SI board

[BS87]

I feel like a moron for asking this ( and i probably am), but i'd feel even more stupid if i somehow messed this up. Going to replace the SI batteries and just wanted to get two questions out of the way first.

1. Just want to verify the SI board is the little pull out baord in the bottom of the cluster, with the two batteries in the middle, correct?
2. Also, i assume its ok to replace the batteries with the equivilent from Ratshack or soemthing, but just wanted to check since they had a nice sticker on them with german all over it, and they are glued in.

[MattE30]

Yes and yes. Be careful you don't break anything while chipping the glue off.

[LikeCDoos]

http://bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=articles&report=view&ID=00043&Section=02

http://bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=articles&report=view&ID=00044&Section=02

http://bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=articles&report=view&ID=00045&Section=02

Hope those help...I think I will be doing this sometime this summer. Let me know how it goes and what kind of batteries you used.

[Den]

http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/e30/forum.php?postid=1649818&page=1

Message Title: Yep they can do what they want, fun huh
Posted by: KC Ron Carter on 2003-01-19 at 23:13:52

Varta battery 500RST OE part.

Radio Shack: part number 23-191: $6.49 for set of two; they come w/solder tabs on them.

1.2 volts / 700mAh

Charge fully B4 installation on SI board.

Consider mounting batteries "remotely" under dash, etc. in separate holder for easy removal in future (i.e. not pulling the console out and apart); you can buy a plastic holder at RS. Run leadwires from holder to SI board connections. Makes life easy if you ever need to replace batteries again.

From Radio Shack, get:
1) You'll need a twin AA battery holder ($3)
2) 2 AA NiCAD rechargeable batteries ($6)

[BS87]

that is odd, i just pulled the board, and not only are the batteries small Sanyo ones, i dont see any solder near them, just a nice fat wad of glue that goes down onto the board.

I'm beginning to think my 84 eta comes from a void where e30s were built completly different =/

[Den]

Maybe they had several OEM suppliers for SI batteries, like they did for radios, or your batteries may have already been replaced somewhere along the line.
Also, it's not unhead of for BMW to revise stuff. They may have made some changes to the SI board, possibly in 1988 when they gave the E30 a makeover.

[LikeCDoos]

Do you have any pictures of the remote battery install? That would be very handy in the future but i think it would be tuff to get a good connections on the board with just wires.

[BS87]

Maybe they had several OEM suppliers for SI batteries, like they did for radios, or your batteries may have already been replaced somewhere along the line.
Also, it's not unhead of for BMW to revise stuff. They may have made some changes to the SI board, possibly in 1988 when they gave the E30 a makeover.

Except my car is from 84 ;)

[BS87]

Hmm, ratshack surprisinly did not have any batteries in stock like this, so i think i'll just put the cluster back in till she completly dies. Only thing wrong was fuel gauge was going crazy, and the speedo would sometimes hang at zero until you tapped it.

[Den]

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/repair_faqs/sil.html#bat

[BS87]

Wow, just looked at the link aaron posted in golde30's thread, and my si batteries look nothing like that. Mine definatly are not AA, they are about half the size (length wise) of an aa battery

[BS87]

Ahh i love it. Guess i screwed something up, because after i pluged the cluster in, the fuel gauge does not want to work. It perks up like always when the car is turned on, but it just sits at the R even though i just put 9 gallons in the tank. And the OBC still seems to think i only have 90m of fuel left, even with the newly added 9 gallons :evil:

[Bryson]

there were two factory battery styles, don't worry about yours being different.. try driving your car over a hard bump or two, if the fuel gauge works, it's probably not your cluster, the level sender would be at fault

[BS87]

As crazy as it sounds, knowing my car, driving over a bump would probably fix it :D

[fporro]

sanyo batteries are dated, found a few of them in later model boards such as # 248.

on back of gauge cluster there's 1 or 2 single wires that connect to mid section, think 6 posibles, find correct one and everything will be back on.