Guess what Mad_Lad got this time?

Gumbo

Just called Frank Keane there.
Gave Vin number and confirmed no outstanding recalls.

Patser

My car was ready, but now it isn't as BMW Ireland have told Frank Keane to change the unit after looking at a picture of it - so she's in for a few days now....

Patser

Patser wrote: »

Mad - you've s lot of experience here.

My i3 is currently in with Frank Keane for its biannual service (€355 wtf since it's a BEV and only parts needed were brake fluid and microfilter)

And they've found a recall that was announced on 1st Feb - corrosion on charger unit (KEF? EKF?) that'll probably need a replacement- so car is stuck with them all day now, but they've no loaners and I'm kind of stuck here now. How much fussing did you have to do with them to get a loaner - even a 120d will do

I had told them well in advance I needed a car and it was no real issue.

Getting into a 118 will be painful after the i3 but great handling.

First I heard about corrosion on the charger. I must say it to them and see what happens.

Yeah it's a lot of money but to be honest once the warranty is out there's nothing to stop you going somewhere else but I suppose service is once every two years so it's not so bad and that's unlimited mileage too.

Kramer

Patser wrote: »

My i3 is currently in with Frank Keane for its biannual service

Is it a mandatory 6 month service or x amount of miles?
Seems crazy for a BEV to be honest - think the 530e is 30,000km or 2 years & that has a turbo charged ICE.

Bring Money With you .

Ioniq EV has similar idiotic service requirements - 15,000km. That's barely 4 or 5 months for many drivers :rolleyes:.

Kramer

Kramer wrote: »

Is it a mandatory 6 month service or x amount of miles?
Seems crazy for a BEV to be honest - think the 530e is 30,000km or 2 years & that has a turbo charged ICE.

Bring Money With you .

Ioniq EV has similar idiotic service requirements - 15,000km. That's barely 4 or 5 months for many drivers :rolleyes:.

Are you sure this is from Hyundai or the local dealer ?

Barlo Nissan in Kilkenny stuck a "next service due" in 15,000 Kms on the windscreen of my 2015 Leaf and I pulled them over it and said that was dishonest as it was 30,000 Kms for that model.

Patser

Sorry by biannual I meant once every 2 years, not twice a year

Gumbo

Kramer wrote: »

Is it a mandatory 6 month service or x amount of miles?
Seems crazy for a BEV to be honest - think the 530e is 30,000km or 2 years & that has a turbo charged ICE.

Bring Money With you .

Ioniq EV has similar idiotic service requirements - 15,000km. That's barely 4 or 5 months for many drivers :rolleyes:.

2 years. No mileage terms.
It’s in love with Nissan servicing so we pay no more of a premium than other EV’s.

Nissan is about 100-130 per year and more if you add the micro filter or brake fluids. So over 2 years it evens out with bmw servicing on the BEV.

MJohnston

Always thought BMW (and Mini) are very underdemanding with their service schedules. We leased a Clubman for 3 years back starting in 2016, and I never once had to do a real service. I kept thinking I must have missed the notification from the on-board computer, but no, they just don’t do them that often. I’m sure things are different when they’re a few years old, and they certainly charge a premium when you need them, but they don’t go looking for extra income streams like some other manufacturers (although the CarPlay preparation fee on my i3 was a real pirate move)

Mupchease

Vw tried to claim that the egolf needs a service every 15k. I go by the incar service that’s in line with their global view over a garage who doesn’t know much about evs.

Patser

Anyway, FWIW;

Car is now grounded in BMW until roughly 25th, as part has to be sourced from Germany or the likes.

Frank Keane want their car back, but I'm ok to keep until BMW Ireland get something else for me. I've requested something that starts with a letter, but don't think I'll be that lucky.

In the meantime they are trying to speed things up.

And it's the control unit for the charger that was removed.

tell Them the best way to get their car back is to get yours fixed, that’s probably why mine was returned not fixed so many times lol. They’re a joke avoid them as much as possible.

