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      04-04-2021, 12:46 AM   #1
sygazelle
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Battery won't stay charged

I'm posting for my brother who is not an internet guy at all. He has X1 F48 and he bought new in November 2017. He has had trouble with the battery not staying charged. He's taken it to his local BMW dealer who tells him he doesn't drive it enough. He drives about 8,000 miles a year. He has resorted to using a trickle charger and has to plug it in each time he comes home. He is beyond frustrated that the dealer isn't solving the problem for him.

I recommended that he contact BMW North America to see if they can help him get his problem resolved.



Have any of you experienced this situation and were you able to get BMW to solve it?


I'll take any advice you may have. Thanks!
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      04-04-2021, 02:43 AM   #2
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Contacting Bmw won’t do any good. Because the car does need to be driven. There is a small drain on most new cars these days if you don’t drive them for weeks at a time. I suggest either keep the plug in the trickle charger or when it’s going down for more than a week, disconnect the negative cable on the battery.

If he doesn’t drive it, he just needs to keep it plugged in for 48 hours each week, that will keep it up enough
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      04-04-2021, 05:28 AM   #3
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I would agree with the above to some extent. I see no point in disconnecting the negative battery terminal but would use a trickle charger regularly.
I have had various BMWs and have had at various times a warning about low battery state or have had some electrical items not working.
I would suggest a CTEK battery charger. They are at the upper end of the price range, but will do the job completely.
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      04-04-2021, 08:14 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_R View Post
I would agree with the above to some extent. I see no point in disconnecting the negative battery terminal but would use a trickle charger regularly.
I have had various BMWs and have had at various times a warning about low battery state or have had some electrical items not working.
I would suggest a CTEK battery charger. They are at the upper end of the price range, but will do the job completely.
Yes, the CTEK chargers are very good and a badged version is sold in the UK by BMW. Mine, bought from a motorists store, is a CTEK MXS-5.0T and I have used it every few of weeks during Lockdowns. One of the notable features is that if your battery is fairly heavily discharged, the charger will go through a ‘recovery’ stage. In the UK, mine cost approx £80 inc UK sales tax (around US$110). Just one additional point is that you cannot use a charger that plugs into the lighter socket because of the circuitry used by BMW. Your handbook will show you how to connect using the positive (red) battery terminal, towards the rear of the engine bay and the nearby negative charging terminal. As Peter_R says, there’s no point in disconnecting the battery negative terminal, which may mean certain systems have to be re-coded on reconnecting the battery.

Last edited by oakey46; 04-05-2021 at 01:39 PM..
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      04-04-2021, 08:29 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sygazelle View Post
I'm posting for my brother who is not an internet guy at all. He has X1 F48 and he bought new in November 2017. He has had trouble with the battery not staying charged. He's taken it to his local BMW dealer who tells him he doesn't drive it enough. He drives about 8,000 miles a year. He has resorted to using a trickle charger and has to plug it in each time he comes home. He is beyond frustrated that the dealer isn't solving the problem for him.

I recommended that he contact BMW North America to see if they can help him get his problem resolved.



Have any of you experienced this situation and were you able to get BMW to solve it?


I'll take any advice you may have. Thanks!
I had the same problem, especially during cold winter in Toronto when warning messages would pop up on the HU screen. I took the car to the dealer who looked up how much (little) I drove the last 2-3 months. They told me the battery is shot because I did not drive enough and it is not covered under warranty, so it cost me CA$650 for a replacement.

Now, I make sure to drive the car for some time at least every 2-3 days. They did say that a trickle charger would be good, but that is not an option for me in a high-rise building underground parking garage. The same problem occurred on a Cadillac I owned previously.

Last edited by wcs2229; 04-04-2021 at 08:43 AM..
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      04-05-2021, 06:31 AM   #6
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doing what your friend does is bad for any car.

use the trickle charger or go for longer drives. even though i drive mine daily, i hook it up to a trickle charger if i don't plan on going anywhere for at least 12 hours. i do the same to my daughter's car.
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      04-05-2021, 02:58 PM   #7
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For 155 euros in service, a new battery and replacement, the factory was discharged after only two years, I could not stay in the parking lot because of a bad battery, so I replaced it with a new one. The car was manufactured in August 2018, replaced in October 2020. Isolation and not driving the car did its thing.
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      04-05-2021, 05:42 PM   #8
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Thank you all for your responses. I've passed this information onto my brother.
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      04-05-2021, 06:16 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sygazelle View Post
Thank you all for your responses. I've passed this information onto my brother.
For what's it's worth, the battery can be reconditioned. It's very likely that the battery was drained too many time's and there is little fluid / electrolyte left in the battery. Instead of buying a new battery which would cost quite a bit, you can buy the electrolyte solution and some distilled water and drain the old stuff and top up the new solution, I think you need a battery charger that can run through a reconditioning cycle on the battery a few times in order to get it working properly again. But as others mentioned the battery drains when not in use, there's a lot of electronics like the door handles with comfort access as well as other sensors that stay on and are working even though the car is off. So that could cause a significant drain on the battery when it's not being driven for long periods of time.
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      04-06-2021, 12:49 AM   #10
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I’ve driven maybe 3,000 miles for each of the last two years. The CTEK charger has been a lifesaver with the X1, never had battery issues with my last car so it was a bit of a surprise.

