F30 battery voltage low?

[Numanoid]

2016 428i xdrive vert. Noticed a strange error yesterday about discharge while stopped or something, it was just a glance before it cleared. Took a 2 hour trip with 1 stop nearly all highway. No further messages, but now I'm curious on the battery health.

I did the hidden menu thing and saw the voltage with dash and I drive on was 11.5, drove to the gas station and it read 14.8 on the drive. Did another test today and the voltage dropped to 9.6 when starting, again from the hidden menu display.


Today I tested with a multimeter after it being stopped for 2.5 hours and ran the lights and dash for 2 or so minutes. After turning everything off it read 11.98 under the hood. 20F here today.

Is this something I should have looked at and/or keep monitoring?

Thanks

[jclausen]

First question is how old is the battery, BMWs need good constant battery voltage, how often the car is driven and for how long. I would not listen to the radio or use the phone with out the engine running. If the car goes on short trips and then sits I would recommend a battery tender

[Numanoid]

First question is how old is the battery, BMWs need good constant battery voltage, how often the car is driven and for how long. I would not listen to the radio or use the phone with out the engine running. If the car goes on short trips and then sits I would recommend a battery tender

It does go on short trips daily. My commute is 4 miles. It did sit a lot over the holidays. I assume the battery was new with the car, I just got the car this summer from the dealer. I've got a trickle charger on order, but don't know how often I should use it. I would have thought the long drives I took yesterday would have fully charged it, right?

Thanks for the response.

[jclausen]

If we were do do any energy dx test with Ista it would probably show that the car does not get driven enough to charge the battery use the battery tender often, I like the battery tender made by battery tender in stall at the jumping points under the hood, run the wires out close the hood and lock the car, locking the car makes it go to sleep quicker

[MarcoZandrini]

You live in a very cold climate. Batteries use a chemical reaction to create power. Low temps slow down that reaction causing all sorts of issues in a car that’s a rolling computer. Did you visually check the battery. I bet it sez “BMW” on the label. It’s likely 4 years old and it could be on its last legs. And yes, short trips are hard on the entire drive line, not just the battery. My recommendation is to replace it and register it with the engine e computer (DME in BMWspeak). Why? The BMW engineers, in an effort to squeeze an extra 0.04mpg out of the car, programmed the DME to use different battery charging “profiles” depending on the battery’s age. So as the battery ages the DME charges the battery at a different rate. Hey, they’re German. Then, twice a week take the car on a 20 mile+ trip at highway+ speeds. This will make sure the battery stays healthy and all of the systems get up to full operating temperature.

“9ers rule!

[Numanoid]

Ran another test this morning and it's looking better. 30F outside. Popped the hood and locked the doors to facilitate sleeping faster. Got the kid ready and out to the bus stop so about 30 minutes passed before checking with a multimeter across the posts. Came back at a solid 12.43v. My original test may not have given enough time for all the systems to shut off.

Battery tender arrives today so I'll hook her up for a test tomorrow.

[shadowpuck]

my neighbor was killing batteries in their x3 on a regular basis until they started putting it on a tender overnight.
they drive almost all short commutes and the vehicle sits often.

just get in the habit of hooking the tender up each evening (mainly in winter) - it'll make a difference.