Patser

TBH I dont think it's their fault - sound more like my generation i3 has an older control unit, and harder to replace, and it's BMW Ireland that are humming and hawwing about what to do.

unkel

Patser wrote: »

I've requested something that starts with a letter

Was gonna suggest same. M cars all good and so are i cars. Z why not but I hope you said you didn't want any X!

Patser

unkel wrote: »

Was gonna suggest same. M cars all good and so are i cars. Z why not but I hope you said you didn't want any X!

Feck it, I'll accept an X6M with standard non working indicators and bluetooth earpiece, so to experience that D4 look for a few weeks.

Even the undignified entry/exit of an i8 I'll suffer through.

Would also love a Z4, as I had one for years before daughter was born, and I'd love to stand her beside it while shouting 'This!!!! This is what I gave up for you!!!!'

Would genuinely like a go in an i3s, as it's the most likely car I'd upgrade to in the future.

But you know I'll be given a 1 or 2 (shudder) series diesel

unkel

Patser wrote: »

Would also love a Z4, as I had one for years before daughter was born, and I'd love to stand her beside it while shouting 'This!!!! This is what I gave up for you!!!!'

You're doing it wrong. I bought a Porsche when my third child was on the way

Patser

unkel wrote: »

You're doing it wrong. I bought a Porsche when my third child was on the way

Yeah but that has back seats - soundproofing the boot on the z4 was surprisingly expensive - even the child protection social workers agreed.

Mind you my 1st compromise car was a 9.3 aero convertible

unkel

Once I had the 3 kids, I changed the Porsche for a 2 seater. With trunk and frunk so the 5 of us would fit if we had to

Thursday I had to go to the Airport, we left at 4:30 Am, the weather was crap, wind, rain, about 7 deg, not too cold but lots of surface water. I had to put the boot down. Coming out of the airport I said I'd try and see if I could charge at the Garage just outside the airport and as expected it was in use, this was around 5:50 am, I checked the charger and it was charging at 10 Kw so I said no point hanging around here.

I got back to around Naas and fired up the Rex and got to the M9 Charger at 7% charge plugged in and charged to 95%, according to the charger the car received 28.5 Kwh.

7% charge plugging in 28.5 Kwh + 7% = 30.4 Kwh + 5% ( charged to 95% ) = 31.92 Kwh, I'm not sure how accurate that might be.

Another way of looking at it is 95% charge + 12%.

The Dash is now showing 29.1 Kwh ( battery kappa max )

No idea what to make of that. But after 3 years 80,600 Kms the battery is looking pretty good.

Drive nearly 400 Kms, that day because I had to go back to Dublin.

ewj1978

I've read where Battery Kappa max varies greatly due to temps etc. AFAIK its not accurate.

I've no idea about the battery kappa max now.

I always felt there was more than the 29.6 available when I first got it which would explain why it charges so fast to 95% at 90 % it's still charging around 30-35 Kw which might suggest there's more in reserve.

But putting in 28.5 Kwh and starting at 7% and finishing at 95% would suggest around 31.92 available Kwh. Though with the rex you can't use the last 6.5 % as it's used as a buffer to prevent power loss. Only way to use the last 6.5% is to let the tank run out of Petrol.

31.92 Kwh would be a lot to use of the 33 Kwh though so I really don't know what capacity it actually has.

If it's a 400 volt battery and 94 Ah then it would suggest there is 37.6 Kwh available however the nominal voltage is probably more like 384 volts x 94 Ah would = 36.096 Kwh.

I must get a 2nd energy monitor and stick the sensor on the output side of the charge point and run it down as low as I can with 0 petrol and then see what it puts back in.

Either way there looks to be very very little degradation.

peposhi

Deleted User wrote: »

I've no idea about the battery kappa max now.

