XSeries-forum

I'm still getting this message after fitting a new battery and coded at the same time by a specialist?

What is your daily usage?  Miles travelled etc.  If it's short runs you won't charge the battery and you will need a charger/conditioner.  The maximum engine off electrics run time as approx 20 mins on a full charge, less if not full.

1.  Get the battery fully charged.  If it wasn't full then it takes ages to get back as the car draws a lot of power - mine takes 60Ah doing nothing!

2.  Check the voltages under the bonnet with the engine running to make sure you have at least 14.2V

3.  If on short runs and you have lights, pre-heaters, bum warmers, window/mirror heaters the battery won't charge.  Minimum run time when driving is 20 mins just to put the starting draw back.

Daily usage is short

Probably 20 mins at the most on average
It's not until weekends start to do longer motorway runs

Had the car for over a year and never had this issue until recently when I think the battery died and replaced

So I guess from details on your post above it needs a good charge?

It's a non AGM battery

Maybe I need a battery charger of sort?

Do you have to drive at a particular speed for x mins before it charges?

A friend has this I can borrow

http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/ ... ry-charger

Just hook up and leave to charge with the terminals under the bonnet and NOT directly to battery to avoid spikes and surges I believe , is this okay?

It'll do, but if you have spare funds, go buy a CTEK MXS 5.0 or MXS 10 (the number is the ampere hour charge rate) as these are multiphase, conditioner chargers - as badged by BMW - and very good.

Yes the charging points under the bonnet are the correct place.

Speed isn't relevant as the cars use alternators not dynamos but you need to be at fast idle or higher.  The regulator on the alternator will determine the rest.

When the battery coding was redone, do you know what battery type they chose?  It might make a difference, especially if they picked the wrong battery family.

No tale tale signs of issues or IBS issue

Went on 20 min drive to garage on motorway and battery showed 85%
Although last couple of days it was down at 55 and 65%

Garage doesn't know and reset all fault codes

But increased battery discharge pinged up again after I went to a friends afterwards
Just got home and plugged in the halfords charger

To answer question above, I don't know how they coded battery

All a bit lost

Only thing I've noticed last couple of days
Sometimes when I open up after the car has been locked awhile is the cd slots in the glove box is on and making lots of noise

What does a ctek do that the halfords thing doesn't, in simple English

Not very technically minded

8 different charge stages.  The charger checks the battery performance during the stages and adjusts the charge rate/voltage and time in each stage accordingly.  Once the battery is in the right condition it switches into 'maintain' mode.  Can also recondition an abused (frequently flat) battery and might recover it into a good battery again.  It's the best way to charge a battery.  If it senses a fault at any stage it stops.

Can be left connected permanently - such as when you go on holiday, or if you store the car.  I have a smaller (3.8A) version hooked up to our E46.  Every 10 days it cycles the battery and checks all is well before returning to 'maintain' mode.

The Halfords one will most likely be a constant rate single stage charger that if left will overcharge the battery - will take a couple of days or more to do that.  It's probably not designed to be left connected for any period of time.

I guess it just depends what your personal preferences are.  The CTEK types are very good for cars which only do short journeys with infrequent longer runs.

[quote="X5Sport"]
What is your daily usage?  Miles travelled etc.  If it's short runs you won't charge the battery and you will need a charger/conditioner.  The maximum engine off electrics run time as approx 20 mins on a full charge, less if not full.

1.  Get the battery fully charged.  If it wasn't full then it takes ages to get back as the car draws a lot of power - mine takes 60Ah doing nothing!

2.  Check the voltages under the bonnet with the engine running to make sure you have at least 14.2V

3.  If on short runs and you have lights, pre-heaters, bum warmers, window/mirror heaters the battery won't charge.  Minimum run time when driving is 20 mins just to put the starting draw back.
[/quote]  how long would you say you have to drive to get battery fully charged ?? Im guessing at the mo im taking more out of the battery to whats going back in.! 20 mins to get back start up plus how much longer ?? any ideas X Sport ?

X5sport, thanks for explanation

I've had the halfords one plugged in for only a few hours
But still showing increased battery discharge
Didn't expect it to do much charge in that time but it does have a light to say charge or ready and maintaining; which it was on the latter

Wonder if that blower issue you have is related. I found something similar on xoutpost.com that caused an x53 to stay awake and drain the battery.  A google also throws up other things that break and cause drain, bluetooth modules is one example. It maybe a case of being able to measure the drain load and pull fuses one by one till it stops.

Also assuming no after market devices plugged in and causing problems.

No aftermarket parts plugged in
Ie no chargers etc

Where are the fuses. Wouldn't mind maybe trying the cd loading ones in the glovebox as seems to cycle through when first open car a lot