Long cranks, not HPFP....Battery

[AntonV]

My car is basically a garage queen/weekend driver.....Unfortunately, It doesnt get driven on the weekends either....Im a Chef and own a busy restaurant. The car only gets driven once a week.

Ive been noticing longer and longer cranks in the past 2 months, and figured it was the HPFP doing what it does best. I know from previous experience, that sitting in the garage isnt going to help the battery life. I finally hooked up my battery tender to the 135i.

It took 1.5 days for the "charging" light to turn off, and the "maintain" light to come on. I started up the car yesterday morning, and it fired up right away. Hopefully, my HPFP will hold out a little bit longer, but I was actually hoping it was breaking down, since ill be at the dealer next month for my annual oil change.

Is this "tender" okay to use on my 09 135i? I dunno if batteries have changed drastically in the last 2 years, and Im still confused about the extra thing mounted to the battery. I hardwired a piggyback connector to the terminals.

Im using the Deltran Battery Tender Plus 12v @ 1.25a.
I'm pretty sure its the same one BMW sells at dealerships, just re-badged. Is this okay to use for my car battery? Are they liquid-cell batteries, or sealed lead acid?

[nordique14]

I have the (older) BMW one. The Battery Tender one looks to be the same. I know several people who use it without any issue.

I keep my car plugged into a charger as sometime it goes a couple of weeks without being used. These new cars consume a lot of power even when not being used.

Note that the some Battery tenders (and the older BMW charger) have a cigarette lighter adapter instead of alligator clips. Older BMWs (E46 or older) that kept that aux power hot even with the car was off. Our cars do. So plugging a tender into the aux power port is useless. You will need to use the clips. No need to connect it directly to the battery in the trunk. Pop the hood and use the connectors there. The +ve is under the red cap and the -ve is a 1.5" metal stud sticking out from the on the lower right side (when facing the engine).

[MadMan77]

I have the same Batter Tender Plus and it works great for when I am on business trips and the car in the garage.

I would definitely recommend it.

[Tom K.]

My battery Tender is about 10 years old and works with no problem on my 128i. As Nordique14 said, use the posts under the hood for battery access - that is what they are designed for.

Tom

[CCY]

I am planning to winterize my car in Decemeber. I have a battery tender that I used for my motorcycle. It says "input 120ac, output 12V 750mA" or something like that. Can I use that for my 1 series?

[JHOOPS2]

I have noticed the same thing. If I don't drive the car for about 2 days I will clip my battery tender to it. It then takes about 24 hours to top it off versus about 7 hours when I drive it frequently. I did notice that starting is a lot easier when it is topped off. I just wonder if there isn't some link between that and the HPFP that we are missing...

-Jeff

[My135]

This is odd, my 1 will fire up right the way even it wasn't driven for a week.

[JHOOPS2]

I have about a 2 second crank. On two occasions I have had about a 4-5 second crank. I top off the battery and all is well again. No CEL's or anything. I am still on the original HPFP.

[scs]

i use the same battery tender for my bikes and car