Trickling every day might be overkill like someone else said. Once I realized what was causing my battery warnings I got the CTEK and then timed it to see how long it would take to get the same warning again. For my driving habits that’s around 3 months. So I give myself a good margin of safety and trickle in the CTEK one weekend a month. I do not disconnect the negative battery terminal either.
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      04-06-2021, 01:42 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ///Makis View Post
For what's it's worth, the battery can be reconditioned. It's very likely that the battery was drained too many time's and there is little fluid / electrolyte left in the battery. Instead of buying a new battery which would cost quite a bit, you can buy the electrolyte solution and some distilled water and drain the old stuff and top up the new solution, I think you need a battery charger that can run through a reconditioning cycle on the battery a few times in order to get it working properly again. But as others mentioned the battery drains when not in use, there's a lot of electronics like the door handles with comfort access as well as other sensors that stay on and are working even though the car is off. So that could cause a significant drain on the battery when it's not being driven for long periods of time.
I don’t think that electrolyte top up is a viable option for most, if not all, X1 batteries. That’s because the installed batteries are sealed for life, with no means of topping up.
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      04-06-2021, 08:49 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oakey46 View Post
I don’t think that electrolyte top up is a viable option for most, if not all, X1 batteries. That’s because the installed batteries are sealed for life, with no means of topping up.
Also, a lot of BMW X1's have AGM batteries that do not have lead plates in electrolyte, like in traditional wet or flooded batteries.
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      04-06-2021, 08:53 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mateooo View Post
For 155 euros in service, a new battery and replacement, the factory was discharged after only two years, I could not stay in the parking lot because of a bad battery, so I replaced it with a new one. The car was manufactured in August 2018, replaced in October 2020. Isolation and not driving the car did its thing.
Those are low prices compared to what I paid (after currency conversion). Is it for an AGM battery?

Also, standard BMW procedure includes coding the BDC to register the new battery in the car.

https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/ite...d-registration

Last edited by wcs2229; 04-06-2021 at 09:01 AM..
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      04-06-2021, 10:44 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wcs2229 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by oakey46 View Post
I don’t think that electrolyte top up is a viable option for most, if not all, X1 batteries. That’s because the installed batteries are sealed for life, with no means of topping up.
Also, a lot of BMW X1's have AGM batteries that do not have lead plates in electrolyte, like in traditional wet or flooded batteries.
I never looked at my x1 battery as I've only had the car a couple months but I didn't realize they had agm batteries. That's even more strange as I was under the impression they were a bit more robust than lead acid batteries (I could be wrong). But thanks for the info on that!
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      04-14-2021, 11:45 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wcs2229 View Post
Those are low prices compared to what I paid (after currency conversion). Is it for an AGM battery?

Also, standard BMW procedure includes coding the BDC to register the new battery in the car.

https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/ite...d-registration
Yes AGM battery, 2 year warranty super action. This is the total price of the battery, the replacement which in X1 is not very simple and the registration of the battery. For this I went across the border to Slovenia, it is half an hour of driving and an authorized BMW service, in Croatia I received an offer of about 300 euros in a BMW service.
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      05-20-2021, 02:54 AM   #16
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Please tell me which battery BMW X1 F48 2.0i september 2016.
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      05-20-2021, 03:37 AM   #17
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Please tell me which battery BMW X1 F48 2.0i september 2016.
Unfortunately, there is no one type of battery used on the production line of the X1. It can be a sealed lead acid type or an Absorbant Glass Mat (AGM) battery.
You will need to gain access to it and identify it.
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      05-20-2021, 03:46 AM   #18
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Thanks.
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      05-20-2021, 03:47 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_R View Post
Unfortunately, there is no one type of battery used on the production line of the X1. It can be a sealed lead acid type or an Absorbant Glass Mat (AGM) battery.
You will need to gain access to it and identify it.
Thanks.
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      05-22-2021, 08:26 AM   #20
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New here with a 2021 X1.
Battery is hidden behind casings, Dealer so far unable to tell me type, Ah, CCC, etc I assume it is an AGM.
Need to know as my Ctek 5, allows charging as normal unit or AGM. Some chatter of a latter newer battery,
BMW in Oz and Dealers not that helpful in parting with ‘knowledge’.
I did read that if you replace battery specs with same, no need to re-register. Only if you change Ah, CCC, etc.

Last edited by Teckno711; 05-22-2021 at 08:28 AM.. Reason: Spell
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      05-22-2021, 09:31 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Teckno711 View Post
New here with a 2021 X1.
Battery is hidden behind casings, Dealer so far unable to tell me type, Ah, CCC, etc I assume it is an AGM.
Need to know as my Ctek 5, allows charging as normal unit or AGM. Some chatter of a latter newer battery,
BMW in Oz and Dealers not that helpful in parting with ‘knowledge’.
I did read that if you replace battery specs with same, no need to re-register. Only if you change Ah, CCC, etc.
There is a high likelihood that the battery in your car is AGM, although battery type and specs may be different in different markets. If you want to confirm visually, then take a look at the following posts about gaining access quite easily:

https://f48.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...hlight=battery

The BMW procedure is to register a new battery because the car has intelligent charging that optimizes over its life, not only for the battery type and specs. Of course, the battery would still work, so it is your own choice.
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      05-23-2021, 02:32 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wcs2229 View Post
There is a high likelihood that the battery in your car is AGM, although battery type and specs may be different in different markets. If you want to confirm visually, then take a look at the following posts about gaining access quite easily:
Exactly. I asked my dealer and was advised it was a sealed lead acid battery. In the UK there are different types. As stated previously:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_R View Post
Unfortunately, there is no one type of battery used on the production line of the X1. It can be a sealed lead acid type or an Absorbant Glass Mat (AGM) battery.
You will need to gain access to it and identify it.
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