[737mechanic]

My 2007 328i has a weak battery and I am about to buy a new one. The problem I am having is if I stick with the same Non-AGM type battery with the same amp rating I will not need to worry about registering the battery. If I switch over to the AGM type I will want to have it registered. Any advice or input would be grateful.

[Lifted07Duramax]

Get a Braille battery, only weighs 21lbs. So youll drop alil weight off the car and maybe get .1mpg better

[bhmax16]

Originally Posted by 737mechanic

My 2007 328i has a weak battery and I am about to buy a new one. The problem I am having is if I stick with the same Non-AGM type battery with the same amp rating I will not need to worry about registering the battery. If I switch over to the AGM type I will want to have it registered. Any advice or input would be grateful.

Registering and programming are not the same thing. Even if you put the same battery in that came out of the vehicle (conventional lead-acid with the same rating), the battery will still need to be registered, otherwise you risk overcharging the new battery since the car's charging system will be using a charging profile for a weaker battery. Do a search, there is plenty of battery info already available on the forum.

In your case it is not worth switching over to AGM unless you want to pay to have the vehicle programmed to take an AGM battery. Your best bet, if you want to save a few bucks, is pick up an aftermarket lead-acid battery with the same specs as your original battery (same group size, CCA, and Ah ratings). Install then register the new battery. Visit our coding section if you want to invest in a $100 cable and use INPA to do this yourself (or pay $300 for a BT tool if you want something more user friendly), otherwise you'll have to see your dealer or an indy to have the registration performed after replacement.

[Three_thirty_I]

737mechanic, check my thread below: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=877445

I have just gone through this and can say a few things that will help:

When replacing a battery it is important to register since the IBS (intelligent battery charging system) is constantly monitoring a battery from new and adjusting as it ages, when fitting a new battery it has to be "told" that it is now dealing with a new battery, at least this is how I understand it. But rather safe than sorry, as batteries are usually fairly costly.

But, changing capacities and/or type requires coding for the system to then know that this has been done.

In the case of my 330i, the original battery was a normal lead acid 70 Ah capacity, so decided to stick with since it had lasted so long - had the new battery fitted this morning!

[737mechanic]

Ok Thanks guys. I guess sticking with the original type would be best. I just talked to the dealer and they told me that the only way they could register the battery was if I bought the factory BMW battery because there was numbers on the battery they need. Is that true or are they just trying to force me to spend $310.00 on a BMW lead acid battery when I can get the same thing for $139.00 from autozone.

bhmax16 I actually have INPA but I need to get the cable. Can you point me to the best cable to get for this.

Thank again guys.

[Three_thirty_I]

Originally Posted by 737mechanic

Ok Thanks guys. I guess sticking with the original type would be best. I just talked to the dealer and they told me that the only way they could register the battery was if I bought the factory BMW battery because there was numbers on the battery they need. Is that true or are they just trying to force me to spend $310.00 on a BMW lead acid battery when I can get the same thing for $139.00 from autozone.

bhmax16 I actually have INPA but I need to get the cable. Can you point me to the best cable to get for this.

Thank again guys.

As long as the type (lead acid in our case) and capacity is exactly the same, should be no problem and can register. Sounds more like they are just trying to get you to buy the OEM battery. Over here the local OEM batteries are made by the same company that make other popular brands of batteries, and as such there is a brand that in all intents and purposes is exactly the same part as the OEM, just minus the BMW logo. I opted for the BMW part because in a weird turn of events it was the cheaper option - the fitting and registering was the more expensive route through the dealer though, so had done for me elsewhere.

As for the cable, there are many good vendors on eBay etc.

I must still try and get INPA and the cable to work properly on my silly notebook which of course has Win7...

[GoRomeo]

My battery OEM made by Exide (white in color) costed me $169.00 at the dealership. Thats all I spent out of pocket since I replaced it myself. AM batteries at Walmat, Sears and Auto zone were only about 20 to 30 dlls less so by the time you add the coding and crap I would end up spending more than OEM.

No coding or registration needed according to my SA. It has been over 6 months no issues. CHEERS!!

[Three_thirty_I]

Originally Posted by GoRomeo

My battery OEM made by Exide (white in color) costed me $169.00 at the dealership. Thats all I spent out of pocket since I replaced it myself. AM batteries at Walmat, Sears and Auto zone were only about 20 to 30 dlls less so by the time you add the coding and crap I would end up spending more than OEM.

No coding or registration needed according to my SA. It has been over 6 months no issues. CHEERS!!

Yep, the local ones are also white and look just like the OEM batteries.

Just playing safe with the registering, because I would be the "lucky" soul to not do this and then have all four wheels fall off the car...

[GoRomeo]

I also noticed that registering was not necessary if features such as "REST", "Defrost" and "AC fan" would still not work properly after new battery replacement. IBS was reseted when connected to new fresh battery. I could be wrong.....

[737mechanic]

Three Thirty I I followed---> this <---guide and got INPA working with no problem. I too have win 7 on my laptop the guide is for win 7 64bit which is what mine is but the guide says it will also work with 32 bit in case that is what you have.


And thanks guys for the info.

BTW I ended up buying a battery from NAPA which according to a few websites say that NAPA's Legend batteries are considered the best in the industry. The battery is a standard lead acid but it is 1080 CCA and is 100ah and the car is set for 90ah. I found a thread that has a guide on using NCS expert to reprogram the computer for a different capacity size but my battery falls in between the 90ah and the 110ah so I am going to leave that alone.

