qprdude 18 Report post Posted January 17 It's on repair mode now, will it do any damage or should I stop it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Oilburner 151 Report post Posted January 17 I was told the recon setting on charger is for flooded cell battery and not AGM or Gel batteries, this was the answer I got from customer support CTEK themselves. If you do require a new battery I have had good prices from Tayna, with a quick delivery they do offer from £20 to fit locally if you are unable to fit the battery yourself, worth checking out I used them last year for a Bosch AGM battery with 5 years warranty. https://www.tayna.co.uk/BMW-5_Series-Car-Battery Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marko530d 367 Report post Posted January 18 (edited) 14 hours ago, qprdude said: It's on repair mode now, will it do any damage or should I stop it. Leave it on agm mode repair mode will make no difference to agm batteries. Edited January 18 by marko530d Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qprdude 18 Report post Posted January 18 Well it has been on charge since yesterday afternoon and is showing (flashing ) 100%, but not "full" as per instructions. It is also flashing 32Ah ! Battery change time? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
q96169we 4 Report post Posted January 18 (edited) +1 for the CTEK XMS 5.0 Got that recently after the weak engine start due to not being driven too often or long enough in the past year plus the battery is about 5 years old. Connect the terminal in engine bay. Plugged everything else. Choose CAR+AGM mode. Then, just leave it. Next day, the LED shows it's done the charge. unplug, start engine, hearing the strong cranking sound. Now, I know it's doing its job. So, plug everything back and simply leave it there until my next drive of the car. 4 hours ago, qprdude said: Well it has been on charge since yesterday afternoon and is showing (flashing ) 100%, but not "full" as per instructions. It is also flashing 32Ah ! Battery change time? After the charge was completed, I use the bimmerlink app to read the state of charge from the IBS, which shows 75% charged. I'm not too sure whether the car has adjust the voltage so that the smart charger stops charging. I merely remember somewhere mentioned that the IBS will reserve some space in the battery for our car's energy recuperation (yes, I know, 12v energy recuperation is hilarious. you can't feel it at all compared to my 48v mild hybrid car). Basically, smart charger use the voltage to identify the charging stage and apply different charging policy based on the charging state (why it's call smart). Then, it seems our car can adjust the voltage if the external supply voltage is higher than the battery voltage. Maybe that's why I can only charge to 75% and you only saw 32Ah. Edited January 18 by q96169we Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyM 82 Report post Posted January 18 5 hours ago, qprdude said: Well it has been on charge since yesterday afternoon and is showing (flashing ) 100%, but not "full" as per instructions. It is also flashing 32Ah ! Battery change time? Turn the power off to the charger, what does the voltage display say? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qprdude 18 Report post Posted January 18 Switched off for a minute then on again. Back to repair mode and showing 12.9 - 13v Have left it on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyM 82 Report post Posted January 18 4 hours ago, qprdude said: Switched off for a minute then on again. Back to repair mode and showing 12.9 - 13v Have left it on. But what does the voltage say with the power off? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qprdude 18 Report post Posted January 18 Nothing, it says "OFF" for a few seconds then blank. Why would it read anything when switched off? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyM 82 Report post Posted January 18 40 minutes ago, qprdude said: Nothing, it says "OFF" for a few seconds then blank. Why would it read anything when switched off? Because your charger is basically the same as mine and it shows the battery voltage when the power is off. Obviously it still needs to be connected to the car. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marko530d 367 Report post Posted January 18 (edited) 13 hours ago, qprdude said: Switched off for a minute then on again. Back to repair mode and showing 12.9 - 13v Have left it on. Leave it on agm mode repair mode wont work for agm. Edited January 19 by marko530d Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qprdude 18 Report post Posted January 18 Mate, I've bought a smart charger and followed the instructions to the letter. The battery has charged to 12.9 to 23.0 v. I was asked to switch it off and see what volts it read. It read " off" then went blank. Which part of the advice am I not following? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyM 82 Report post Posted January 18 Was the charger still attached to the car when you switched the power off and it powered down? And 23V... really? