BMW 130i - Battery Change

ironclaw

Hi Folks,

Need to swap out for a new battery in a BMW 130i from 2007. I've read that is not a simple swap and change, the battery needs to be coded in. Something to do with the charging cycles and the ECU needs to know the chemical mix / rating. Is this true? Even if a straight swap for the exact same rating?

Cheers!

rebel.ranter

Hi,
Yes you are correct, in an ideal world you need to:

1. "Register" a new battery when replacing a battery of the same type and Ah rating.
2. If you change the Ah rating or switch from Lead Acid to AGM (recommended) or vice versa you also need to code the battery change in.

As you mention this is to ensure the new battery gets the optimum charge to preserve and lengthen the life of the battery. Your car won't explode or anything of you don't register it but the battery life will be shorter. Dodgy (weak) batteries can throw up all sorts of gremlins with the car from a simple thing like the clock resetting to Dynamic Traction Control errors and other seemingly unrelated issues.

There are plenty of people that can do the register/code work for small money. If you're in Dublin try Germaniks. If you're down this way I can sort it for you, I'm not a business just an enthusiast.

Here's some documentation (not 3rd party) that clearly calls out the need for registering all batteries and more information on the functionality of the system:

Battery Details:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/aymznm9bjzc613c/Battery%20e6x.pdf?dl=0

IBS and Battery intreraction:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/eupc1znw6rmfsho/IBS%20and%20Battery.pdf?dl=0

IBS Unit:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/irthje76yuiwivg/IBS%20e6x.pdf?dl=0

Registering the Battery:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wm6gq8zcwop07o5/Registering%20Battery.pdf?dl=0

For clarity I have pulled out a section fo the IBS and Battery document:

rebel.ranter

If its any use Exide make the OEM lead acid batteries these days. Here's a mini write up of a replacement I did some time ago.

White OEM battery = Lead Acid
Black OEM battery = AGM

I swapped out the 90Ah unit for a 110A OEM battery. Registered it in DIS but had to use NCS Expert to register the change from 90 to 110Ah. The old one was pretty big, the new one is a monster!



Battery bay cleared, note the dofferent setting for the different size batteries:


Old Battery indicator telling me what I already knew, battery was kaput:


New Battery in place:


Not forgetting vent tube:


Start of the Registration process:








I had to edit the VO usings NCS Expert, I removed -B080 from the VO & added -B110 to the VO to reflect the increased capacity. Wrote it to the CAS module & the LMA module. I then had to default code the CAS module & everything was tickety boo in both INPA & DIS:

INPA:


DIS:

rebel.ranter

I also replaced batteries in 2 e63 M6 batteries about two months ago. I used a different, newer version of software to do this called ISID.

At first ISID asked asked me to enter the details on the QR code on the battery but I reckon that must be validated back at BMW base because it wouldn't let me get beyond that point. I just did a manual override which was easy.

I think you are right about going the non-genuine route, I reckon the date entry is also a record update back to base, there is nowhere in the e6x that stores the value.

Here's the new OEM batteries I used:



And here is an Energy Diagnosis about a week after fitting:

ironclaw

Thanks for the wonderful info everyone rebel.ranter. Can anyone recommend the highest Ah to swap out with? I don't do things by halves

rebel.ranter

Eh, all those posts were me!

The highest rating battery is 90Ah lead acid or 92Ah AGM, OEM options and part numbers can be found here:

http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E81/Europe/130i-N52N/R-N/2007/browse/vehicle_electrical_system/original_bmw_battery_warranty_only/

You can see the different Ah ratings that are used in the 130i.