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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 BMW 5-Series (F10) Forums F10 / F11 5-Series Photos - Video - Media Dead battery questions: Charging / Replacement / Opening the trunk
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      09-13-2019, 12:57 PM   #1
Razor1973
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Dead battery questions: Charging / Replacement / Opening the trunk

I have a 2012 BMW 535i M Sport sedan with a manual transmission and over 100K miles in the odometer. This was my primary (only) car until about 4 months ago when I leased a different vehicle (not specifying to avoid going into a discussion about that one LOL). I admit that, since then, I've abandoned the BMW. I haven't driven it once. Two of the tires already had a slow leak before and are now on the ground and my battery is dead. The dead battery is the main point of this post.

I have a NOCO Genius G3500 smart charger/maintainer which I have used to revive a completely dead battery on a Honda Accord before. I attached the clamps to the positive (red) connector in the engine bay and an unpainted piece of metal as I read in a few places online. I left it overnight (about 10 hours) and, in the morning, the only light that was on in the charger was the power light. This is a little discouraging, but I remember this was the case for about 2 nights with the Accord before the charger showed other lights and charged (repaired?) the battery on night 3. I am still hopeful this will happen with my BMW battery. Otherwise, I will need to replace it.

I have three questions at this point:
  1. Should I continue to charge this way or should I charge the battery directly from the trunk. I think I read that wasn't the safest option and engine bay is the recommended approach. Does this also apply to a fully dead battery?
  2. How do I access the trunk with the battery fully depleted? There is no key hole there. Is going through my back seats the only option?
  3. If I have to replace the battery, do I get H9, H8 or H7? After reading a few threads, I believe it should be H8, but I am not sure. Also, must I get a scanner to reset the computer after the battery is replaced (and I guess I would look up the procedure) or do I not have to as long as the specs (?) are the same?

I have never done any mechanical or electrical work on my car myself, but definitely want to try. I am also doing an oil change on my own for the first time. Wish me luck! I just need the car to run first.

Thank you in advance!
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Past: 2011 BMW X3 xDrive35i, 2008 BMW 535i 6MT, 2009 BMW 335i sedan 6MT, 2007 BMW 335i sedan 6MT, 2007 Volvo S80 V8 Sport AT, 2005 Volvo S60R 6MT, 2001 Audi S4 6MT, 1998 Volkswagen GTI VR6 6MT
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      09-13-2019, 04:20 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor1973 View Post
I have a 2012 BMW 535i M Sport sedan with a manual transmission and over 100K miles in the odometer. This was my primary (only) car until about 4 months ago when I leased a different vehicle (not specifying to avoid going into a discussion about that one LOL). I admit that, since then, I've abandoned the BMW. I haven't driven it once. Two of the tires already had a slow leak before and are now on the ground and my battery is dead. The dead battery is the main point of this post.

I have a NOCO Genius G3500 smart charger/maintainer which I have used to revive a completely dead battery on a Honda Accord before. I attached the clamps to the positive (red) connector in the engine bay and an unpainted piece of metal as I read in a few places online. I left it overnight (about 10 hours) and, in the morning, the only light that was on in the charger was the power light. This is a little discouraging, but I remember this was the case for about 2 nights with the Accord before the charger showed other lights and charged (repaired?) the battery on night 3. I am still hopeful this will happen with my BMW battery. Otherwise, I will need to replace it.

I have three questions at this point:
  1. Should I continue to charge this way or should I charge the battery directly from the trunk. I think I read that wasn't the safest option and engine bay is the recommended approach. Does this also apply to a fully dead battery?
  2. How do I access the trunk with the battery fully depleted? There is no key hole there. Is going through my back seats the only option?
  3. If I have to replace the battery, do I get H9, H8 or H7? After reading a few threads, I believe it should be H8, but I am not sure. Also, must I get a scanner to reset the computer after the battery is replaced (and I guess I would look up the procedure) or do I not have to as long as the specs (?) are the same?

I have never done any mechanical or electrical work on my car myself, but definitely want to try. I am also doing an oil change on my own for the first time. Wish me luck! I just need the car to run first.