I always felt there was more than the 29.6 available when I first got it which would explain why it charges so fast to 95% at 90 % it's still charging around 30-35 Kw which might suggest there's more in reserve.

But putting in 28.5 Kwh and starting at 7% and finishing at 95% would suggest around 31.92 available Kwh. Though with the rex you can't use the last 6.5 % as it's used as a buffer to prevent power loss. Only way to use the last 6.5% is to let the tank run out of Petrol.

31.92 Kwh would be a lot to use of the 33 Kwh though so I really don't know what capacity it actually has.

If it's a 400 volt battery and 94 Ah then it would suggest there is 37.6 Kwh available however the nominal voltage is probably more like 384 volts x 94 Ah would = 36.096 Kwh.

I must get a 2nd energy monitor and stick the sensor on the output side of the charge point and run it down as low as I can with 0 petrol and then see what it puts back in.

Either way there looks to be very very little degradation.

I could see your brain going into a rumble mode here, Mad_Lad

peposhi

peposhi wrote: »

I could see your brain going into a rumble mode here, Mad_Lad

Lol sometimes I think too much about things.

Patser

Got mine back today from Frank Keane, all polished up like new so happy with that.....

But they updated the software which means my speedos back to Mph and I'm having to ask them nicely to hook it up again to change preference

jhegarty

Did you get any more details on the recall ?

Patser

jhegarty wrote: »

Did you get any more details on the recall ?

Potential corrosion on the KEL (I think) control unit of the charger, is what I remember. Nothing written down to see

I drove to Sandymount and back on Wednesday, total trip was 173 Kms and I still had 13% left. Not bad. No Rex used.

Amazing what you can do when you drive efficiently, there was no 120 Km/hr, some 90-100-105 Km/hr with maybe some 110 Km/h for short bursts.

It was sunny so heater use was not that much either, the sun was warm in the car.

One thing for sure is that I see absolutely 0 capacity loss after 3 years and 81,000 Kms.

MJohnston

The consumption difference between 100km/h and 110km/h is wild!

MJohnston

MJohnston wrote: »

The consumption difference between 100km/h and 110km/h is wild!

I saw 14 Kwh/100 Km on the way up and it showed 15 on the way home, probably driving more into wind, drove a slight bit faster.

Light throttle helps a lot, usually I have a very heavy foot. But 90-100 makes a big difference compared to 120 Km/hr anyway that's for sure especially this time of year when the air is colder.

MJohnston

If I'm sticking to 100 or 110 I'd usually stick it into Eco Pro mode, or if I'm aiming for 90 and it's not too cold then Eco Pro+, but these don't make a huge difference on a motorway, other than turning off the non-essentials.

unkel

Deleted User wrote: »

I saw 14 Kwh/100 Km on the way up and it showed 15 on the way home, probably driving more into wind, drove a slight bit faster.

Light throttle helps a lot, usually I have a very heavy foot. But 90-100 makes a big difference compared to 120 Km/hr anyway that's for sure especially this time of year when the air is colder.

I think you need to buy a Tesla. You can then finally giving up having to drive at LeafSpeed :pac:

unkel

unkel wrote: »

I think you need to buy a Tesla. You can then finally giving up having to drive at LeafSpeed :pac:

Lol, that's my first leafspeed run in a long time

I don't know if I'd pay for a new car again, too much loss.

Might get 2nd hand id.3 or M3 in a couple of years, depends if the m3 has a lot of issues or not.

I got a cracking deal on the i3 so might just keep it a couple of years though when it comes to paying it off in November I could change my mind but after 2 yrs 3 months I still really like the car and the battery is doing great.

Rex is dead handy.

MJohnston

MJohnston wrote: »

If I'm sticking to 100 or 110 I'd usually stick it into Eco Pro mode, or if I'm aiming for 90 and it's not too cold then Eco Pro+, but these don't make a huge difference on a motorway, other than turning off the non-essentials.

Yep I ran in Eco Pro just to make the throttle less sensitive.

