I'm not an expert on IBS equipped cars but if you dont have it, battery replacement is effortless!
I use an Odyssey PC680 for weight savings. OEM fit and performance.

 

I recently bought a 2011 Mini Countryman Cooper S (Euro spec) which had spent most of the past few winter months parked on the dealers lot. The battery had suffered from lack of use and the Auto start/stop function wouldn't work. The dealer (non Mini/BMW specific large national dealership) has replaced the battery with a new AGM battery of larger capacity than the previous (OEM?) battery, but has not registered the battery although it has the IBS unit on the -ve terminal. The Auto start/stop function now works perfectly and I've not experienced any problems from the lack of registration.

Being a cynic, I wonder if the registration procedure is a complete con? Sure, an ECU stores the data that you put in during the registration process, but does the car's charging system really need and use any of this data to properly charge the battery in any of its possible states? If I hook up the battery to an "intelligent" battery charger, the charger can cope with virtually any 12 volt battery, irrespective of size, type and charge state, without having to register each and every battery that gets connected to it, so why would a more sophisticated car ECU, which can cope with a whole range of air and fuel conditions to run optimally?

In the light of the recent exposure that Volkswagen diesel cars have been fitted with software to make them run differently when they recognises that they're being run in test modes, then it's not beyond the wit of the manufacturers to also equip their cars with bogus software that has absolutely no effect whatsoever on the running of their cars, except as a means of getting their owners to pay their dealers for changing the data in the bogus software. Am I being too cynical?

 

The registration has to do with age of battery as well as size. If the battery is not registered, the charge program will be incorrect, shortening battery life.

 

This is what I choose to believe, and the reason that I registered the battery in my wife's X3 (My MCS does not have the IBS module). Perhaps I'm an easy mark, but I do not want to believe that the manufacturer of virtually every car I've owned since the mid-80's is scamming me.

That said, I bought my own AGM for her X3, installed it myself, and negotiated a $75 fee for my dealer (with whom I am on good terms) to register it.

Some dealers will charge $400-600 for the entire battery replacement service, i.e. OEM battery part, installation and registration. This is ridiculous.

Given the choice between that ridiculous fee, on the one hand, or installing a $160 AGM and ignoring the requirement to register, on the other, I'd opt for the latter every time, as the savings will allow me to replace several early-failure, non-registered batteries - and still be ahead!

 

I understand that various different parameters might be required to be entered during the registration procedure. But my actual question is this: is the battery registration just a fool's errand and a means of extracting payment for a task that doesn't need doing for the proper charging of the battery?

How can the age of the battery change the way that the car charges the battery? Surely, the condition of the battery is independent of age and more related to its use. I have 2 other lightly used BMW cars both with batteries over 7 years old, which are almost permanently connected to trickle chargers, and which perform perfectly when the cars are in use. My wife has a regularly used R56 Mini Cooper with the original 9 year old battery. From my long experience of keeping many different vehicles, provided a battery is kept well charged by regular use or trickle charging it will last a long time, but a battery which is allowed to discharge without recharging will kill the battery irrespective of age.

Is my $20 Intelligent battery charger, with trickle charging facility really more "intelligent" than the ECU in my MCS?

 

Thanks for that.

What's the best tool for this, ...... is it possible to use the generic BlueTooth OBDII devices, and if so, what software.

 

The IBS looks at charge and discharge current. The charging system adapts to the voltage, charge and discharge rate of the current battery. If you do not tell the DME that it has a new battery, the new battery can fail prematurely, due to incorrect charging map.

 

You're very welcome. The information in our article points out to BMW specific, so I'm not sure a generic reader will be able to, but you can most certainly try by following the information in that article. The tool we use is AutoEnginuity. http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/...pg8.htm#item32 Otherwise, a MINI specialist shop should have the correct tool to do the job and I'm sure they wouldn't charge very much.

Edit: You can register the battery using the iCarly App, as it's cheap and inexpensive to insure your battery will be in working condition. They recently updated their software to do battery registrations.

 

I really am not being thick or trying to be confrontational here, but if the charging system "adapts", as you say, and as I would expect it would, then I can't see why it wouldn't also adapt sufficiently to a new battery with somewhat different charge and discharge rates even if you didn't register it as a new battery.

The fuelling maps account for the widest ranges of temperature, pressure, humidity, fuelling etc. without the vehicle driver/owner having to "register" different conditions to permit the vehicle to operate optimally and to prevent vehicle damage, so why would the battery need to be registered, but possible only by those owning the appropriate hardware/software (i.e. Mini dealerships) to prevent damage?

 

If your question relates to the efficacy of the algorithms and systems as designed by BMW/MINI, and/or whether they can be disregarded or de-valued, I can't answer.

