Low battery level
Discussion
2012 F31 , 8 speed auto.
I can sort of understand why we are told at our local BMW garage that we have a low charge on the battery. We do short runs so the battery isn't able to charge fully. That is why I bought the battery charger that BM use and charge maybe once a fortnight.
The sunroof stopped working. Have had this once before under warranty and was told it was the "controller" that had failed. So I went back to the BMW garage. They put the car on diagnostics and that gave a "low Battery Level" plus other codes. They reset the codes and the sunroof now worked. They explained that as the battery was low the system automatically shut down parts of the vehicle.
I've read about this on this and other forums.
I think I've also read that the alternator only comes to full power at about 1500 revs. On my journey back from the garage I only reached 1500 RPM at 50 mph, so in theory driving around at 30 mph the battery will never get to be fully charged.
My questions are,
1, How do we owners know when the battery is low, to stop things shutting down.
2, Do we all need a code reader and be able to reset them. Which one is best?
I can sort of understand why we are told at our local BMW garage that we have a low charge on the battery. We do short runs so the battery isn't able to charge fully. That is why I bought the battery charger that BM use and charge maybe once a fortnight.
The sunroof stopped working. Have had this once before under warranty and was told it was the "controller" that had failed. So I went back to the BMW garage. They put the car on diagnostics and that gave a "low Battery Level" plus other codes. They reset the codes and the sunroof now worked. They explained that as the battery was low the system automatically shut down parts of the vehicle.
I've read about this on this and other forums.
I think I've also read that the alternator only comes to full power at about 1500 revs. On my journey back from the garage I only reached 1500 RPM at 50 mph, so in theory driving around at 30 mph the battery will never get to be fully charged.
My questions are,
1, How do we owners know when the battery is low, to stop things shutting down.
2, Do we all need a code reader and be able to reset them. Which one is best?
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