New battery installed yesterday, getting 'Increased battery discharge'

[faz]

Hi all,
Just changed the battery in our X5 yesterday during lunch hour at an indy shop (details here) and registered the new battery too. Drove the car to my work and all was good, parked the car for 3 hours there and when leaving work, got the 'Increased Battery Discharge' warning.

Called the indy shop and he suggested to drive it around for a couple of days, perhaps the new battery that has been sitting for a while prior to delivery.

When I arrived home last night, I measured the battery voltage under the hood location and it was 12.7V (engine turned off). Put a trickle charger on it which immediately showed 'charged', while putting a 13.1V voltage on that terminal. Later in the evening I took it for a 30 minute drive on freeway, came back home and parked it as usual (no charger attached).

Checked voltages (under hood) this morning before start 12.5V, and 14.1V with engine running.

Still showing the warning message. Indy shop insists drive it for a couple of days and it should go away on its own.

My wife drives to work 30 miles each way on freeway so we will see after a couple of days, I am hoping this won't be an issue.

This indy shop does mainly BMWs and Mercedes (and others) and are usually well versed in BMW technical issues. Always see V8 engines disassembled to fix valve guides etc. there, they even have stock of BMW parts including batteries in their shop so I am sure they are no stranger to BMW battery changes.

During the battery change, one of the connectors to the dist panel was mistakenly not plugged in, so a few long starts didn't start the car. They plugged it in and all was good. Then also took out and reconnected the black/yellow connector to the side of the battery (were getting a passenger restraint malfunction error that went away). During the registration process, engine was not running and no chargers attached to the car, so all of that could have resulted in excessive discharge of the battery right off the bat.

I will update this thread after a couple of days and let you all know how it goes. If the issue persists, I will have the indy shop check the battery connections, although I was there and saw them tighten all properly (even a bit too much on the positive terminal for my liking).

Any feedback based on my story above will be appreciated.

[Proflyer]

12.7v is low. You got a junk old battery and they're trying to make you float charge it with your charging system hoping it'll go away. Demand a new battery, that thing might not last 6 months and then you're toast. A trickle charger at 1.5amps won't bring it back either.

[faz]

Originally Posted by Proflyer

12.7v is low. You got a junk old battery and they're trying to make you float charge it with your charging system hoping it'll go away. Demand a new battery, that thing might not last 6 months and then you're toast. A trickle charger at 1.5amps won't bring it back either.

Thanks for the feedback. To clarify, I bought the battery directly from the BMW dealership yesterday and took it to the indy shop to install.

After I got the 'increased battery discharge' message I double checked with the dealership and the parts person who sold it to me, to see if it was an old battery, and he said this was from a fresh batch they had just received.

I will check / monitor the battery charge and follow up.

[pshovest]

12.7v is not low with engine off.
Did you have the message before replacing the battery?

[faz]

Ok, happy to report that the car is back after a day of being driven back and forth to my wife's work (30 miles each way) and the warning is gone. Measured the voltage (engine off) at 12.85 V and with engine running 14.5V.

Things look good, and my wife was happy with the quick start and the car generally feeling better than it did before.

FYI, the old battery was the orig battery so over 6 years old. Sometimes we would get an occasional longer than expected start ( 3-4 seconds vs the regular 1-2 seconds), and no other warnings or errors. The change was basically a preventative maintenance to avoid battery problems that were bound to happen soon and at an inconvenient time.

I will update this thread if things change.

Thank you proflyer for your responses.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Proflyer]

Originally Posted by faz

Thanks for the feedback. To clarify, I bought the battery directly from the BMW dealership yesterday and took it to the indy shop to install.

After I got the 'increased battery discharge' message I double checked with the dealership and the parts person who sold it to me, to see if it was an old battery, and he said this was from a fresh batch they had just received.

I will check / monitor the battery charge and follow up.

Ah, I had assumed they sold you whatever one they had sitting there. I can't imagine an indy shop moves too many batteries so they might not be too fresh. Glad it's sorted out!

[ard]

If you do not have a modern, AGM-compatible charger, your battery is likely NOT fully charged.

[Thecastle]

Yeah, I'll add that the BMW dealership ideally should have fully charged the battery before installing and registering. BTW most battery's register as full depending on the type if they are 12.65v~12.8v

If you have an agm battery ard is right you need a compatible charger. There are 3 main types of batteries for cars. Wet cell, gel cell and absorbed glass mat (agm). All three need different charging stratigies and the batteries can be damaged using say wet cell charging on an agm battery and visa versa.

[faz]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Appreciate it. Will look into this more and learn about it. (I am an electrical engineer by training so I can always use additional knowledge in these areas.)

Right now the car is running beautifully, the battery is fully charged on car's own being driven 60 miles a day in reverse-traffic on freeway, and all look good for the next few years (keeping my fingers crossed.)

This thread has ended up having some valuable information in it for others in future, which was the purpose of it to begin with. Thanks for your contributions.

[pshovest]

Check the battery voltage first thing in the morning after car has been off all night to drain the surface charge. I think you'll be surprised how low it is.