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qprdude 18 Report post Posted January 19 (edited) Yes. And I meant 13v Edited January 19 by qprdude Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyM 82 Report post Posted January 19 (edited) 1 hour ago, qprdude said: Yes. And I meant 13v Odd, because as soon as I connect my charger to the car (not powered) it displays the battery voltage and it’s basically the same as the one that you said you had bought. What we are trying to find is the current battery voltage as an indicator of whether your battery AFTER a charge is knackered. If it’s close to 13V (12.8 upwards) then it is fine - but the charger must be turned off to measure. There are other tests that can be done with the right equipment to measure load capacity as this will affect the battery health but Voltage is a good indicator. Do you have a multimeter? I presume you followed the advice given by others and switched to AGM mode not repair mode? Edited January 19 by AndyM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qprdude 18 Report post Posted January 19 Tried again this morning, but the charger screen remains blank when connected to the battery, until it is connected to the AC power. It started on Lead acid, which the book says. covers AGM batteries. It immediately starts flashing through various amps, temperature, Volts and Ah values. The volts range from 12.7 to 13.1 this morning. The Amps constantly change (The amps from the charger to the battery?) The Ah value now shows .1 Looks like I either have a duff charger or a duff battery. That said, the engine cranks and starts very quickly and there are no "low battery" messages. I'm leaving it on charge again for the time being. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
q96169we 4 Report post Posted January 19 29 minutes ago, qprdude said: Tried again this morning, but the charger screen remains blank when connected to the battery, until it is connected to the AC power. It started on Lead acid, which the book says. covers AGM batteries. It immediately starts flashing through various amps, temperature, Volts and Ah values. The volts range from 12.7 to 13.1 this morning. The Amps constantly change (The amps from the charger to the battery?) The Ah value now shows .1 Looks like I either have a duff charger or a duff battery. That said, the engine cranks and starts very quickly and there are no "low battery" messages. I'm leaving it on charge again for the time being. Just curious to know what does the Ah display mean in your charger. If it means how much power has been charged since it charger is connected, then it doesn't mean anything to the battery's remaining capacity, does it? If your charger can evaluate what's the remaining battery capacity, then I think such evaluation will take a long time as it will need to charge the battery to 100%, then discharge the battery to 0%. Unless you have the charger on the battery since new and such remaining capacity can be estimated by algorithm instead of real measurement. Just like what iPhone does with the battery health and this is what the IBS is doing as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qprdude 18 Report post Posted January 19 1 hour ago, q96169we said: Just curious to know what does the Ah display mean in your charger. If it means how much power has been charged since it charger is connected, then it doesn't mean anything to the battery's remaining capacity, does it? If your charger can evaluate what's the remaining battery capacity, then I think such evaluation will take a long time as it will need to charge the battery to 100%, then discharge the battery to 0%. Unless you have the charger on the battery since new and such remaining capacity can be estimated by algorithm instead of real measurement. Just like what iPhone does with the battery health and this is what the IBS is doing as well. The Ah value showed yesterday at just over 30 just before I stopped charging ( it is a 90 Ah battery). When asked to connect the charger with no power source, it was blank. When AC power was connected, it started flashing various values as stated, but the Ah figure was 1.0. it is now up to 3 Ah after charging for a few hours. Voltage flashes at 14 V. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qprdude 18 Report post Posted January 19 OK, Thanks everyone for your advice and help. I now have a charger that hopefully won't damage my battery, although I don't understand anything on it, except for the Voltage it flashes. To be honest, the various info only stays on the screen for a millisecond. The important thing as far as I am concerned is that the car starts instantly with no warnings of any kind so only time will tell if it's just that the car has been idle for weeks apart from a couple of two mile drives. I suspect the battery may be approaching 10 years old, according to the original BMW stickers and the " Banner" manufacturer labels , so it has done well . The old Nova trickle charger is now relegated to the wife's Skoda Citigo. Thanks again for the help, and sorry I'm not up to speed on these things. Give me a downhole gas riser or a Holddown pump seal assembly and I'm your man. Welding to ASME9 on exotics and close tolerance machine turning and milling present no problems, but charging and understanding modern vehicle batteries is a bit like brain surgery to me. Horses for course I suppose. 1 marko530d reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marko530d 367 Report post Posted January 19 3 minutes ago, qprdude said: The important thing as far as I am concerned is that the car starts instantly with no warnings Yeah thats it buddy. like mine your battery has been in since new probably not long before we need to replace but if its starting car ( as mine is too ) it still has a bit life left. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cadwell Parker 302 Report post Posted January 19 11 minutes ago, qprdude said: I suspect the battery may be approaching 10 years old, according to the original BMW stickers and the " Banner" manufacturer labels , so it has done well Your battery has done better than mine. I was getting an error code for a worn out battery at 6 years old but I think the car had spent quite a long time sitting unused and had maybe not had sufficient maintenance charge to preserve the battery. Glad to hear your car is starting better now. Maybe the battery will serve you a little while longer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qprdude 18 Report post Posted January 19 So much for using my old charger on SWMBO's Skoda! It has an AGM battery too, and it has to be coded to the car if changed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
