Thanks for the comments all!
The reason I made this Poll is because I have been having problems with my battery. My car was only about a year old when I received my first "Battery Charge Level Low!" warning. I just drove it a bit and didn't think about it.
Then it happened again. I was going to call the dealer but had a service coming up so I thought I'd wait. Right before my visit, before the car was even 2 years old, my comfort access stopped working and I received an "excessive battery discharge" warning. The dealer checked the battery, said it was good but low on charge and charged it. They also told me to make sure I always lock my car, even when it's in the garage with the top down. Seemed silly / stupid to me but I did it anyways.
Less then a month later, I get a "Battery Charge Level Low!" warning again. Very frustrated I take it back to the dealership. The dealer checked it again, said it was good but low on charge again and then charged it again for me. I was also told that my driving profile doesn't allow the battery to fully charge and the dealer recommended I buy and use a trickle charger. I later found that they also turned off all the lighting (DRL, Pathway, etc) without informing me of the changes.
I was very confused by that statement since I had done the same commute for about four years prior to the BMW and NEVER had a problem in my Audi A4 which already had an old battery. My commute is driving 9.7 miles, about 21 minutes with a mix of city streets and freeway, each day to and from work (about 19.4 miles / 42 minutes a day total). I find it had to believe this isn't long enough since my Audi handled it without issue and my wife's commute in her Honda CRV is only an extra 1-2 miles. The CRV is a 2009 with it's original battery.
It's gotten so bad that I can even let me wife listen to the radio while I go to the ATM. Before I even return the car will throw a "Battery Charge Level Low!" warning and shut off the radio. It takes less than a couple of minutes to hit the ATM so this is just crazy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by orionredwing
I use my trickle charger every month due to the shorter commutes in traffic preventing a good charge.
Also use it on the 2nd weekend car that sees less mileage.
Lastly, I use it the day before I go to a drive-in theater to ensure my batteries are good for the full movie. The car stereo actually sounds pretty good, even with the movie in FM stereo broadcast only. Cuz of the enclosed car environment.
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NO WAY!!! You can actually listen to the stereo during an entire movie! WOW! I can't even spent 2-3 minutes at the ATM.
So it seems most people that use the trickle charger use it since they don't drive the car. This is understandable to me since this is exactly what I used to do with my CBR954RR that sat in the garage most it's life.
I just never expected that driving ~20 miles per day would still require a trickle charger.
I probably won't have bought the car if I knew it would.