Trickle charging

[MadBeamer]

Hello everyone

What trickle charger do you recommend for a F82? This winter I may not get much mileage in and already due to no commute (thanks to Covid-19) I only get a 30-45min drive weekly just to enjoy the car and keep the battery up. But I am already worried negative effects on the battery.

I have a Duracell 4amp Li-ion capable charger that I use on my Land Rover LR4 but I've not tried that on the M4. Wanted to get your input before I do that...

Thanks in advance

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

i dont think its that serious. i only trickle mine when its sits for more than a month


CTEK Li-ion charger

[agentrnge]

Same-ish. I have the Duracell 4 amp charger as well. I only hook it up if the car has been idle for like 3-4 weeks. And then I place it on for a few hours / half a day. see that its topped up and disconnect again. Battery was probably still at 80+% when it sat for a month, if the charge / status indicater on the charger is to believed. Thats about the longest its sat, and why I got the charger from costco when it was on sale a few months ago.

My other car, I put on a trickle a few hours every week or so to keep happy.

[MadBeamer]

Originally Posted by agentrnge

Same-ish. I have the Duracell 4 amp charger as well. I only hook it up if the car has been idle for like 3-4 weeks. And then I place it on for a few hours / half a day. see that its topped up and disconnect again. Battery was probably still at 80+% when it sat for a month, if the charge / status indicater on the charger is to believed. Thats about the longest its sat, and why I got the charger from costco when it was on sale a few months ago.

My other car, I put on a trickle a few hours every week or so to keep happy.

Thanks for that info. I've not used that Duracell on a lithium battery yet (and yeah I also got it at Costco for my LR4). I assume it's not been an issue using it on a M4/M3. Just read a bunch of posts saying not to use regular charges with this battery so I got all paranoid...

[fiveohwblow]

Originally Posted by MadBeamer

Thanks for that info. I've not used that Duracell on a lithium battery yet (and yeah I also got it at Costco for my LR4). I assume it's not been an issue using it on a M4/M3. Just read a bunch of posts saying not to use regular charges with this battery so I got all paranoid...

You stated that’s a li-ion charger though didn’t you? If so, it’s fine to use.

[Kilabyte]

Originally Posted by fiveohwblow

You stated that’s a li-ion charger though didn’t you? If so, it’s fine to use.

^^That.

[agentrnge]

Yeah. no issues using that model on the M3/4 Lith-ion battery. Note of caution, -every- time you hook it up/ power it up you need to change the mode its in with a long press and hold. It defaults to standard lead-acid 12v. The worry wort in me checks and re-checks that its in the correct mode like 2 or 3 times when I use it.

2nd note of caution, we are advised to charge at under hood terminals rather than at battery. Ive done both without issues, but after the 2nd top off I wired the provided quick connect cable under the hood.

[MadBeamer]

Originally Posted by agentrnge

Yeah. no issues using that model on the M3/4 Lith-ion battery. Note of caution, -every- time you hook it up/ power it up you need to change the mode its in with a long press and hold. It defaults to standard lead-acid 12v. The worry wort in me checks and re-checks that its in the correct mode like 2 or 3 times when I use it.

2nd note of caution, we are advised to charge at under hood terminals rather than at battery. Ive done both without issues, but after the 2nd top off I wired the provided quick connect cable under the hood.

Thanks for that info and notes of caution

I have my quick connect wired into my motorbike since that stays put all winter, thanks to covid I may have to purchase another Duracell to keep at least two vehicles charging simultaneously. That's why I was wondering what more do you get for the CTEK as this would be a good time to decide before buying another Duracell

[gottspd]

Originally Posted by agentrnge

Yeah. no issues using that model on the M3/4 Lith-ion battery. Note of caution, -every- time you hook it up/ power it up you need to change the mode its in with a long press and hold. It defaults to standard lead-acid 12v. The worry wort in me checks and re-checks that its in the correct mode like 2 or 3 times when I use it.

2nd note of caution, we are advised to charge at under hood terminals rather than at battery. Ive done both without issues, but after the 2nd top off I wired the provided quick connect cable under the hood.

Can you post a pic of where you connected it to? Particularly the negative terminal.

[SCS55]

Originally Posted by gottspd

Can you post a pic of where you connected it to? Particularly the negative terminal.

My CTek hooked up on my M3.
Mode is set to "Li-on"

[gosutony]

Originally Posted by SCS55

My CTek hooked up on my M3.
Mode is set to "Li-on"

Does the bottom side of the BMW charger happen to tell you how many AMPs its pushing out?

[SCS55]

Originally Posted by gosutony

Does the bottom side of the BMW charger happen to tell you how many AMPs its pushing out?

No. Various conditioning modes illuminate via little battery icons. The manual talks about which state of charge/condition each little battery icon means the last two being essentially full or a "float" charge if I recall correctly.

[Kilabyte]

This is what I have
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...language=en_US

[MadBeamer]

Originally Posted by agentrnge

Yeah. no issues using that model on the M3/4 Lith-ion battery. Note of caution, -every- time you hook it up/ power it up you need to change the mode its in with a long press and hold. It defaults to standard lead-acid 12v. The worry wort in me checks and re-checks that its in the correct mode like 2 or 3 times when I use it.

2nd note of caution, we are advised to charge at under hood terminals rather than at battery. Ive done both without issues, but after the 2nd top off I wired the provided quick connect cable under the hood.

I ended up picking up another Duracell charger from Costco and hooking up the quick connect . Was able to charge in li-ion mode.

However I decided to disconnect after a full charge and not leave it on as a trickle charger mostly in case of a power failure. In our area that rarely happens but sometimes we wouldn't even know it happened unless one of the clocks is off. If that were to happen while the charger is on the car, that would revert it to normal battery mode and I am not sure what damage that would do to a li-ion battery.