[jad03060]

Replacing the AGM battery is a fairly simple operation, but the thing is heavy and you need to be careful of your back when leaning over far enough to lift the old one out and the new one in. If you don't have the tools to reset the battery age in the computer, at least around me, Pep Boys will do it for you for a small fee, and probably others as well.

[thereef510]

Wow, I'm glad I clicked on this thread... I'm moving in less than a month to a new job and I'll be 1.1mi/4 minutes from my work. I don't plan on driving every day, and even if I did, my battery/engine wouldn't warm up in that time. I need to get (1?/2?) battery tenders for each battery.

Also, my new place doesn't have a garage, it has a car port. So the vehicle will be outside but covered on the top, can I still use the battery tenders in a situation like that? Are these things water resistant/proof?

Any recommendations are welcome. I tried to click the costco link from before, but its dead. I also would love it if someone could specifically point out where the battery terminals are in the rear. I have the luggage compartment package, and to date, I dont recall seeing anything in the back indicating where exactly the battery is over there.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by thereef510

Wow, I'm glad I clicked on this thread... I'm moving in less than a month to a new job and I'll be 1.1mi/4 minutes from my work. I don't plan on driving every day, and even if I did, my battery/engine wouldn't warm up in that time. I need to get (1?/2?) battery tenders for each battery.

Also, my new place doesn't have a garage, it has a car port. So the vehicle will be outside but covered on the top, can I still use the battery tenders in a situation like that? Are these things water resistant/proof?

Any recommendations are welcome. I tried to click the costco link from before, but its dead. I also would love it if someone could specifically point out where the battery terminals are in the rear. I have the luggage compartment package, and to date, I dont recall seeing anything in the back indicating where exactly the battery is over there.

I probably wouldn't charge in your case unless you get messages about the battery but it probably won't hurt to do it.

Do not use the terminals in the rear to charge, you need to use the terminals under the hood.

[LM50i]

Originally Posted by biterror

$800 for a simple AGM battery? Wow...

Yup $481.28 battery $397.76 labor. $879.04 total. This is quoted from my dealership in CA.

[biterror]

Originally Posted by LM50i

Yup $481.28 battery $397.76 labor. $879.04 total. This is quoted from my dealership in CA.

How big is the battery in your car (in amp hours)? If it's around 105 Ah, the price should be $200-$250 and installing it doesn't take too many minutes... (Yeah, I know that the same battery with a BMW sticker costs much more ;-)

[jad03060]

Originally Posted by biterror

How big is the battery in your car (in amp hours)? If it's around 105 Ah, the price should be $200-$250 and installing it doesn't take too many minutes... (Yeah, I know that the same battery with a BMW sticker costs much more ;-)

On my last BMW, when I was looking around for a new battery, I found that buying it at the BMW parts department was actually the cheapest I could find. The prices change, so that may not always be true. Not everything at the dealership is premium priced. Their labor costs are higher than most, and you can 'program' the vehicle to a new battery fairly easily yourself, and some places will do it for you for a small fee.

If you have a mild hybrid system, you can't recharge the 48-volt battery, but with certain options, you may have more than one 12vdc battery, and, I think, both of those will be charged when you use the posts in the engine bay. Note, the manual says that only works if the hood is not closed, something you may not want to do in a carport! The alternative would be to use a larger battery charger than a maintainer for a shorter time where you could keep an eye on it, or just end up replacing the battery(s) when they eventually get too weak.

[Paladin1]

Originally Posted by thereef510

Wow, I'm glad I clicked on this thread... I'm moving in less than a month to a new job and I'll be 1.1mi/4 minutes from my work. I don't plan on driving every day, and even if I did, my battery/engine wouldn't warm up in that time. I need to get (1?/2?) battery tenders for each battery.

Also, my new place doesn't have a garage, it has a car port. So the vehicle will be outside but covered on the top, can I still use the battery tenders in a situation like that? Are these things water resistant/proof?

Any recommendations are welcome. I tried to click the costco link from before, but its dead. I also would love it if someone could specifically point out where the battery terminals are in the rear. I have the luggage compartment package, and to date, I dont recall seeing anything in the back indicating where exactly the battery is over there.

