Main battery "too high discharge" warning

[Bertone]

Hi,

This morning I noticed that the car had the red brake light, the red triangle warning light and red parking break light on. I reckon the lights had been on all night. I usually leave the car open, since it is sitting in my private garage. But the car shuts it self off after a while.

I took the key and started the car...then a warning message appeared on the middle centre console.
It is in Spanish but it says something like " Battery. High battery discharge while the car is standing still. Start the motor. If it happens again, order a service at your dealear".

Yesterday the car was used in a short trip and parked with 95% charge. I decided to charge it full. No errors were reported nor found.

This is the first time it happens in 2 years of usage. It's a 2017 94AH with 27.000 kms on the odometer. Perhaps the 12v battery is going bad?

Anyone with a similar experience?

 

[Anonymous]

Definitely looks like the typical warning that the 12v battery is failing. Change out the 12v ASAP. Once that warning appears, the battery can fail totally in a matter of days. When it does that, it is sometimes hard to get the car to 'wake up' again with the new battery.

 

[Bertone]

Ok, yes I will try to replace it Asap.

However I can not find the Remy nor Deka 18L batteries to be bought nor shipped here in Spain.

I have found a similar one: YUASA YTX24HL-BS. It is AGM, 12v, 340 CCA (not 330) and 20ah.
Is the yuasa battery the right one for the i3 ? I guess a higher CCA is compatible or even better.

Thanks for your support.

 

[alohart]

The same message would be displayed with a good but discharged 12 V battery, so before replacing it, try charging it with a battery charger.

Because we'd been driving our i3 only ~150 km per month during the pandemic, its 12 V battery wasn't being charged enough to offset the 12 V vampire loads (e.g., burglar alarm, keyless entry system, telematics module). This message was displayed in January. I charged the original 12 V battery, now 7 years old, and haven't seen that message since.

Of course, your 12 V battery might be bad, so it makes sense to buy a replacement to be ready when needed. I bought a replacement over 2 years ago when older i3 12 V batteries began failing but haven't needed it yet. I charge it 2 or 3 times per year to prevent it from self-discharging too much.

I can't advise you about which battery to buy in Spain because the batteries available in the U.S. are not available in Spain.

 

[Anonymous]

However I can not find the Remy nor Deka 18L batteries to be bought nor shipped here in Spain.

I have found a similar one: YUASA YTX24HL-BS. It is AGM, 12v, 340 CCA (not 330) and 20ah.
Is the yuasa battery the right one for the i3 ? I guess a higher CCA is compatible or even better.

The Dekka and Remy seem to be USA brand names. Check the size, and also if the terminals are the same. The battery leads screw into the BMW i3 battery posts. Have you checked with a local BMW Dealer??

 

[Bertone]

Yes, I checked the dealer and they want 146 EUR for the OEM battery...so I will buy it from BMW since the Yuasa is 110 EUR.

One other thing not in favour of the Yuasa is that i discovered on a YouTube video that the terminals are not the same. The OEM terminals once you screw off the metal "caps", seem not the same as the Yuasa ones. So I think that the "metal terminal caps" that need to be ported to the new battery will not fit on to the Yuasa battery.

In short...I'll pay the stealership what they want...I'm not risking it for 36 EURs.

Recharging the old battery is a good idea and is likely to prolong the old battery life with some months? but the car is 5 years old now and a dead 12v battery is something normal at that age...I'm not risking getting stranded.

I've seen that charging the new battery before installing it is the way to go.

 

[Anonymous]

I've seen that charging the new battery before installing it is the way to go.

Definitely do that. Many new batteries ship with a low charge, and putting a 'new' battery in place of a failing battery, with the new one having a low charge can make the car throw all kinds of errors. One guy replaced his old failing battery with a new one that hadn't been charged up - and when the car still wouldn't run, took the new one out and put the old battery back in. The triple swapping of almost dead batteries cause the car to go into lock-down, and it had to be towed to the dealer to get it working again.

This is an excellent video on changing out the battery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLZO7pB_uVg

 

[Bertone]

Thanks for the video.

I downloaded the Bimmerlink app free version on my android phone and managed to connect to my car using a Unicarscan odb adapter.

The SoC of the 12v battery shows 77% and now the warning message on the dash is no longer appearing.
I did use the car for some short trips a couple of times since the first warning message, so I guess those trips recharged the battery to a certain extent.

What is now puzzling me is that the red hazard warning light etc. do not turn off even when I lock the car. Before all interior lights went off after locking....strange...

Btw. Ordered the OEM battery from BMW. 146 EUR. Arriving next week.

 

[Bertone]

Now thankfully, all interior light are off when the car is locked...seems the car starts behaving strangely when the battery level drops...shame I did not do the soc reading when the problems began.

 

[Bertone]

So I just installed the BMW OEM 12v battery on my i3. Car is working fine.

The most tricky part was to dissengage and engage the main battery safety connector without damaging it. . But with some wiggeling and pulling up when disengaging, and prying away a little plastic tab on the left side of the green connector with a thin screwdriver I managed to push it down and engage.

Now the problem is to register the new battery on to the car.

I tested the bimmerlink free version and I was able to connect without any problem but with the full version that I purchased on Google play, it gives error when connecting I'm using android and unicarscan. Mailed bimmerlink support team to see what is wrong....hope they solve the problem soon...otherwise 35 EUR wasted and no new battery registered. :mrgreen:

 

[Bertone]

Managed to connect after several iterations....worked with airplane mode on on my phone and unicarscan in automatic protocol.

Battery finally registered. :lol: