Electrical woes

[heatmizr]

Well that has been an interesting read so far.
I will add a point of reference. I got a 2012 e70 v8 back in the spring. The battery in it is the original OE. In May or so I checked the battery voltage a few times and it was always in the 11.9 range. Before a weekend camping trip I threw an older charger on it for a couple hrs, got it over 12v, and since then will connect my small trickle charger on it for a couple days here and there. I don't think the trickle charger puts out more than ~12.7 v but the battery got up to around 12.3v or so. The last few weeks its been off the charger completely. I need to check it again to see where it's at.

I drive 3 miles to work, 3 miles back, daily. So prime candidate for these issues.
But IN ALL THIS TIME I have never had an issue with starting, electronics, or any electrical indications of low voltage.
Despite that I did purchase a Jebsen voltage indicator that plugs into the cigarette outlet and I watch the voltage on that daily. Other than a few secs at startup I almost never see readings under 14v. I assume you have spotted the other thread on this but my post on it is here:
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...problem-3.html

[wsmeyer]

Thanks for your input. It's seen more than three weeks now of daily usage on trips from 1 mile to 40 miles and no problems. It's definitely not constantly charging the battery, my old school brain finds this troubling but haven't found any concrete evidence that this is not the way it was designed so I just keep driving it and crossing my fingers lol.

Would really like to know for sure before the ski season starts.

[jfoj]

6 miles of driving a day is not so good for these vehicles.

I usually put the charger on my cars overnight every few months just as a maintenance task.