RDC/TPM battery replacement
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 7:27 pmRDC battery replacement.
This is my experience with replacing batteries in the BMW RDCs.
The first 2 I replace were on a 1200 RT. These I replace with cr2032-vc batteries which I sourced from Jaycar Madington back in June 2018. The reason I used these batteries is because they are a PCB battery that have tangs for soldering to PCB boards.
They were still operating fine when I traded the RT for a 2015 GSA August this year.
The GSA only had 12,000 kms when purchased and aprox 4 years old.
Last week on returning from Albany I started getting indications of a failing battery on the front wheel.
Being a bit disappointed that it had only lasted a little over 4 years and 23,000 kms I decided to replace the front wheel battery. Purchased a cr2032-vc from Jaycar removed the front tire and soldered in the new battery after removing the old one. Remounted the tire and went for a short test ride and every thing came up as working fine.
That evening I looked at the old battery and it is a cr2050 which is 20mm button and 5 mm thick and I started thinking that’s larger than the cr2032 which is 20mm button and 3.2mm thick.
I found a site that listed cr batteries and their capacities.
The cr2032 has a capacity of 3v and 220 mAh.
The cr2050 has a capacity of aprox 450 mAh. Aprox because there is no listing for the cr2050 BMW spec.
Then I looked around for something that is available and I found the cr2450N, which is a PCB battery 24mm button 5mm thick and these have a capacity of 3v 610 mAh.
The RDC body is 24mm wide, trimming the sides down with a dremmel allows the larger battery to fit within the width of the body. Solder the tangs to the neg and pos connections of the RDC, seal it up with hot glue, mount to the wheel and remount the tire and test ride to confirm all is working correctly.
With the increased capacity of the replacement battery the working life should be in excess of 5 years and I think that’s a job well done.
If any of you have questions on the procedure I’m quite happy to assist.
Steve
This is my experience with replacing batteries in the BMW RDCs.
The first 2 I replace were on a 1200 RT. These I replace with cr2032-vc batteries which I sourced from Jaycar Madington back in June 2018. The reason I used these batteries is because they are a PCB battery that have tangs for soldering to PCB boards.
They were still operating fine when I traded the RT for a 2015 GSA August this year.
The GSA only had 12,000 kms when purchased and aprox 4 years old.
Last week on returning from Albany I started getting indications of a failing battery on the front wheel.
Being a bit disappointed that it had only lasted a little over 4 years and 23,000 kms I decided to replace the front wheel battery. Purchased a cr2032-vc from Jaycar removed the front tire and soldered in the new battery after removing the old one. Remounted the tire and went for a short test ride and every thing came up as working fine.
That evening I looked at the old battery and it is a cr2050 which is 20mm button and 5 mm thick and I started thinking that’s larger than the cr2032 which is 20mm button and 3.2mm thick.
I found a site that listed cr batteries and their capacities.
The cr2032 has a capacity of 3v and 220 mAh.
The cr2050 has a capacity of aprox 450 mAh. Aprox because there is no listing for the cr2050 BMW spec.
Then I looked around for something that is available and I found the cr2450N, which is a PCB battery 24mm button 5mm thick and these have a capacity of 3v 610 mAh.
The RDC body is 24mm wide, trimming the sides down with a dremmel allows the larger battery to fit within the width of the body. Solder the tangs to the neg and pos connections of the RDC, seal it up with hot glue, mount to the wheel and remount the tire and test ride to confirm all is working correctly.
With the increased capacity of the replacement battery the working life should be in excess of 5 years and I think that’s a job well done.
If any of you have questions on the procedure I’m quite happy to assist.
Steve