got my batt. term.s exposed & disconnected, ext. cord out, Romondes RP 510 ready to rip, all I gotta do is plug 'er in in the a.m. Is there anything I need to know to re-program besides the clock ? any little secrets ?

 

Best of luck. Get yourself a lawn chair, pour a cold one, sit and watch the grass grow and hope the miracle of battery rejuvenation happens!

The plates in starting batteries are thin by design -- they are designed to provide high amps for short bursts and to accumulate a charge quickly. Deep cycle batteries have thick plates and are designed to provide lower amp output for prolonged periods. Dual-purpose batteries are the worst of both worlds -- the plates aren't thick enough for true deep cycle work and they aren't great at high amp/short burst discharge.

Once thin plates are gone, they cannot be revived or electro-chemically reconstituted. The best a battery resuscitation device can do is squeeze out the last life from an older, deteriorated set of battery plates.

The real problem is SUDDEN DEATH, which is where an internal plate failure causes a short so the battery cannot provide proper voltage. Modern batteries tend to die in this fashion... one day they work and the next they are stone dead.

The best way to extend the life of a starting battery is to not let it fully discharge.

No matter how much one babies a wet cell or agm battery, Father Time is the true enemy, along with deep discharge.

 

In modern BMW cars, including MINIs, batteries need to be "registered" into the car's electronic management system. There are devices that can do this.

Sometimes when a battery is removed, charged, and placed back into the car, the car's system is "fooled" into thinking it's a new battery and weird things can happen.

DARK ART.

 

my 17 mo. old flat-plate is 6 min into cleaning process, I have Bimmerlink on my iphone. are you telling me to register batt. after cleaning ? ign. on or ign. on & idling ? after cleaning & hookin' everthin up should I charge ? was about 90% when disconnected. I'm about 2 hr.s in, , does it tell you when it's done ? Thanks

 

The Romondes will tell you when it's done.

 

After re-connecting the battery and starting the car, you will soon know if registration is required. You might get error messages or other things that tell you things ain't right. The start/stop function often doesn't work right if registration is required.

On the other hand, the car may be happy and motor along without a glitch.

Some people go through the registration protocol just to be sure everything is okay. Others wait to see if anything weird happens before they go through the registration drill.

There are several good Youtube vids on how to do registration for BMW and MINI cars. Here's an example using Bimmerlink: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gevVdaKAb3o

NOTICE on the video when the battery is removed, NEGATIVE is removed FIRST and when the battery is re-installed, POSITVE is CONNECTED FIRST. This is important.

 

after 12 hr.s of cleaning I'm ready to reconnect pos. term first. after everthin is back together should I charge from 90 to 100% ? I will flip ign. on & register w/dongle & Bimmerlink ?

 

all wired up & everthin is goot. no need to REGISTER, set clock & Sirius good. charge went from 90% to 95% already. did o.k. for 1st time. where is that damn 10mm socket ?

 

It's in the battery now

 

Congratulations!

BTW, if you managed to bloody a knuckle or scratch yourself, or drop a tool or part where it cannot be retrieved, your battery will last longer Blood sacrifices are best. I once had to make a trip to the emergency room after wrapping a finger around a pulley. It’s run perfectly ever since!! My finger, not so much.

 

couple hours, 100% BOOM ! I guess I'm on the monthly Romondes schedule now. seems like the smart thing to do. Let's see how far we can go past 3 years w/o blood sacrifice ! just gotta do DP swap & it'll be perfectamundo. I've been wised up on things Mini since I dropped in.

 

What was your value for SoH after the repair operation? Also curious to know the resistance value.

 

didn't check but IBR I think was about 3.8 I won't test again until end of May.

 

That's not terrible. It is also a value to watch when doing either a test or a repair.

For reference:

- my old battery, whose SoH tops out at 29% and which pretty much won't hold proper charge under load (at least not enough for all functions of the MINI to work), consistently lands at 98% SoC when charging is complete. Its internal battery resistance (IBR) measured at 10.5 megohms at last measurement. I have seen its IBR as high as 12 megohms; the repair function on the Romondes seems to lower it, but has not had success getting it much lower than 10.5.

- my current battery, installed in November, also had 98% SoC at last measurement (about 2 weeks ago). Its SoH bounces between 82% and 90%, and its internal battery resistance last measured at 3.54 megohms. Its original internal battery resistance, when new, was 3.02 megohms (if my memory serves me).

100% SoC, like any other "fully charged" battery of whatever kind, is not useful if the battery doesn't properly hold charge under load. SoH and IBR give insight into how well the battery holds the charge under load; SoC tells you zero about it (and becomes irrelevant if the battery won't hold charge appropriately).

Good luck in May!

 

as I recall SOH was 80sumthin I'm not scared to leave it for a week & vacate to Belize, come back, maybe charge-maybe not, On The Monthly Schedule Now ! I THINK SOH was 86-87% & IBR are the 2 critical #s agreed. I'm going to keep monthly Before & After #s HARD COPY

 

I think 86-87% on SOH it's almost 1&1/2 yr.s old. wish I nwoulda known at beginning but live & learn