[MrSweet1991]

Hi All,

Had some issues with the alternator a while back, in the process of finding out the issue I bought a brand new battery and finally a new alternator which sorted everything out. One weird issue though, Carly has always displayed the battery as only ever charging between 0-40%.. This was on the old battery with old alternator and also its doing the same with the new battery and new alternator, at this moment in time the battery has been charging between 0-40% for 19 hours, all. Other percentages are 0. The battery is charging okay as its currently at 12.6v read with a multimeter from battery, so what is the cause of this issue? The battery has been registered and coded multiple times with Carly and ISTA D with successful registration so its not that.

[Bluewater335D]

Do you mean that the battery is only 40% charged accordingly to Carly - does Carly show the battery state over say the past 5 days

I think the basics are:
without the engine running - a fully charged 12v battery should read 12.6v maybe plus a little - is that what you are getting

with the engine running the alternator should be pushing out say 13.7 to 14.7v and this is what the multimeter should indicate

If you test the battery in the morning and it shows 12.7v and don't use the car and then test in the next morning and it indicates 12.7v - the battery is fully charged no-matter what Carly indicates - i.e. if there is no drop off in voltage over a number of days

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by Bluewater335D

Do you mean that the battery is only 40% charged accordingly to Carly - does Carly show the battery state over say the past 5 days

I think the basics are:
without the engine running - a fully charged 12v battery should read 12.6v maybe plus a little - is that what you are getting

with the engine running the alternator should be pushing out say 13.7 to 14.7v and this is what the multimeter should indicate

If you test the battery in the morning and it shows 12.7v and don't use the car and then test in the next morning and it indicates 12.7v - the battery is fully charged no-matter what Carly indicates - i.e. if there is no drop off in voltage over a number of days

Hi Mate,

So the amount of hours is from the point the battery was registered, with re registering the same battery again after having the brand new alternator I've driven for 13 hours or what ever I wrote. Now any normal car should have the most amount of hours on the 80 to 100% whereas Carly seems to state my battery has only every charged between 0 and 40%. Ive done a number of tests with the multimeter on my way to solving the battery issue and the hardware sides of things are perfect, that being 14.3v at the alternator, 14.3 to the battery while running and after a drive the battery alone is 12.6v indicating a pretty much full battery, 0 to 40% would be a battery around 12.2v or something so it quite literally is just Carly but it's just weird, like these readings where exactly the same even when I had the old battery and old alternator.. All the hours where on the 0 to 40% with no hours registered for anything above that.

[rasa bmw]

maybe contact carly and explain,,they might throw some light on it..

[Bluewater335D]

Originally Posted by MrSweet1991

Hi Mate,

So the amount of hours is from the point the battery was registered, with re registering the same battery again after having the brand new alternator I've driven for 13 hours or what ever I wrote. Now any normal car should have the most amount of hours on the 80 to 100% whereas Carly seems to state my battery has only every charged between 0 and 40%. Ive done a number of tests with the multimeter on my way to solving the battery issue and the hardware sides of things are perfect, that being 14.3v at the alternator, 14.3 to the battery while running and after a drive the battery alone is 12.6v indicating a pretty much full battery, 0 to 40% would be a battery around 12.2v or something so it quite literally is just Carly but it's just weird, like these readings where exactly the same even when I had the old battery and old alternator.. All the hours where on the 0 to 40% with no hours registered for anything above that.

seems a problem with Carly as battery is fully charged and Carly is not reporting it as such - but presumably Carly get info from the Engine management system?

did you change the old battery and alternator because you had a problem - i.e. had the battery come to the end of it's life, (did you test it) and was the alternator faulty?

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by rasa bmw

maybe contact carly and explain,,they might throw some light on it..

Didn't pay for it mate will check ISTA though it seems it will show the last 5 days of charge as a percentage

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by Bluewater335D

seems a problem with Carly as battery is fully charged and Carly is not reporting it as such - but presumably Carly get info from the Engine management system?

did you change the old battery and alternator because you had a problem - i.e. had the battery come to the end of it's life, (did you test it) and was the alternator faulty?

Long story short, went out everything was fine went into shop come out and battery dead, many months prior to this car went into limp mode with TCU errors, tyre pressure etc etc all signs of a faulty battery so I thought beings as I don't know how old it was just replace it anyway. Replaced battery and after a day or two same thing. Drove fine but then couldn't crank, then I started to learn about voltages, usijg multimeter and all the rest. I started to find Alternator occasionally starts car with 14v ish or just runs off of battery, done all voltage checks confirmed it was running 12v from alternator some bought some voltage regulator brushes, removed old ones solder new ones same problem. So called AA made a claim and got a Lucas alternator fitted (ater the garage tried to dwindle me and the AA by charging £384 but then fixing my own without replacing literally anything then spraying!) anyway.. Here we are with a fully working charging system by the looks of it but a random issue with either carly or communication with ECU. Will try ISTA