04-04-2021, 12:46 AM | #1 |
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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! |
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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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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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, 06:16 PM | #9 |
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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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04-06-2021, 08:49 AM | #12 |
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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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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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04-14-2021, 11:45 AM | #15 | |
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05-20-2021, 03:37 AM | #17 |
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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, 03:47 AM | #19 |
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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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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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