[Glen e]

Due to being away from my home unexpectedly, I came home after a couple months and my battery was completely dead in my x2. Is there nowhere in the instrumentation on the dash that would show you with the voltage? Moreover, all the while my Bmw app told me everything was OK every time I looked at it when I was away… Shouldn’t that app give me a warning that I was down to a unsafe level of the battery?

[Rich807]

Originally Posted by Glen e

Due to being away from my home unexpectedly, I came home after a couple months and my battery was completely dead in my x2. Is there nowhere in the instrumentation on the dash that would show you with the voltage? Moreover, all the while my Bmw app told me everything was OK every time I looked at it when I was away… Shouldn’t that app give me a warning that I was down to a unsafe level of the battery?

Batteries can & sometimes do go bad with zero notice. 'Dead cells' are one issue a battery can develop literally between shutting the car off & the very next start, even if that next start is 1 minute from the time you turned the car off. I've had numerous batteries die on me in this fashion over the last 30 years or so of driving.

As an aside, a lot of modern cars, including the X2 that are connected to the cloud at all times, have a continuing commensurate drain on electrical. With my experience with my X2 over the last about year now, I wouldn't expect the battery to have enough juice to start the car after 2 months of it sitting. If I had to store the car for more than say, 3-weeks, I'd have a battery tender on it or failing that, disconnect the battery while I was gone.

Good luck!

[rice_rocket88]

Yeah I'd say the app wouldn't have a spot to warn you, and I agree that 2 + months is not great, although if it was in FL where it is hot where you live I would have thought it would get more like 3 months. My 5 series wouldn't like more than a month and a half (when I too traveled and didn't use the car) It didn't have the connected app, but it would go through a new battery every 3-4 years. (they have a history of using a lot of power for all the features).

[Glen e]

my biggest gripe is the app….with the batt totally dead it was still reading “ALL GOOD”….what a crock…the app should ding you when the batt goes below 12.0 or so……

[rice_rocket88]

I agree the app really sucks, there's not much info there. I have compared it to other friends with Kia, Subaru and Honda and I believe the BMW app has the least amount of info. I turn it on once in a blue moon when I think I might have left the door unlocked or something. One time I realized I left a window open but I am not able to close it anyways from the app so it was just painful.

[rounderman]

if you look at the app check the last update time, it doesn't continually refresh (I guess unless there is a break in or other event battery obviously excluded)

sorry to hear this, good luck

[Qsilver7]

Battery voltage is usually one of the things that can be retrieved from the instrument cluster if you are familiar with how to unlock it to access some of the hidden features that are designed for service techs. Unlocking the cluster is a similar procedure to the one that allows you to reset the service intervals for brake/oil/statutory services/vehicle check. In fact, many owners get confused when trying to unlock the cluster or do a Service reset…and end up doing the other one instead if not familiar with the slightly nuanced differences.

[Rich807]

Seems like what the app shows are largely status' that were true when the car was last shut off. Agree BMW should be doing a lot better with it, especially when these cars use electricity 24/7

[//TMT]

Originally Posted by Glen e

my biggest gripe is the app….with the batt totally dead it was still reading “ALL GOOD”….what a crock…the app should ding you when the batt goes below 12.0 or so……

Dinging is one thing, but if the battery was totally dead, how the heck did the car manage to phone home? You'd think BMW would at least report the lack of communication with the car, instead of this unhelpful optimism.

These cars run the batteries on the hairy edge though. In everyday operation mine will typically be charged to 70% or so. They use AGM cells for this reason, they tolerate deep discharge. I guess it saves fuel to turn off the alternator until the system uses recovered coasting energy to drive it, but really??