If you guys are interested in that thread here is the link. If you look at post #15 he talks about the different size capacities.

Here is the thread

[737mechanic]

Ok just installed battery. Hooked laptop to car went to toolset 32 loaded MSV80 and scrolled down to battery registration, highlighted, clicked Job, then start job and didn't really see anything happen so maybe it worked or maybe it didn't, who knows.

One thing I did before I removed the old battery was check to see what the voltage was from the alternator measured at the battery terminals with car running of course and I had 14.49v which seems a bit high but I figured if the old battery was weak maybe the smart computer determined it needs a higher voltage. So after I top charged the new battery with my battery tender I installed new battery and and after registering the battery hit the battery terminals with my fluke meter again and got the same 14.49v so there was not any change.

Not sure if this means anything or not but I was taught that the perfect voltage for a lead acid car battery was 14.25 max. Of course that was for a good ole USA made old school dumb automobile.

If anyone that likes tinkering and who has a accurate volt meter could check and see what their alternator is putting out I would be interested to see what yours is doing.

My car is a 2007 328i with premium package.

[Three_thirty_I]

Originally Posted by 737mechanic

Three Thirty I I followed---> this <---guide and got INPA working with no problem. I too have win 7 on my laptop the guide is for win 7 64bit which is what mine is but the guide says it will also work with 32 bit in case that is what you have.


And thanks guys for the info.

BTW I ended up buying a battery from NAPA which according to a few websites say that NAPA's Legend batteries are considered the best in the industry. The battery is a standard lead acid but it is 1080 CCA and is 100ah and the car is set for 90ah. I found a thread that has a guide on using NCS expert to reprogram the computer for a different capacity size but my battery falls in between the 90ah and the 110ah so I am going to leave that alone.

If you guys are interested in that thread here is the link. If you look at post #15 he talks about the different size capacities.

Here is the thread

Thanks, I think this is the same link that I found when trying to get the software working. The problem I have is that for some reason, no matter what I do, the cable does not work in terms of connecting to the car. I must just remove what it's on the machine and start over - it did work before on my previous Win 7 64-bit installation (had to replace the HDD).

Okay, hope you come right with the coding! Keep us updated.

[737mechanic]

Been a 3 days since battery install and figured I would check the alternator voltage again and see if it had come down from the 14.49v that it showed the other day.

Started the car and checked at battery terminals and it showed 14.89. I was baffled at this point wondering why in the heck is it so high. Now I was wanting to know if increasing the engine above idle would increase this voltage even higher so I got my wife to come step on the pedal and as soon as it came off idle it dropped to 14.10 so I had her go to about 1500 RPM and it stayed between 14.10v to 14.20v. After coming back down to idle it stayed at about 14.10.

I guess for some reason right after you start the car it charges at a higher rate and once the engine comes off idle it settles out at its regular rate.

Would be interested if someone with a 2007 328i has the same results.

[Three_thirty_I]

Originally Posted by 737mechanic

Been a 3 days since battery install and figured I would check the alternator voltage again and see if it had come down from the 14.49v that it showed the other day.

Started the car and checked at battery terminals and it showed 14.89. I was baffled at this point wondering why in the heck is it so high. Now I was wanting to know if increasing the engine above idle would increase this voltage even higher so I got my wife to come step on the pedal and as soon as it came off idle it dropped to 14.10 so I had her go to about 1500 RPM and it stayed between 14.10v to 14.20v. After coming back down to idle it stayed at about 14.10.

I guess for some reason right after you start the car it charges at a higher rate and once the engine comes off idle it settles out at its regular rate.

Would be interested if someone with a 2007 328i has the same results.

Well, this is probably part of the function of the IBS charging, and makes sense for it to charge at a higher rate after just being started and at idling speed.

[Chriztofor]

You do realize you can register the battery by buying a $10 cable from ebay and install a free (donations accepted) program from a member on here, smooth1 http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=727091

[737mechanic]

Chriztofor I didn't know about that. Thats cool I will play around with that and see if it works. I did try to run it on my desktop to see the front end but it fails to run. I will try it on the laptop that I use for my other BMW stuff.

Thanks for that link.

[Three_thirty_I]

Actually have this installed, but have not been able to play around with it since I cannot get the cable to work which is my main problem. Will have to just start from a fresh Windows 7 64-bit installation and see if I can get it sorted!

[737mechanic]

Just tried the bmwlogger and it seemed to work great. It read the codes. I did not do a battery register since I already done that. Very nice and easy to use program.

[Chriztofor]

Originally Posted by 737mechanic

Just tried the bmwlogger and it seemed to work great. It read the codes. I did not do a battery register since I already done that. Very nice and easy to use program.

[clemsonkev]

I just had an aftermarket battery installed....
It came with a 3 yr replacement warranty.

so, should I really care about 'registering' it?

Anyway to register it with my Cobb tool?

[i M HOONIGAN]

Great info here...

my 06 e90 battery is on it's last leg it seems... car was idling pretty rough today, but started up fine. But, i did see the yellow battery icon on my dash for the first time today.

It's now 2014, and i bought my e90 back in 2006... Still the same original white battery - going through Mid-Atlantic and NE winters... Quite shocked that it lasted this long, but due for a replacement.

Will post updates on this...