Patser

Sorry to keep hijacking your thread Mad.

But turns out the computer update that Keanes did, that reset my speedo to mph, has also blocked the local independent lafd computer from changing it back until he gets an update, and Keane's are clueless on how to change it themselves....... Although the talking with a lad there on the phone they do seem to be experimenting with it as they've another UK i3 in there that they'd like changed too

jhegarty

Can you not change it from the options menu ?

Mine didn't require anything beyond that to change over.

Patser

jhegarty wrote: »

Can you not change it from the options menu ?

Mine didn't require anything beyond that to change over.

No. Apparently because it's original UK car its vo is to default back to MPH. Changing units changes are distances etc, and puts a small KMH under the main speed, but that remains KMH.

Annoyingly it's in the preferences in the computer, and a simple tick box click that worked before. But the BMW dealer are clueless in this, and the guy that did it before is locked out (according to him this is a common occurrence, BMW update their software and code it to try prevent independents working on their cars, then the independents find a workaround online and get going again, and cycle continues)

Ok So, I've had enough with the i3s off peak charging failures, drives me insane.

Why couldn't BMW just have a charging system where you select the time and dates you want to charge ?

Say I want to charge between 11 pm and 8 am, or Midnight and 9 am ot 1 hrs or 2 hrs give me the control ffs!!! it's not rocket science.

With the i3, you can only set time of departure, preheat, and off peak time and that's it. Ridiculous. It's lucky I have the Rex or I would have been stuck many times since I got the car.

So I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get an intelligent EVSE with app access so I can just set the i3 to charge immediately and let the EVSE be the brains.

Anyone know any good intelligent EVSE that doesn't cost a huge amount of money ?

unkel

Eh? Just set the time of departure at 7AM and the car will be fully charged having used the cheap night rate by then. Only takes 4-5 hours on a 32A single phase home charger.

Why waste at least a grand of your hard earned money to fix a problem that doesn't exist?

MJohnston

That's never been a problem with my i3 - I just set the off peak times to match Night Saver times, set my usual departure time, and it's all sorted when I wake up?

unkel

unkel wrote: »

Eh? Just set the time of departure at 7AM and the car will be fully charged having used the cheap night rate by then. Only takes 4-5 hours on a 32A single phase home charger.

Why waste at least a grand of your hard earned money to fix a problem that doesn't exist?

?

I’ve had the car 2 years 3 months I know how the charging function works and if I’ve gone to the car multiple times and it hasn’t charged I would say that is an issue that exists.

KCross

Sounds like a classic case of RTFM to me!

MJohnston

MJohnston wrote: »

That's never been a problem with my i3 - I just set the off peak times to match Night Saver times, set my usual departure time, and it's all sorted when I wake up?

Your lucky but there are several reports on the web about this issue whether it’s been fixed in later models or only effects a specific model year I don’t know.

It doesn’t happen every week or month but it’s very annoying when it does.

I can’t completely rule out the evse but due to other reported issues I do t think it’s related to that.

KCross

KCross wrote: »

Sounds like a classic case of RTFM to me!

I know how it works it just doesn’t work all the time.

If it works most of the time means I do know how to set the timer.

unkel

Deleted User wrote: »

I’ve gone to the car multiple times and it hasn’t charged I would say that is an issue that exists.

If there is a problem with the car, it's under warranty, isn't it? Get BMW to fix it. Why on earth would you spend your own money getting it sorted?

Not under warranty any more.

I want to get a 32 amp evse anyway , I can always sell the one I have

I’m not bothered flashing the evse for 32 amps when I can install a new me with better functionality.

I’m certain I said this befor to the dealer on the numerous occasions I had the i3 in with them.

unkel

Deleted User wrote: »

Not under warranty any more.

Ah ok. But if you have a record (email) that you told them it wasn't working before the warranty expired, they will still have to fix it for free.

