’d leave it doing its stuff overnight :thumbsup:
Rob
 
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