Cybernezz

Hey Guys,



I thought I'd plead to all of your great wealth of knowledge regarding a battery issue that I've got.


Car is 6/7 year old and to be fair has the original battery - checked with DIS. Regardless of the actual issue - the car ALWAYS starts on the button - so I'm inclined to believe the actual cranking power of the battery is 100% fine.

Battery is a SLA 12v 90ah BMW battery - and coded correctly.


Issue is - I've noticed if I run the car with the Xenons set to automatic (basically always on) - the next time I get in the car I have to reset the clock/time and have the "Increased Battery drain" message on the idrive.

If I turn my headlights off - not use them during a trip - then I have no problems. Its almost like the battery isn't getting or keeping the charge while the lights are on / while running.


With the lights off - I can sit in the car for 25-30 minutes with the radio on - with no battery message. If I was out driving at night, got home - turned lights off before turning the car off - then sat in the car - within 2 minutes the message comes on and shuts things off to preserve the battery.


I did recently take the car battery out and charge it / left it off charge over night and the battery held charge.



I know its a common, sporadic problem on the e60 - I just wondered if anyone has any thoughts on what to test next?
Battery drain while the car is off seems fine.


Considering looking at DIS this evening to see if there are any xenon adaptive light tests I can run to check that system. Also planning on running a test on the CAS system. (I don't have comfort access - but wonder if its a faulty door module thing?).



ANY help you guys can give would be amazing!!!!!

sahiljain22

I had the same issue on my 08 two years back.
Tried everything crazy, even got a tickle charger.
Paid the dealer to check the battery and he said it was OK.


Then one day I replaced the battery. Everything became fine. The explanation I got that even if one of the cells of the battery fails, the battery still tests healthy, but does not have sufficient charge (has sufficient voltage).

So replace your battery and go from there.

Cybernezz

Hey sahiljain22,

Thanks for the advice - did you have similar goings-on i.e weeks go by with no issues - then a hiccup, then fine for some time?

I'm happy buying a new battery - although don't want to shell out now to find our I've a short-to-negative or something that is causing errors charging while the lights are on. Does that make sense?

Cybernezz

Anyone know any good places for batteries??

I've just found a Bosch S5 019 battery - 12v, 830CCA 95ah battery with 5 year warranty- £88.14...

Wondered if I'm looking in the wrong places..

mickeyboy500

I am suspicous that my own battery on my 2005 535d is causing me issues too although I do not get the "battery drain" message or lose the clock.

I have done a lot of research/reading on E60 battery issues and in a thread on another forum I read that each of the 6 cells on a good battery should produce 2.1 volts. Doing the maths therefore should see 12.5 to 12.6 volts across a healthy battery. Mine only shows 21.1 to 12.2 volts max after an overnight rest. I have a couple of recurring fault codes that say are down to low voltage.

It may be worth you checking the standing voltage on your current battery and perhaps compare with the new one when you get it.

I would be interested in your findings if you would care to post up that outcome.

Cybernezz

Hey mickyboy500,


When you say standing voltage - when are you checking the standing voltage?
I charged and left over night and got 12.6v (not connected to the car). I've checked with the multimeter while the car is running and got 13+ volts - showing the alternator is working ok.

When the car has been running though with the lights on, I barely get 12v..

Your numbers are correct though with the 6 cells.

I don't believe there is a way to check individual cells on an SLA realistically,

I do have the cable and software to diagnose the car and it shows some random things. It shows the car batter never achieves greater than a 40% charge. DIS is great for things like running a batter check - not that I'd pay BMW to run the check!!

mickeyboy500

By standing voltage I mean battery still in the car and connected but with no ignition on or anything consuming power other than the boot courtesy light due to the boot being open to put a multimeter across the battery. I also get the same voltage from the charging points in the engine bay so no loss there.

With engine ticking over my alternator kicks out 14.6v with DRLs on so I am pretty happy with that.

I will hopefully get some time today to do some further diagnostics, my current battery is a 100Ah Motaquip and I need to find out whether it was coded/registered properly first so will be hooking up DIS and NCSExpert to check. From what I have read there isn't a "100Ah" option to code to (either 90 or 110) so if the previous owner didn't code it from say a 90Ah battery it could well be under charging.

People say that the factory fitted (and hence coded) battery on a standard 535d is 90Ah unless the car was fitted with pretty much every conceivable electrical extra then they may well have fitted a 110Ah option. So I am suspecting that mine is still set to charge a 90Ah and is only charging to that despite a 100Ah being fitted.

Additionally my battery has the date 11th Dec 2011 in big white letters painted on it which I am assuming is when it was last changed, if so then that's only a year old so something isn't right.

I reckon there is a very good chance you will fix your issue with a new battery, but very difficult to find a 90Ah one these days unless you go for an OEM one and pay a premium, plenty of 100Ah ones around though. At least you have found a 95 which is a lot closer to the original, and one would like to think that there's not a lot of difference in the charging profile than that for a 90Ah.

Your Alternator output (12v with lights on and car running) does not seem right to me though, I would expect something around 14v - 14.5v. Could be down to a bad battery pulling the voltage down I suppose. What do you reckon?

mickeyboy500

Some additional comparison information for you. Attached JPEG re: my current battery status. Point to note that when I started DIS this afternoon it warned me that my battery voltage was only 12.0v, but allowed me to do some diagnostics all the same.

Seems to confirm that I have a 90Ah registered with a 100Ah in use. I am thinking that going for a 110Ah and coding and registering accordingly is the only safe way to go.

Question for you, the Bosch battery you mentioned early in this thread comes up as a 100Ah (not 95Ah). Where did you see it advertised?

sanjsanj

Check via the secret obc menu- you should always get 14.4V PLUS, never below that unless you've just let go of the gas.

Sounds like your alternator could be faulty, unless you measured 13 with a multimeter.

After switch off, it should be around 12.2-12.6

The fact that your battery's 7 years old doesn't help, as all batteries WILL fail at some point.

Cybernezz

Hey Guys,


Sorry for the delay ref this post - I spent the entire weekend troubleshooting the battery & car - and ultimately decided to buy a new battery which will be delivered in the next day or so.


Mickeyboy500 - I bought the battery from "carparts4less". By far the cheapest place I could find a good Battery.
After typing in the reg - it suggests a S4 Bosch battery. I do have quite a few extras on the car and the difference for the next battery they do (a S5) worked out after discount an extra £7.
The S5 also has an extra 30CCA and an extra 1 years warranty (more importantly!).


carparts4less have an offer on which is basically free delivery and £15 off when you spend over £100. So I ended up with a Bosch S5 019 12v 830CCA battery - 5 years warranty. Believe their site has it up at 95ah - although I'll code it to whatever is on the label when it arrives.


Just to share my tests that I ran and the voltages it gave on my multimeter:

1. Car Sat, turned off - 12.08v
2. Car turned on, all accessories turned off - 14.8v
3. Car turned on. all accessories turned ON - 14.8v
4. Car sat, turned off after running for an hour - 12.3v
5. Car sat, turned off after running for an hour - 12.3v (5 mins later)
6. Car Sat, turned off after 30 minutes drive - 12.04v
7. Car sat, turned off following day - 11.94v

I hope these tests show to me:

• Altinator works fine regardless of accessories in car
• Draw while car is off - nothing excessive

Also running the battery diagnostics - DIS shows the battery NEVER achieves greater than a 39/40% charge over the last week.


There's free delivery with the battery and at £88 - well I can't complain even if it works out to be something else on the car.


Next tests will be all as per above but with the new battery installed after a few days.



Hopefully no more resetting the clock!!