I don't believe BMW's (CTEK) battery tender is water/weatherproof, but a number of manufacturers (DeWalt, Deltran) make weatherproof chargers. You can also install a "permanent" battery tender in the engine bay, but need to ensure you have a weatherproof outlet available for outdoor parking - and you should use the terminals in the engine bay for connecting the alligator clips, not the battery terminals.

[thereef510]

Originally Posted by Paladin1

I don't believe BMW's (CTEK) battery tender is water/weatherproof, but a number of manufacturers (DeWalt, Deltran) make weatherproof chargers. You can also install a "permanent" battery tender in the engine bay, but need to ensure you have a weatherproof outlet available for outdoor parking - and you should use the terminals in the engine bay for connecting the alligator clips, not the battery terminals.

Which Dewart/deltran chargers would you recommend? I'm completely new to this concept

[Paladin1]

Originally Posted by thereef510

Which Dewart/deltran chargers would you recommend? I'm completely new to this concept

I've used this one (DXAEWPC4) in a lawnmower shed, and it's pretty bulletproof.:



This one by Deltran gets good ratings, and also accommodates a Li-Ion battery:

[jad03060]

You want a battery maintainer that is adjustable for AGM batteries as the voltage characteristics differ from a flooded cell battery that help it determine when the battery is fully charged.

The user's manual says you must use it with the hood open, as that disconnects the 48-vdc battery, otherwise, it may not charge anything properly. That could be an issue depending on where the vehicle is parked.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by jad03060

You want a battery maintainer that is adjustable for AGM batteries as the voltage characteristics differ from a flooded cell battery that help it determine when the battery is fully charged.

The user's manual says you must use it with the hood open, as that disconnects the 48-vdc battery, otherwise, it may not charge anything properly. That could be an issue depending on where the vehicle is parked.

He has a MY20 so it doesn't have the 48v mild-hybrid.

[LM50i]

Originally Posted by biterror

How big is the battery in your car (in amp hours)? If it's around 105 Ah, the price should be $200-$250 and installing it doesn't take too many minutes... (Yeah, I know that the same battery with a BMW sticker costs much more ;-)

They replaced the front battery which was the 80AH. $226. (P/N: 61-21-5-A40-E31) LABOR $ 375!! I’d probably replace it myself in the future and just use bimmercode/bimmerlink to config to my car.

[samvora]

Reviving an old thread - I have a 2019 X5 40i xDrive and I barely drive it so I want to hook it up to a battery tender. Question is that do I have to pop open the hood each time I come home to connect it or can I leave it connected and coiled up inside the hood and then just have the wire hanging out from somewhere that I can plug in without having to pop the hood open each time? Also, can I close the hood fully while it is charging on the tender or do i need to leave the hood open each time?

I will also be going away on a 2 month trip so intend to do that for both my cars.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by samvora

Reviving an old thread - I have a 2019 X5 40i xDrive and I barely drive it so I want to hook it up to a battery tender. Question is that do I have to pop open the hood each time I come home to connect it or can I leave it connected and coiled up inside the hood and then just have the wire hanging out from somewhere that I can plug in without having to pop the hood open each time? Also, can I close the hood fully while it is charging on the tender or do i need to leave the hood open each time?

I will also be going away on a 2 month trip so intend to do that for both my cars.

Since you don't have the mild-hybrid you can close the hood when charging if you want to.

[jad03060]

Some battery maintainers come with a plug in line with the device like in the Bosch C7...both a set with alligator clamps and rings that can be bolted to the contacts come with it.

A typical battery maintainer is not setup or built to handle high temperatures...leaving it in a potentially super hot engine compartment probably isn't a good idea.

[Qsilver7]

Ditto…my older version of the BMW battery maintainer came with two types of cables…one had alligator clips and the other had o-rings that can be permanently mounted. The newer versions are MFG’d by CTEK so I’m not sure if they come with multiple types of connecting cables.

[samvora]

Originally Posted by jad03060

Some battery maintainers come with a plug in line with the device like in the Bosch C7...both a set with alligator clamps and rings that can be bolted to the contacts come with it.

A typical battery maintainer is not setup or built to handle high temperatures...leaving it in a potentially super hot engine compartment probably isn't a good idea.

