Battery Diagnostics

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Davidfromdigswell

Well-known member
Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
76
Location
Hertfordshire UK
My i3 is now about 5 years old and is currently at the dealership for a service. I asked them if they were able to run any diagnostics to let me know how well the battery pack is performing and if I am getting close to the 70% degradation figure which is when I believe the warranty would kick in. I was told that they have run checks and are only able to confirm that the battery is OK and is charging as expected. I believe my range now is less than it was 5 years ago but not hugely so. Is this data available?
 
Here is an article with some infor (toward the bottom) about how to get the car to give you some diagnostic info on the battery:
https://www.bmwblog.com/2017/04/24/bmw-i3-long-term-battery-capacity-report-better-expected/
 
Here is another with better instructions: https://bmwi3owner.com/2016/01/secrets/
 
You could consider installing ISTA+ software and connecting it to your car via OBD2 cable. This one provides a battery snapshot where you could check the cell balancing condition, and the floor and cap threshold the BMS uses for battery charging (usually 8% of the capacity is reserved as unused at the bottom, and 6% at the top). This same piece of software provides for a rigorous diagnostics procedure as well. In this case the car is connected to a charger and then discharged using heaters down to zero for several hours with windows open.

Please refer to this link https://okedv.dyndns.org/wbb/blog/index.php?entry/81-i3-battery-reinit/, this thread https://www.goingelectric.de/forum/bmw-i3-batterie-reichweite/bmw-i3-ploetzlichmit-18-5-kwh-kapazitaet-t21752-520.html#p833738, and this link as well https://okedv.dyndns.org/wbb/blog/index.php?entry/86-bmw-i-series-hochvolt-batterie-spannungen-auslesen/. I don't read German, but google translation into English seems fair.
 
Strange, but ISTA+ doesn't show the battery state of health. I expected more from the Germans with their love of numbers. I have a Chrysler PHEV, and the breadth of data available from the battery is amazing.
 
Is it possible they did it for a reason? Answer customer requests in a binary manner (OK or not OK)is so much more convenient :roll:
 
Still strange. However the discharge test is probably the most accurate way to determine the actual capacity.

BTW, your links took me to a rabbit hole pf trying to integrate Connected Drive and OpenHAB. No luck so far :)
 
The developer of the openHAB script updated it to work with the US servers, and I got it running. The script can retrieve some data not available in the app, including socMax, which appears to be the same as the Battery Max Kapa. I want to figure how to chart this data to monitor the battery condition over time. Maybe I can even figure out how to integrate openEVSE and automatically limit the charge to a preset level...
 
Oh, I got it now, I didn't understand your first message. Yes, seems like all owners in Germany have this in-app SocMax indicator, very convenient. It's great you can now run it as well.

I didn't check how to do it since BMW won't support ConnectedDrive in Ukraine, so the app won't work either.
 
It sucks. BMW has official representation in Ukraine, they should get ConnectedDrive running. It is just a contract issue. Too bad you can't swap a SIM card and get your car online...
 
Sure they do, for decades. And Ukrainians buy lots of BMWs locally, a very popular brand here. They choose not to proceed for reasons they don’t explain (I’ve contacted the representative office on this matter). Once ConnectedDrive is supported, it would be a matter of TCB unit replacement for me. But I don’t hold my breath
 
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