My i3 is Dead

[Fisher99]

So, put it on the charger late yesterday afternoon with the battery at about 20%. Went out at about 8:00 PM to put the windows up and it was reading 95.5%. This morning I had an email from BMW ConnectedDrive saying "The battery of your vehicle cannot be charged due to a malfunction! Please pay attention to the remaining driving range and contact BMW Mobile Service".

Walked out to the car and hit the unlock button on the FOB and the alarm started going off. Couldn't silence it. FOB no longer locks or unlocks the doors. The window doesn't even drop when you open the door. No lights on the instrument panel. The alarm did its thing for about 10 minutes and then shut itself off, but the car is completely dead. I can plug in the charger but the light on the i3's charging port does not illuminate.

And of course the car is sitting in my driveway and I can't move it. Can't select neutral so can't push it out of the way.

I'm guessing that I'm in deep trouble here, but it occurs to me to wonder if having the 12v battery go bad could cause this? I would think that if the 12v battery was ok that the door locks and windows would still work? Is it possible that a dead 12v battery could cause the whole car to go black?

 

[Anonymous]

Is it possible that a dead 12v battery could cause the whole car to go black?

Yup. All the car's ECMs are powered up by the 12v. When it dies, the car is a brick. How old is the 12v battry? Four years life is about normal. Check in your area for an East Penn Manufacturing warehouse outlet. They make the OEM 12v battery for the i3. Model # is AUX 18L. Fairly easy replacement - Youtube, good walk-through video on it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKRj8gLcsfI

Just make sure you disconnect the main battery pack before doing it. Disconnect switch is to the right of the frunk box. Once the new one is installed, you will need to have it registered. Done via the ODB port. most garages can do it. Resets the all the battery monitoring info in the system.

 

[Fisher99]

Ok, so I removed the 12v battery before I saw your post, so didn't do anything with the "main battery disconnect switch". The video that I found showing how to remove the 12v didn't say anything about it. But after watching the video that you posted I went back out and disconnected the main battery. Good to know how to do that! Thanks! Turns out that this is the original battery that came in this 2014 i3/REX. I just checked it with my meter and it shows 5.7v, so hopefully replacing that battery will get me going again!

As for registering the new battery once I get it installed, is it possible to do that with the Bimmercode app and an OBD dongle? I hope so because the closest BMW dealer is an hour away and if the i3 won't move until the new battery is registered, I'm up a creek. I do have the Bimmercode app and a dongle (came with the car) but haven't used it yet.

I don't have any Eastern Penn stores anywhere near me, but I am heading to Portland Oregon tomorrow so can pick up a new battery at the BMW dealer there.

 

[Anonymous]

Not sure the developer has added battery registration to bimmercode yet - but you can check and see if it is available. Car will run/drive fine without the battery registered. Registration just resets the battery monitoring and maintenance software in the car back to zero - will just help maintain the new battery better, long-term. Most indy service garages will have ODB scanners with BMW software, and can register the battery for a few bucks.

Good that you disconnected the main battery. Some have reported damage to electronic components putting a new battery in, without disconnecting the main battery, rare I think, but can happen with someone not careful, and sparking and arching while connection the battery leads.

Buying at East Penn will save you a few bucks over Dealer prices.

EAST PENN
13017 N.E. Airport Way
Building 12
Portland , OR 97230
Phone: 503-257-8838
Fax: 503-257-5006
[email protected]

 

[Srivenkat]

FWIW, You may have to turn in the old battery core.

 

[i3daytonoh]

Bought mine here. Call before ordering. It was out of stock and I had to wait about a week for delivery. The upside was that I received a brand new fresh battery.

https://www.remybattery.com/start-stop-aux18l-auxiliary-battery.html

 

[Fisher99]

Good info. Thanks guys. Really glad to hear that the vehicle will drive without the battery being registered! I have a friend who runs the automotive shop for a local college and who used to be a BMW mechanic (before the i-series cars) but he might have the BMW software on his scan tools. I'll check with him tomorrow.

So, fingers crossed that the dead 12v battery is the only problem and that the i3 will come back to life with a new 12v battery!

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, You may have to turn in the old battery core.

Or pay the core charge. Last I checked with East Penn, the core charge was $5

 

[frictioncircle]

MKH –

Thank you for the great info regarding East Penn! Coming up on five years with my 2014 BEV I'm thinking I need to have an AUX 18L on hand.

Check this out from realoem.com...

61 21 9 321 815 Original BMW AGM-battery 20 Ah
61 21 7 635 788 Original BMW battery (Warranty only) 40Ah (NLA)

A 40 Ah OEM version of the AUX battery exists? If so, who made it?

Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

I believe that the 40 amp "warranty only" battery is the battery used in the 3 series BMW's, and 'ok'd' by BMW to be used for 'warranty' replacement in the i3, as it was more commonly stocked by BMW dealers in early i3 days (so someone wasn't spending 2 weeks driving a Dealer loaner while waiting for the OEM battery to be shipped). I seem to remember hearing that it was not quite an exact fit in the battery tray, and required some jiggery/pokery to actually get it in to an i3. I think basically an early 'band-aid' solution, since discontinued.