If your question proposes the ability of a good smart tender (say, Deltran), used correctly and consistently, to keep a new battery indefinitely conditioned and not prone to sulfation, notwithstanding having disregarded the manufacturers' advice to register, I think I would agree that a smart charge every night should cure an IBS tendency to undercharge, but I'd be worried about the tendency to overcharge, which I understand is a potential problem with non-registration, and which the smart charger would not be able to remediate.

 

According to the vehicle Owner's Handbook this is what it states:

"Battery replacement
Only use vehicle batteries that have been approved for your vehicle by the manufacturer; otherwise, the vehicle could be damaged and systems or functions may not be fully available.
After a battery replacement, have the battery registered on the vehicle by your dealer to ensure that all comfort functions are fully available.

Charging the battery
Only charge the battery in the vehicle when the engine is off. "

As I understand from these statements, provided that you fit an appropriate and suitable battery the vehicle cannot come to any harm. The registration of the battery is required only "to ensure that all comfort functions are fully available". There is absolutely no mention that registration is required to ensure the proper function of the charging process itself or use of an external battery charger could have any detrimental effect on the lifespan of the battery or cause damage to the vehicle in any way.

It seems to me that the registration of the battery has been attributed with more functions than it actually has by some, which has created an "urban myth".

MORE INFO
I took my MCS out today whilst live datalogging the car via the OBDII socket using the Torque Pro Android App, and specifically monitoring the vehicle's operational voltage. Whilst the vehicle was moving the voltage was 14.6V -14.7V (Alternator voltage), but when the Auto Stop switched the engine off, the voltage immediately fell to around 13.1V (battery voltage). When the Auto Start switched the engine on again, the voltage increased progressively back to around 14.6V over the following 5-10secs, which would suggest that the vehicle charging system is being regulated in some manner to properly maintain the vehicle's electrical system and to correctly charge the battery, even though the battery has not been registered.

 

If anyone in NYC/Northern NJ area wants me to change their battery type and/or register their new battery, PM me. I can do it for 20 bucks. I live near Giants Stadium. I bought the Carly for BMW app yesterday and registered my new battery. Everything seems to work great so far. For anyone that wants to get their own, The app and adapter cost me about $135 total. I would like to recoup what I paid. Depending if you need fault codes reset, It takes about 15-20 mins to do everything. My battery died so a bunch of fault codes showed up as Low Voltage. I had 21 fault codes due to the old battery dying and I reset everything. If there's 10 guys that want to meet up, I can do it for 10 bucks. I'm not trying to make a profit, just get back what I paid.

 

My new battery has been in my Countryman for over 10months. It has never been registered and I've yet to see any evidence that this makes any difference, except for the hole in your pocket should you pay for registration.

 

was the new battery installed by the dealer?

 

It was installed by a garage but the battery wasn't registered. They just removed the old battery and replaced it with another one of the same specification but of a different manufacturer in the same way that I do with my BMW Z3 M Coupe and Z4 M Coupe.

 

it most likely would have been properly registered had it been installed by the dealer, although I'm not sure what difference this would have made regardless. I do most of my service at the (expensive) dealer, if there are any problems/issues they make an effort to correct or compensate me in the end. I can hold them to whatever service they perform

 

Don't Mini's have voltage regulators???? Never heard of this registering till on this site

 

I bought my car from one of the UK's largest used car dealerships, who sell cars manufactured by all brands on sale in the UK. I'm sure that they would've bothered with the "registration" process had it really been necessary to prevent me making any future claim against them. When a cheap and simple electronic battery charger with trickle charge facility is more than capable of maintaining a little used battery for many years, then I'm sure that BMW has ensured that the Mini's charging system is well able to cope with just about any battery you connect to the car, provided it is of the correct type.

 

I have an R59.

I bought an AGM battery from Autozone. It's identical to the OEM battery, right down to the amp hours and CCA and even has the handles. It just doesn't say Varta on it.
I've also installed and registered Carly for BMW and it recognizes my generic Bluetooth adapter and read my old battery just fine.

Is it worthwhile to try to preserve the car's memory, or should I just disconnect the old battery and connect the new battery?

 

It's now 3.5 years since the battery was changed on my R60 without registering the battery and I've had absolutely no problems from it. I conclude, as I thought from the outset, that provided you replace the battery on a like-for-like basis registration of a new battery is not necessary.

 

I replaced it yesterday, coded it with Carly. $59 extra cost, wondering if I should maintain the subscription or not. Saved $65 over letting the dealer handle it. I already had a BAFX OBDII adapter.

 

Carly and any other software apps with annual subscriptions are a complete rip-off. Far better with an alternative which you can purchase outright rather than rent.