IX3 discussion

Spanky

Well-known member

There's often not a need to replace the entire pack - manufacturers do it for liability reason amoungst other considerations.

This is a good video on battery repair - it just becomes a question whether we'll ever have the skillset and parts available in SA.

 

sAnDmAn_

Member
The home charger doesn’t play nice with sunsynk inverters ( even on the nonessential / grid side)

Very fun to drive


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I've been eyeing the IX3 lately .... And with the sunsynk at home, keen to hear what's the issue you've experienced?
 
I've been eyeing the IX3 lately .... And with the sunsynk at home, keen to hear what's the issue you've experienced?

First off, my 5kw isn’t sufficient to charge the car, that said, if I lower the charge amperage , it would take longer to charge, but might work 🤷‍♂️, and it doesn’t play nicely with the grid shaving mode ,

Secondly , firmware update needs to be done, and low noise mode enabled , that’s what turned this car into a paper weight first day , until bmw came to reset it

35736734ceff1aa8fe82fea16ba80dc8.jpg



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sAnDmAn_

Member
First off, my 5kw isn’t sufficient to charge the car, that said, if I lower the charge amperage , it would take longer to charge, but might work , and it doesn’t play nicely with the grid shaving mode ,

Secondly , firmware update needs to be done, and low noise mode enabled , that’s what turned this car into a paper weight first day , until bmw came to reset it

35736734ceff1aa8fe82fea16ba80dc8.jpg



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Brilliant stuff and very useful info

Thanks!
 
Brilliant stuff and very useful info

Thanks!

The info supplied here to reset the car will end up cooking the car though,

Correct way is to open the bonnet , then lock the car, wait for approx 40 minutes for the car to go to “sleep” ( this will be indicated by the hazards triangle on the center console going off)

Then disconnect that 12v battery negative ( under the massive plastic cover where there used to be an engine… that said, they could easily have made a “frunk “ or have space for a spare wheel there!!!)

Leave for 25 minutes , reconnect and car should be good


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We took our first "long trip" with the Ix3 this weekend, and what a pleasure. Left JHB with 100% charge, got to Harrismith with 50% left, done a cautionary top up ( about 35-40 minutes , instead of charging at 60kw/h the charger was running at 40) , and then head into the drakensburg. During the weekend we took a drive to Clarens, ( was a bit bummed, couldnt charge there for logistical reasons), and then back to the lodge. Coming home, another 100% charge, and got home on about 40%. All in, the trip cost just under R600 for electricity for approx 800km
 

modocrat

Well-known member
We took our first "long trip" with the Ix3 this weekend, and what a pleasure. Left JHB with 100% charge, got to Harrismith with 50% left, done a cautionary top up ( about 35-40 minutes , instead of charging at 60kw/h the charger was running at 40) , and then head into the drakensburg. During the weekend we took a drive to Clarens, ( was a bit bummed, couldnt charge there for logistical reasons), and then back to the lodge. Coming home, another 100% charge, and got home on about 40%. All in, the trip cost just under R600 for electricity for approx 800km
What speeds were you driving? Were you hesitant to plant your right foot?
 
What speeds were you driving? Were you hesitant to plant your right foot?
just stuck to the speed limit, there was police everywhere, that said, i did troll some folks once or twice, over take a truck ( where there was 4 lanes , 2 in each direction) , and wait for the polo or gti to start teaching Morse code from behind, at which point i would "foot" it a bit and watch them vanish behind :ROFLMAO: , oddly satisfying
 

m0lt3n

Active member
I missed this chat!
Have my iX3 for almost 2 months now. bought it in Cape Town and drove it back to central northern cape which was quite the experience.

But loving it.

Re the solar charging issues discussed earlier, no issues charging from my Deye 8kW. (but did not foresee issues, the invertor does not know what its charging, charging via the portable 2kW charger I got with the car)
Since back home I have been doing 100% solar charging.

And I can confirm, its not the quickest EV but its no slouch and its fun dropping everything while the drivetrains still decide what gear to hook. Something I never thought of before as a benefit is how aggressive you can drive with no one noticing, not inside or outside of the car. I rarely do less than 90 now, no need to get the car up to temperature or conserve brakes as I drive in B mode just about always.
 
I missed this chat!
Have my iX3 for almost 2 months now. bought it in Cape Town and drove it back to central northern cape which was quite the experience.

But loving it.

Re the solar charging issues discussed earlier, no issues charging from my Deye 8kW. (but did not foresee issues, the invertor does not know what its charging, charging via the portable 2kW charger I got with the car)
Since back home I have been doing 100% solar charging.

