[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys,

What the hell am I doing wrong?

- But when I start the car, I get this error message. Now, why would I get this message while the car is on trickle charging? Even though the rat repellents are connected, the Bosch C7 is still charging right?

How old is the car battery? the bosch might show full but if your battery is weak then no point.

What you say is right. When the varna repellent is connected, the drain doesn't matter since the Bosch will ensure battery is topped up always.

I'm wondering if the car's battery management system is getting thrown off with the varna drawing current but the Bosch keeping it charged.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

How old is the car battery?

Brand new battery .

I'm wondering if the car's battery management system is getting thrown off with the varna drawing current but the Bosch keeping it charged.

Car goes very clearly in battery saving mode (symptoms mentioned earlier), which shouldn't be happening with the C7.

[androdev]

My guess is that the car doesn't know it's being charged. It's just considering the long duration of power draw from the battery and getting into power saving mode as a precaution. I don't think the car has a way to find out how much juice is left in the battery and goes only by power draw in standby. This mode is triggered as a preventive measure even if the battery voltage is healthy but unusual power draw is observed. That's my guess. You can ignore the warning. It should cancel the power saving mode if you turn on the ignition (not engine).

Edit: you will get recharge battery, replace battery etc messages if your battery is weak. This discharge message simply means battery computer is not happy that power is being drawn beyond what is allowed during standby.

Have you registered the new battery after replacement? Even if the same spec, it needs to be registered. Different spec battery need to be both coded and registered.

[GTO]

I thought the voltage level will be a good indicator of what's happening.

- Car was parked for 2 days with both rat repellent devices running (and thus, draining the battery).

- Bosch C7 was charging. Opened the bonnet and saw it is blinking (indicating trickle mode, correct?)

- Went into the hidden menu and saw a voltage level of 12.4. Is this good? Androdev on his BMW thread said:

12.65+ 100%
12.45 75%
12.24 50%
12.06 25%
11.89 0%

12.4 is about 75%, so should the Bosch be taking it above that or maintaining at this level? These cars hate low voltage situations, hence I am spending a lot of time on setting things up right. With all the test-drive cars coming our way, the 530d's running will be low in the coming weeks:

[Kosfactor]

@GTO, Car batteries have one job to do - Start the engine.

It provides a lot of power at once and then it likes to keep itself charged. They will not last long if you install accessories that consume power slowly over a period of time.

Is it possible to power the Rat repellent with an AC adapter? I assume it's parked overnight mostly in a safe place with access to AC power.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by GTO

I thought the voltage level will be a good indicator of what's happening.

- Car was parked for 2 days with both rat repellent devices running (and thus, draining the battery).

- Bosch C7 was charging. Opened the bonnet and saw it is blinking (indicating trickle mode, correct?)

- Went into the hidden menu and saw a voltage level of 12.4. Is this good? Androdev on his BMW thread said:

Above 12 is usually good but the way to make out is when cranking the car the voltage shouldn't dip. If it dips then it's not charged fully.

Also the C7 won't always keep the battery brimmed. It usually cuts off when full then lets the battery drain on it's own and then when it drops below the threshold, it starts charging again. It's a very slow charger as well and in trickle mode it could be 48 hours to get to full again.

In the green trickle mode, you will also hear a few clicks indicating the system cuts off and on depending on the battery drain.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Is it possible to power the Rat repellent with an AC adapter? I assume it's parked overnight mostly in a safe place with access to AC power.

You, sir, are a rockstar ! Let me get you a sumptuous dinner whenever you are next in Bombay. I was focusing on the left hand only, when the solution was so clearly on the right hand!

The car is of course parked right next to the 240v power outlets which I got installed for all the test-drive EVs. I am removing the rat repellents from my car and getting Varna Suraksha's VX model instead. Will keep this plugged in, instead of the Bosch C7.

Added bonus = it's way more powerful a rat repellent than the smaller car devices .

[JithinR]

Has anyone purchased the Black and Decker Battery Charger? I keep checking Amazon and Flipkart for the Bosch C3 (I don't think I need the C7...and besides it's just too expensive for me).

I just saw that there are two Black and Decker models listed on Amazon and Flipkart. I am thinking of picking up the cheaper option to keep both my RTR 200 and Honda City batteries in good shape.

Will this one do the job(BLACK+DECKER BC12-B2, 2/8/12 Amp 3 Speed Automatic Battery Charger & Manual Control)?

[androdev]

Go with Bosch. I trust them more. This will serve you for many years, so it's ok to pay slight premium. I can vouch for C7 - rock solid and robust. It actually has the rugged feel of a workshop tool. Would expect C3 to be the same. No idea about B&D - not a fan of that brand in recent times (too Chinese).

[abhi182]

Originally Posted by JithinR

Has anyone purchased the Black and Decker Battery Charger? I keep checking Amazon and Flipkart for the Bosch C3 (I don't think I need the C7...and besides it's just too expensive for me).