Deleted User wrote: »

I want to get a 32 amp evse anyway , I can always sell the one I have

That explains your frustration. If you just let it finish at say 7AM, but the car was fairly empty, it will have been charging at top dollar rate for some of the time if you only charge at 16A

Deleted User wrote: »

I can always sell the one I have

I’m not bothered flashing the evse for 32 amps when I can install a new me with better functionality.

What better functionality? Zappi because you are going to install solar PV?

Either way, it will cost you over a grand (after selling your old one) to get a Zappi installed. Even if you get a large solar PV array installed and you are home all the time, it will still take about 54 years for it to pay for itself

Your money, your choices, etc.

unkel

unkel wrote: »

Ah ok. But if you have a record (email) that you told them it wasn't working before the warranty expired, they will still have to fix it for free.

Lol "If" they have a record but I can't remember 100% if I said it I know it was on my mind and had been meaning to say it to them, but as far as I've searched there is no fix.

unkel wrote: »

That explains your frustration. If you just let it finish at say 7AM, but the car was fairly empty, it will have been charging at top dollar rate for some of the time if you only charge at 16A

No, not at all, as I said, this works most of the time, the car has been at a low charge many times before, last night I plugged in at around 20% so I would expect a full charge and even if it wasn't 100% it should be at a much higher than 30% than it was this morning at 8:40. It had plenty of time to charge.

unkel wrote: »

What better functionality? Zappi because you are going to install solar PV?

Either way, it will cost you over a grand (after selling your old one) to get a Zappi installed. Even if you get a large solar PV array installed and you are home all the time, it will still take about 54 years for it to pay for itself

Your money, your choices, etc.[/QUOTE]

Better as in be able to monitor Kwh used directly at the EVSE, set timers etc easier than I can with the i3 now or if I just want to charge it for 2-3 hrs or whatever during the day so I can have it charging at peak rate for as little as possible, currently the i3 only wants to do 1 thing and that's charge to 100% all the time with no control over the hrs it charges and it can be annoying. There is no start and end timer.

I have no intentions of getting Solar PV until there is a FIT offered and at that it will depend on how much is offered per Kwh which I bet won't be much.

KCross

Deleted User wrote: »

I know how it works it just doesn’t work all the time.

If it works most of the time means I do know how to set the timer.

And for the times that it doesnt work does it look like it did absolutely nothing at all or did it do some charging and then stop?

Isnt there some quirk of the i3 where the charging session gets affected depending on whether the car is locked or something?

Maybe someone inadvertently pressed the button on the keyfob and it disabled the timer for that day.

If it is doing what it is supposed to do 99.9% of the time and the EVSE isnt tripping out I'd be more inclined to think that its something "you" are doing that is causing it.

KCross

KCross wrote: »

And for the times that it doesnt work does it look like it did absolutely nothing at all or did it do some charging and then stop?

Isnt there some quirk of the i3 where the charging session gets affected depending on whether the car is locked or something?

Maybe someone inadvertently pressed the button on the keyfob and it disabled the timer for that day.

If it is doing what it is supposed to do 99.9% of the time and the EVSE isnt tripping out I'd be more inclined to think that its something "you" are doing that is causing it.

I've been thinking about this for a while and no, there is nothing I'm doing that would in any way effect the charging unless I set by the app then I could say that something got screwed up which has happened before but I set the timer manually as I do most of the time, I set it in the MacDonalds Drive thru in Naas yesterday which by the way is the slowest drive thru I have ever seen, but it took so long there that I decided I would set the timer then.

When I got to the car this morning it had only put back in around 10% charge it was actually charging when I went out to it.

mordeith

[Deleted User] wrote: »

When I got to the car this morning it had only put back in around 10% charge it was actually charging when I went out to it.

So when it happens when you unlock the car is the charging status light blue or flashing red? We had to replace our charger as it would cut our during a charge. Still if you said it was charging this morning it would seem more likely to be a car issue