And I can confirm, its not the quickest EV but its no slouch and its fun dropping everything while the drivetrains still decide what gear to hook. Something I never thought of before as a benefit is how aggressive you can drive with no one noticing, not inside or outside of the car. I rarely do less than 90 now, no need to get the car up to temperature or conserve brakes as I drive in B mode just about always.

It is insanely fun dropping almost everything on the highway like they looking for parking


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m0lt3n

Active member
It is insanely fun dropping almost everything on the highway like they looking for parking


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even more so because you can basically do it for free. hehehe



and super unrelated 👀...how have your tyre wear been? I need to get smaller rims soon and park these tyres for someday when I sell the car again but at this rate the tyres wont make it..
 

mullerza

New member
almost 2 months into our iX3 ownership, its the wife’s car but we use it almost exclusively over weekends so I do get to drive it often.

Its fast, but its not FAST if you get what I mean. The instant throttle response is very nice but it does make it feel a bit faster than it really is. Make no mistake it will drop most cars out there, but not any of the more serious performance cars. I do love that it does it silently, I’m used to heads turning when I hoon the X5, similar speeds in the iX3 goes unnoticed (by both pedestrian and passengers in the car)

I’m fortunate that I installed a decent solar system when I got gatvol of eskom so most of the charging is done from solar. So far 75% of the power used was solar, but only due to the rainy weather we had early in April compromising solar power production. For the last few weeks (and I expect the rest of winter) we are running 100% on solar. After almost 2000km my running cost is sitting under 20c/km, making the car effectively free to use. Compared to an X3 2.0D I have saved over R2k already just in running costs.
 
almost 2 months into our iX3 ownership, its the wife’s car but we use it almost exclusively over weekends so I do get to drive it often.

Its fast, but its not FAST if you get what I mean. The instant throttle response is very nice but it does make it feel a bit faster than it really is. Make no mistake it will drop most cars out there, but not any of the more serious performance cars. I do love that it does it silently, I’m used to heads turning when I hoon the X5, similar speeds in the iX3 goes unnoticed (by both pedestrian and passengers in the car)

I’m fortunate that I installed a decent solar system when I got gatvol of eskom so most of the charging is done from solar. So far 75% of the power used was solar, but only due to the rainy weather we had early in April compromising solar power production. For the last few weeks (and I expect the rest of winter) we are running 100% on solar. After almost 2000km my running cost is sitting under 20c/km, making the car effectively free to use. Compared to an X3 2.0D I have saved over R2k already just in running costs.

I need to beef up my solar a bit, our inverter doesn’t play nicely , that said, on sunny days it’s partially sun partially grid .

The card bmw gave us with the car , we’ve abused it, and barely put a dent in the R10k they preloaded


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mullerza

New member
lucky bugger, we did not get any credit loaded on our card!

I had 12000w of panels installed before we even considered an EV as a middle finger to eskom, Our victron inverter worked nicely with the BMW branded charger we got with the car but I did not like that I could not control it remotely so fitted a victron EV charger that allows me to remotely start/stop/change charging current. Our inverter is only 10kva so cant supply enough power on inverter mode to charge at 24amp and run the the house when the geyser kicks in. It doesn’t trip but draws the excess power from grid and not solar/battery so its nice to be able to manage that remotely as and when its needed and drop the charging rate to 16A

even with the EV being charged we are 90%+ off grid, its just those rainy days that I need to partly fall back to eskom The cost to go completely off grid is just not worth it while we still pay a small connection charge.
 

m0lt3n

Active member
I think we get more sun here in the Northern Cape, but I manage fairly well on solar.

BUT: my portable charger is a 2kW charger, and my Deye is 8kW. So if you add geyser its still only 5kW and mostly fine to also run some home stuff. Difference is I am mostly not home when charging the car so guess that makes a difference.

As for the remote control, why not change charging times of the car and update? Thats how I manage it. Invertor itself doesnt have issues, it does not know what its charging.

On my secondhand buy I also did not get any credit loaded. Actually not super happy with my BMW service I got, they were top EV salesman sometime but did not know they had to arrange a charge card for me.




which reminds me, I cant remember where my charge card is....eish
 

mullerza

New member
Ours was also second hand

I was happy that they gave me a new wallbox, new granny charger and new type 2 cable. (when we got home we found the original granny charger and type 2 cable in the storage box under the boot so now we have 2 of each so I shouldn't complain.

I dont want to fix the charge slots, but rather have different charging rates for different times and that cant be done with the BMW app. It can be done with node red and the EV charger but I'm not there yet with my automation. At times I will charge into the evening deliberately using solar batteries to charge so want to retain that flexibility.

Apparently you dont need the physical charge card but can use your phone as well, we havent tried using charging stations yet, still need to do it once just to make sure everything works as it should.
 
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