FormerE30Owner

My normal charge voltage is 14.4 volts and my IBS is fully functional. Note that this a Voltage not current, which would be amps. The battery is an 2 yrs old OEM equivalent (flooded lead) and was not registered when installed 2 yrs ago. I have not encountered any problems. The charge system works as it should, since, in cold weather, I have seen voltage readings as high as 15.2 volts, settling done to 14.6 v after several minutes after start up and driving.

scottalexander

You say, your normal charge voltage is 14.4 volts and my IBS is fully functional. Note that this a Voltage not current, which would be amps. The battery is an 2 yrs old OEM equivalent (flooded lead) and was not registered when installed 2 yrs ago.

If you didn't register it, doesn't that tell us who ever registered the old battery last time, the vehicle is using the same charging configuration for the new battery?

You have not encountered any problems, however the battery might not be "optimally" charged to extend the life of the battery (using the old configuration unless the batteries were identical in specs)?

donpb

If you have an equivalent battery, it will charge it harder because the age was not reset. It takes longer than two years for the battery to exhibit damage due to not registering. Mine went 3-4 years. @seanjordan20 mentioned 7 years is normal. I have never gotten that far.

If you buy a battery with a 5 year warranty, that would take care of early failures.

FormerE30Owner

When I say "OEM equivalent", I mean that the battery is identical to the replaced battery. When the batteries are identical, the battery charge system "senses" the state of the battery every time at start up and configures itself accordingly. BTW, if I get 3-5 yrs out of a battery, whether AGM or Flooded, I am happy. 200$ every 4 yrs isn't bad.

seanjordan20

3-5 years is the norm for a modern battery. I enjoy it taking 7 years because I own 4 cars and a motorcycle so the more I can get out of it is better. My original battery lasted 8 years and the replacement (flooded interstate battery) lasted 7.5 years. I have 3 cars that maintains the battery by modules and each cost a little over $200. I love the feature so I use it to save money. Even though I save a lot doing all my work on my BMWs i still like using the saving features built in to the cars

donpb

Ok everyone, I am doing a test right now to see what happens after I set it to learn the battery aH. What got me into this in the first place is, I went to drive my e60 after a week of not driving it and got the Low Discharge notification.

I noticed after I made the change, my e60 seemed to be running different, better. So right now I am letting it sit for a week after daily driving it for a week to see what happens.

donpb

Its been a week and my car started up fine. I chose a week because I got the low battery notification after 1 week which was odd. After registering the battery, I wanted to see what happens after a week of not driving.

I actually have no idea how long folks can usually go without driving the car and not get the low battery notification. How long can most of you go without driving the car and not get the notification?

scottalexander

In past posts on this forum people have said they get a warning:

- after 3 days
- after 1 week
- after 2 weeks

so depending on your parasitic drain and the health of your battery, you can different longevity.

When I learned the BMW charging system can't charge the battery above 80% I started trickle charging the car every 2 weeks.

donpb

Hmm.

Well that explains why my BMW diagnostic reader charge history never shows above 80%.

donpb

I'm now getting the frigging low discharge dang message again. Something tells me that the battery is not fully charging. I drove for the day and the notification went away.

I measured 11.94v at the battery terminal. I then started the car up and measured 14.1 volts. Looks like the alternator is putting out voltage but maybe is the incorrect current.

I registered my battery via Foxwell nt510 Elite and there was no place to select charging current. It just had same battery, different battery and switch battery type.