 

[vreihen]

From a quick web search, it appears that the 40 Ah battery was made by Douglas. I can't find a cross-reference to their part number, though.

A few e-commerce sites listing the BMW part number also include suggestions for battery tray, hold-down bracket, and terminal adapters. Don't know if they are available or even i3 parts, given the weird nature of web store suggestions.

I would love to do the 40Ah retrofit if it was possible to code/register the larger battery. My late production 2015 BEV is probably living on borrowed time with the original 12V battery at this point, and I plan to change it before winter as a maintenance item.....

 

[alohart]

A few e-commerce sites listing the BMW part number also include suggestions for battery tray, hold-down bracket, and terminal adapters. Don't know if they are available or even i3 parts, given the weird nature of web store suggestions.

One i3 owner who installed the 40 Ah battery reported that the windshield washer fluid tank had to be relocated as well as fitting a different battery tray and hold-down brackets. He recommended against attempting this installation due to what was necessary.

I would love to do the 40Ah retrofit if it was possible to code/register the larger battery. My late production 2015 BEV is probably living on borrowed time with the original 12V battery at this point, and I plan to change it before winter as a maintenance item.....

Why would you want to install a standard flooded-cell lead acid battery that weighs probably twice as much as the 20 Ah absorbent glass mat battery? The 12 V battery doesn't have to have sufficient power to start an ICE engine at low temperatures. The i3's DC-DC converter turns on to provide ~14.3 V to the 12 V system whenever the 12 V system voltage drops below a certain level or the 12 V current load exceeds a certain level, so the 12 V battery isn't very stressed. When the DC-DC converter is on, the effective capacity of the 12 V battery is that of the Li-ion battery pack.

 

[vreihen]

Why would you want to install a standard flooded-cell lead acid battery that weighs probably twice as much as the 20 Ah absorbent glass mat battery?

Yikes! I didn't realize that it wasn't an AGM. The ~$115 price at a dealership should have been a clue that it wasn't AGM, though.

The reason why I wanted a bigger battery is because I want my dashcams and two-way radio with APRS tracking powered on 24/7/365, and might not drive it for weeks at a time. Doesn't look like I will be able to do it, though.....

 

[Fisher99]

IT'S ALIVE!!!!

Just spent the week vacationing at the beach and picked up a 12v battery on my way home. Installed it a few minutes ago and everything lit up. It complained that it had zero charge, which I thought was interesting because the last I looked at it before everything quit, it said it was at 95.5%. But then I have had problems with the battery seeming to drain faster than I think it should when it's not plugged in (I have another thread on that topic) so figured I really did have a big battery drain problem. Still, that seemed strange because while it sat for the week unplugged, I also had the traction battery disconnected. In any case, after it sat for about 15 minutes I noticed that the light was no longer flashing on the charge port so checked it and it was sitting at 100%. Seems like it took it a little while for it to sort itself out after I connected the 12v battery.

So, all is well now, and I learned something about the i3, so that's a bonus.

Question: Would I have been able to disconnect the traction battery, then connect my portable 12v jump start battery to the 12v battery, and then be able to raise and lower the windows, and maybe even shift the car into neutral so that it could be moved? Seems like that should work.

Again, thanks to everybody for the info and moral support during this somewhat frightening experience!

 

[frictioncircle]

alohart –

Thanks for providing the detail that the 40Ah battery is lead-acid.

No way I want that heavy junk in my CF EV machine!

 

[alohart]

Question: Would I have been able to disconnect the traction battery, then connect my portable 12v jump start battery to the 12v battery, and then be able to raise and lower the windows, and maybe even shift the car into neutral so that it could be moved? Seems like that should work.

With the high-voltage system disconnected, drive readiness state cannot be entered, so nothing that requires this state would function. However, some lower operation state can be entered as indicated by the instrument screen turning on with a message stating that the high-voltage system is disconnected, so I think it's likely that the windows could be raised and lowered, but shifting into neutral might be possible only in drive readiness state.

 

[vreihen]

...but shifting into neutral might be possible only in drive readiness state.

What does "roller mode" in the instrument panel's service menu do? If it puts the car into neutral, I wonder if it needs the traction battery power to turn off the parking brake and stuff?????

 

[Anonymous]

What does "roller mode" in the instrument panel's service menu do

On BMW ICE vehicles it puts the car into roller dynamo mode, where the car doesn't try and downshift when the accelerator is floored while the car is on a dynamo for testing. Maybe on the i3 it shuts off regenerative braking during dynamo testing??

 

[alohart]

What does "roller mode" in the instrument panel's service menu do

On BMW ICE vehicles it puts the car into roller dynamo mode, where the car doesn't try and downshift when the accelerator is floored while the car is on a dynamo for testing. Maybe on the i3 it shuts off regenerative braking during dynamo testing??

Others have written that roller mode turns off traction and stability control and antilock braking as well.

 

[vreihen]

Didn't Volkswagen get into a whole boatload of trouble because of their special computer coding for running on the EPA's testing dynos? :shock:

Why do I suddenly have the desire to borrow an ICE for the day and see if BMW also changes the emissions mappings in roller mode?????