Sorry, I miscommunicated. What I meant to ask was if a good battery tender will come with a pigtail that I can leave attached to the battery terminals permanently and then just have to hook up the main charger to The pigtail Once I am done, driving the car and park it. Sounds like you answered my question by mentioning about the O-rings. The one that I am considering buying is from Costco, and it comes with the alligator clamps and the O-rings. Here is the link for what I’m looking to purchase - https://www.costco.com/battery-tende...aTestID=ios7.3

Another question would be that can I leave the pigtail connected with the hood closed and in a way that the other connector end of it stays out so that I do not have to open the hood every time I come home and park the car or is it an avoidable and I have to pop the hood open each time?

One last question for you or whoever knows the answer to it that do you leave the car hooked up to this charger every single minute that you are not driving it and it is parked or once it reaches full charge you disconnect it and then trickle charge it once a week or something like that? Of course, if I am gone for a long duration Like a trip that I have coming up which is for two months I will leave it charging for the entire duration, but what about on a day-to-day basis?

[jad03060]

The smarter battery maintainers usually drop the charge current to zero once they detect the battery is full, but most larger batteries may work with that constant input...trying to force too much current into a battery can cause it to boil off the electrolyte. That may not happen with an AGM, though...don't know.

It appears that that one from Costco does that, but I'd want to try to find the instructions to verify that.

For years, I had two cars, and one of them rarely got used. It would stay connected to that Bosch unit for potentially months between uses of the vehicle. That battery lasted 7-years. Once it sensed the battery was full, it would pulse some current into it periodically, and not restart charging unless it felt it had dropped enough. IMHO, that's what you want. It also has a mode that can try to restore a battery. That was all part of the microprocessor-controlled logic in the thing.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by samvora

Sorry, I miscommunicated. What I meant to ask was if a good battery tender will come with a pigtail that I can leave attached to the battery terminals permanently and then

just have to hook up the main charger
https://www.costco.com/battery-tende...aTestID=ios7.3

One last question for you or whoever knows the answer to it that do you leave the car hooked up to this charger every single minute that you are not driving it and it is parked or once it reaches full charge you disconnect it and then trickle charge it once a week or something like that? Of course, if I am gone for a long duration Like a trip that I have coming up which is for two months I will leave it charging for the entire duration, but what about on a day-to-day basis?

The battery tender that you linked to is the manufacture that made the older BMW version that I posted a pic of in my reply above.

The description from the website is not clear as to what type of pigtail you'll receive. More than likely it will just be the alligator clips. But that setup also has the quick disconnect cable on the other end...so if you don't get the o-ring pigtail...you can pick up a quick disconnect pigtail with o-ring online.

This is an advanced battery tender that you can keep hooked up and it won't overcharge your battery. They spell this out in the description:

All Battery Tender® chargers automatically switch from full charge to float charge mode to protect and extend battery life.

You can simply google "Battery Tender® 4.5 Amp Battery Charger & Maintainer" and see other venders that sell this charger...which can also help determine what it may come with.

Example:

[samvora]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

The battery tender that you linked to is the manufacture that made the older BMW version that I posted a pic of in my reply above.

The description from the website is not clear as to what type of pigtail you'll receive. More than likely it will just be the alligator clips. But that setup also has the quick disconnect cable on the other end...so if you don't get the o-ring pigtail...you can pick up a quick disconnect pigtail with o-ring online.

This is an advanced battery tender that you can keep hooked up and it won't overcharge your battery. They spell this out in the description:

All Battery Tender® chargers automatically switch from full charge to float charge mode to protect and extend battery life.

You can simply google "Battery Tender® 4.5 Amp Battery Charger & Maintainer" and see other venders that sell this charger...which can also help determine what it may come with.

Example:

Yes, this does come with the O-ring connectors, so I am good there. Just waiting for Costco to get it back in stock tomorrow or day after and I am off to purchase two of these for both my cars. Thank you all for the input and the help.

[Qsilver7]

[samvora]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

Another question or rather seeking confirmation that the battery I am connecting to the trickle charge is the one under the hood and not the one in the trunk, correct? I have the 2019 G05 so no hybrid or such.

Also, do I have to keep the hood open while it is on trickle charge or is that only true for the mild hybrid version of the car?