I just saw that there are two Black and Decker models listed on Amazon and Flipkart. I am thinking of picking up the cheaper option to keep both my RTR 200 and Honda City batteries in good shape.

Will this one do the job(BLACK+DECKER BC12-B2, 2/8/12 Amp 3 Speed Automatic Battery Charger & Manual Control)?

I was about to order the C7 as wife’s XUV battery had drained off and I was in no mood to haul it to a battery shop for charging… ( I know, I know.. should keep it running etc but such is life post corona)

Anyway spotted this for 2.5K on amazon and decided to get it anyway as what was there to lose.

I haven’t seen the C7 but have enough power tools from both Bosch and B&D to know that the general quality/ longevity is almost always better on bosch but the price was too sweet to pass.

Glad to report that I did - build quality is excellent - very rugged and certainly better than I had expected.
The crocodile clips seem to be a little iffy but I can live with that.

It was pretty much plug & play - took about 2-3 seconds to determine the charge level and initiated the charging .
The charging current and battery voltage are displayed on the LCD - and a few hours of charging was enough to bring the car back to life.

Strongly recommended (if you find it discounted)

[GTO]

Guys, facing a strange problem. Please help with troubleshooting.

Haven't driven the 5-Series in 7 days because I had a test-drive car last week, and this week, I have two test-drives lined up of fresh launches. Summary = the BMW will be standing still for 12 days.

So I had put the car on the C7 charger last Wednesday. Today, when I popped the hood open, I saw the Bosch on standby mode (blue circle)!!! Why would this have happened? A month back too, I had noticed the same thing. My staff insists that no one touched the plug point. But even if someone did (hypothetically) remove the wire or turn off the power switch, when it is plugged back in (or power switched back on), the Bosch C7 starts where it left off in the same mode. The unit is placed under the hood, so no one can have messed with its settings. This morning, it was plugged in with the power switch on. But was flashing the blue standby light.

The objective of the charger is to keep the battery topped up infinitely. If it goes on standby in the middle of that, then the exercise is really pointless.

Thanks in advance!

[androdev]

Originally Posted by GTO

..

I finally read the user manual :-)

Appliance protection function
The charger switches to standby mode in the follow- ing abnormal situations.

• Regeneration process > 7 hours
• Charging > 41 hours
• Battery voltage < 7.5 V (12 V batteries)
• Battery voltage < 16 V (24 V batteries)
• Open circuit
• Reverse polarity

I usually charge for a day at max - plug it during day time and unplug by night or if I am lazy unplug it next day. So I never experienced this, but looks like it can charge max for 41 hours.

Are you still having the rat repellent powered by car battery, or shifted it to the mains? If you have no external devices drawing power off the batter, charging to top up once a week should be a good routine, which is what I do.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by GTO

The objective of the charger is to keep the battery topped up infinitely. If it goes on standby in the middle of that, then the exercise is really pointless.

Normally a battery charger is supposed to hold the float mode indefinitely and just resume from where it left off if power is cut. I have left this charger connected for over 3 days and it didn't change the mode. I've never left any charger connected beyond that period of time.

The only thing I can think of that could reset it other than a power cut however is a sag or surge where the protection circuit kicks in. A bit surprising in Mumbai though given it's the only city in the country with truly reliable power supply. As I understand there's a difference between trickle and float chargers, the Bosch is the former according to the manual. I always thought they were synonymous.

Trickle vs. Float Chargers: Don’t Kill Your Battery!

[GTO]

Originally Posted by androdev

So I never experienced this, but looks like it can charge max for 41 hours.

That's a big problem for me, man. Because I always have some TD car or the other and due to work-from-home, I need something that can keep my BMW as well as Jeep topped up for a week or two. What is the solution?

- Switch off the C7 for 5 minutes and restart it every morning? I can tell my staff to do this.

- Any other trickle charging model? Please suggest.

- Can I change the behaviour of the Bosch C7 to bypass this?

charging to top up once a week should be a good routine, which is what I do.

Could, but I want to keep it in "auto mode" as much as possible (without intervention required from me).

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by androdev

I finally read the user manual :-)


I usually charge for a day at max - plug it during day time and unplug by night or if I am lazy unplug it next day. So I never experienced this, but looks like it can charge max for 41 hours.

I read the manual as well and it says 41 hours is for continuous charging after which it gives up on charging. However the trickle charging is infinite more or less:

Trickle charging: The charger can be left permanently connected to maintain the full battery charge.
After charging, the charger switches automatically
to the trickle charge mode.

In trickle charge mode there is no 41 hours time limit.

Also read Amazon reviews and they seem to indicate that if you have a power outage or someone turns off the mains, the system does not go into trickle mode back:

I just discovered another MAJOR disadvantage to this charger. I had a power outage today and I discovered that after the power is interrupted this trickle charger does not come back on in the charge mode. In fact, even a minor fluctuation in the power source and this thing goes in to "stand by". You have to be there and press the mode button to start it charging and/or monitoring your battery.

I think this definitely has some bug in which power source disruption doesnt let it go back to trickle mode.