2nd Gen Most liked posts in thread: EricTheCarGuy- R56 Battery Replacement

  1. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    #5 fishmonger, May 10, 2018
    Glad to see R53 is not on the list of cars that need these shenanigans. I certainly never heard of the need to "register" new batteries.

    You'd think a car's computer should have enough inputs and sensors to be smart enough to handle these things and dynamically adjust charge module settings, just like any $20 trickle charger can. Sounds to me just like just another sneaky mechanism to get people into the stealership or void their warranties. Not saying it isn't necessary, but I got this conspiracy theory mindset when it comes to new-fangled stuff older cars don't require, especially older cars that are very very similar when it comes to the ECU and overall electrical system. I guess the R56 and R53 don't share the same alternator, so perhaps that is where "progress" happened.
     
  2. Sully

    Sully Administrator
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    #3 Sully, May 10, 2018
  3. DneprDave

    DneprDave Well-Known Member
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    #7 DneprDave, May 10, 2018
    If you don't have an Intelligent Battery Sensor on your MINIs negative terminal, then you don't have to register your battery, because this system is not installed on your car.

    To see if your car has IBS, look at the Negative battery cable for a box with wires going in and out of it. Attached is a picture of the IBS cable.

    Here is an explanation of the system. https://www.bimmerscan.com/bmw-intelligent-battery-sensor-ibs/

    Some cars don't have IBS, mine doesn't.

    IBS cable.jpg
     
  4. Qik

    Qik Well-Known Member

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    #4 Qik, May 10, 2018
    I got an equivalent battery from Auto Zone when my OE battery died while I was at my previous post in Newnan. WAY to far away from a BM'r stealership to get an exact copy. The car ran and functioned normal until I registered the battery but I was nervous. If I were to F up anything with the electronics in this car I'd prolly just have to get rid of it :)
     
  5. Qik

    Qik Well-Known Member

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    #6 Qik, May 10, 2018
    Last edited: May 10, 2018
    It is a pain and the first car I've ever had to do this on. I wonder if ol' Fish Face needs batteries registered too. From what I've read it's a newer Euro thing and Euro cars are both a gift and a curse. With the Carly app the registration was pretty easy (I had to pay $15 to register my battery via the app) however I wonder if there's any "hacks" available to get thru the registration deal.

    Does anyone on here recommend a scanner of sorts that you plug in that can register a battery? Coding would be cool too since the Carly app's coding abilities leave a little to be desired.
     
  6. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    #9 fishmonger, May 10, 2018
    I'm sure this can all be coded with INPA and NCS Expert, but I haven't had a reason to look for it. Check here about 19 mins into the (BMW 3 series) video:

     
  7. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    #11 MCS02, May 10, 2018
    You know it’s stuff like this makes me feel old! The scanner I have does BMW/MINI codes and I used it to register the battery’s on the Helmet and my wife’s R57.

    R53, what a great little car.
     
  8. MrGrumpy

    MrGrumpy Member

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    #13 MrGrumpy, Jun 29, 2018
    I recently picked the Schwaben scan tool from ECS tuning, and it has already paid for itself. It will definitely register a new battery and many other things including reading the BMW specific codes most scanners can’t. I have read that it has some limited coding ability, but I really don’t know, I’m still learning the tool. Others here have it as well and can probably give you a lot more info about it. But I am happy with it so far it has already saved me hundreds in diagnostic fees.
     
  9. Sully

    Sully Administrator
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    #2 Sully, May 9, 2018
    Thanks for posting - good quick video. Frankly, I never would have thought of "registering" the battery... I'll need to look that up.

    Edit - i.e. look up why you would even have to "register" a battery and what that is even for....
     
  10. Sully

    Sully Administrator
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    #8 Sully, May 10, 2018
    Good to know-

    Interesting - seems its a monitoring system.. more used for when the car is "off"..
    Software contained in the microprocessor of the IBS utilizes the measured values to calculate the State of Charge (SoC) of the battery during vehicle sleep mode and compares this information with that received from the DME/ECM pertaining to the battery SoC/SoH, during the period of time between engine “OFF” and deactivation of the DME main relay.

    The current SoC/battery data is stored in the IBS every 2 hours over a 6 hour time frame, providing 3-2 hour snapshots of battery SoC information. The stored information/snap-shot data is overwritten every 6 hours. Whenever KL15 is activated the IBS updates the DME with the current closed circuit histogram/battery status information, by way of the BSD. Upon obtaining updated information the DME evaluates the new data and if a closed-circuit current draw is identified a fault will be stored in the fault memory of the DME.

    Still don't fully understand why this is needed though.
     
  11. DneprDave

    DneprDave Well-Known Member
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    #10 DneprDave, May 10, 2018
    I think it is because German engineers like to complicate things. They somehow reason that, if one part will do the job, six is better
     
  12. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    #12 fishmonger, May 10, 2018
    Thing is, their six parts usually work perfectly, as designed, even if nobody knows why it was designed that way. Do we need the complexity? hell no, but what fun would it be to work on a car that's simple? I would have never had that great feeling of car modding success when I got rid of my LED flicker in the boot light if they hadn't added a hardly necessary interior car bulb check feature in the first place :D