Thank you in advance!
What's the amp rating on the charger? A basic 1.5a charger will take many moons to get the battery charged. The BMW branded charger is 4a.
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      09-13-2019, 10:52 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc View Post
What's the amp rating on the charger? A basic 1.5a charger will take many moons to get the battery charged. The BMW branded charger is 4a.
It's 3.5 Amps. Here's the official site.

So I remembered I had used my Gooloo GP37-plus jump-starter in the past on that Accord that I mentioned, so I tried the same thing with the BMW. That did it, except with a twist my neighbors didn't appreciate.

I plugged in the Gooloo. The Connect green light would just blink and beep, which, according to the manual, meant the battery was too low and the recommendation was to press the Boost button on the device. Before doing that, I tried to start the car. It did nothing at all; dead. I then went back to the Gooloo and pressed that Boost button. That's when all hell broke loose and the car alarm started going off. I had to apologize to my neighbors while I searched for a solution online.

In the meantime, I removed the Gooloo and plugged in the NOCO charger again, which this time detected a minimal charge in the battery and finally gave me some more lights and started to charge. I left it charging (and the alarm going off) for about an hour, after which, I removed the charger, plugged the Gooloo back in and was able to start the car. That stopped the alarm.

I let the car idle for about 2 minutes, turned it off, removed the Gooloo, plugged the NOCO back in and now, it's charging. It's still under 25%, but it seems to be going well. I plan on leaving it overnight and checking again in the morning.
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      09-17-2019, 04:54 PM   #4
Razor1973
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Just a quick update for whoever was following this topic. This is my 4th day attempting to charge the battery. I plug the charger in when I go to sleep at night and it attempts for 6 hours after which it goes to Error. I do the same thing in the morning when I go to work and, again, after 6 hours, Error. The battery charge isn't going up at all and I am giving up today. I did open the battery cover in the trunk and saw it's an original BMW (well, "BMW") battery. I bought the car used, so I assume this is the one that came with the car, meaning it's 7+ years old. Yes, I may have killed it by letting it drain, but it was most likely on its last leg anyways. I am getting a new battery soon and registering it with an NT530 scanner I am also receiving tomorrow.
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Past: 2011 BMW X3 xDrive35i, 2008 BMW 535i 6MT, 2009 BMW 335i sedan 6MT, 2007 BMW 335i sedan 6MT, 2007 Volvo S80 V8 Sport AT, 2005 Volvo S60R 6MT, 2001 Audi S4 6MT, 1998 Volkswagen GTI VR6 6MT
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      09-17-2019, 09:43 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor1973 View Post
Just a quick update for whoever was following this topic. This is my 4th day attempting to charge the battery. I plug the charger in when I go to sleep at night and it attempts for 6 hours after which it goes to Error. I do the same thing in the morning when I go to work and, again, after 6 hours, Error. The battery charge isn't going up at all and I am giving up today. I did open the battery cover in the trunk and saw it's an original BMW (well, "BMW") battery. I bought the car used, so I assume this is the one that came with the car, meaning it's 7+ years old. Yes, I may have killed it by letting it drain, but it was most likely on its last leg anyways. I am getting a new battery soon and registering it with an NT530 scanner I am also receiving tomorrow.
Does sound like one or more dead cells in the battery. Dead/dying batteries cause all kinds of seemingly unrelated errors.

Thanks and keep the updates coming!!
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      10-26-2019, 11:03 PM   #6
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So, a quick thought if you’re still working this issue...letting the car idle isn’t going to do much because the alternator’s rated output is at a much higher RPM than idle. So you need to drive the car or rev the engine to achieve the rated output in order to charge a battery. Even at that, it’ll take much longer than 2 minutes. Also, if you need to pop the trunk on a dead car, slave the battery from another car using jumper cables in order to pop the trunk and access the battery. Lastly, a recommendation is to completely disconnect the battery or pull it from the car to let it trickle charge if you’re trying to revive dead cells. A connected battery is still powering the car in some minimal ways, but with a trickle charger, that can significantly degrade the ability to tend to the battery. Hope this helps!
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