Trickle charging

[Blurredman]

Howdy. It's getting to that time of year when the frost is on the windscreen, and battery health starts to become an issue. I can go a week or more without running the car (or only doing short trips with all the lights and heated seats on), so I am thinking of putting a trickle charger on in the downtime. Any disadvantages this? Do you connect directly to the battery, or under the bonnet?

 

[enuff_zed]

Howdy. It's getting to that time of year when the frost is on the windscreen, and battery health starts to become an issue. I can go a week or more without running the car (or only doing short trips with all the lights and heated seats on), so I am thinking of putting a trickle charger on in the downtime. Any disadvantages this? Do you connect directly to the battery, or under the bonnet?

Get an 'intelligent' one that will monitor the battery and put it through different cycles. (CTEK are commonly used)
Connect it under the bonnet as the E89 has IBS (cue the usual joke :roll: ) and this ensures the charge passes correctly through the system.

You may need an extension section of cable from CTEK as well. Then run the cable along the LH side of the engine bay and you can slot it down the inner edge of the headlight, allowing you to close the bonnet and lock the car.

 

[buzyg]

Apart from the couple of minutes it takes to set up, I can't think of any disadvantages. I have used a trickle charger for many years, on various cars, without any issues.

 

[matsmith749]

BMW make a nice wall mount charger with long cables for this purpose - not horrendously expensive & has a decent multi line display that gives good info on exactly what is happening.

 

[DonDon]

CTEK make a connector that can be permanently attached to the engine charging point and ground, so you just plug the charger in to that.

Depending on your grille, you might be able to position that so you can connect through the grille so you don't have any danger of catching the trailing wire in the bonnet when you shut it.

 

[Marcoose]

the E89 has IBS (cue the usual joke :roll: )

Do you feel it’s smarter than you ?

 

[enuff_zed]

the E89 has IBS (cue the usual joke :roll: )

Do you feel it’s smarter than you ?

Quite possibly. And who knows where that leaves the colonials

 

[Hb1]

I’ve brought this

For just under £60 it’s pretty decent.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/375470171993?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=r3xtivEwT6K&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=vBOfb9w7Rdm&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[Bluebottle]

https://www.driven2automotive.com/shop/ring-rsc808-smart-battery-charger/

I highly recommend this from Ring/Osram that I bought recently. As good as ctek but much less expensive and 8A is a good current to charge and then maintain your AGM battery.

 

[Christopher72]

I use a NOCO Genius5 https://no.co/genius5 plugged into a smart outlet during Winter storing. I schedule the trickle charger to turn on for an hour daily. It really doesn't need more to keep it topped.

Make sure to get a trickle charger that has an AGM 12V mode.

 

[Blurredman]

Excellent advice guys

 

[peter2704]

are all e89 agm batteries,i dont think mine is?

 

[Marcoose]

the E89 has IBS (cue the usual joke :roll: )

Do you feel it’s smarter than you ?

Quite possibly. And who knows where that leaves the colonials

Indeed. Poor bastards were colonised by Brits and other nearly-as-smart-as-IBS types.

 

[Marcoose]

are all e89 agm batteries,i dont think mine is?

There’s a dashboard gauge for that.

 

[peter2704]

lol where I need one ….

 

[peter2704]

Why agm , I thought that was for stop start cars?

 

[Marcoose]

Why agm , I thought that was for stop start cars?

If you’re asking why BMW make certain questionable technical choices, put on something comfortable because you’ll be at it for a while.

 

[B21]

Why agm , I thought that was for stop start cars?

AGM is used for stop/start cars but also for regenerative braking systems..which the E89 has..

 

[peter2704]

Understand , best save for a agm battery