si board batterys

[spinner100]

hi all does any one know where i can get a good price on a si board battrys as my instrument cluster is playing up and i have been told this is more or likely the problem.my local bmw dealer wants to charge me £185 for this part it just seems a little steep. any replies would be much appriciated........

[Brianmoooore]

CPC/Farnell, RS components.

[spinner100]

thanks you must be getting bored of answering my questions............

[George]

What is the 'spec' on the battery, to ensure I order the correct one?

[Brianmoooore]

Depends whether you need Lithium or NiCd ones.

[spinner100]

Managed to get a complete board with batterys but now the speedo works but not the rev counter

[George]

Depends whether you need Lithium or NiCd ones.

How would I know?

[Chris-W]

Depends whether you need Lithium or NiCd ones.

How would I know?

Open it up and have a look. They have it written on them.

[George]

Depends whether you need Lithium or NiCd ones.

How would I know?

Open it up and have a look. They have it written on them.

I will look tomorrow. Are they typical AAs?

[Chris-W]

Nickel Cadmium are the usual AA size, Lithium jobbies are 'stubby' to give them their technical name.

[spinner100]

no they are funny little 3 v batterys in my opinion mate you would be better to get a new board as the batterys are soldered in and are covered with a rubber silocone so are very hard to get out. i got my board for 40 pound. i still have problems though...........

[George]

Nickel Cadmium are the usual AA size, Lithium jobbies are 'stubby' to give them their technical name.

Is there a year where the change occurred?

[spinner100]

what year is yours mine is 89 and has the stubbys.

[Chris-W]

Nickel Cadmium are the usual AA size, Lithium jobbies are 'stubby' to give them their technical name.

Is there a year where the change occurred?

Honestly not sure, sorry.

Chances (odds on) are that if they've failed you have the earlier type. All that I come across that have failed are the earlier type, earlier cars with still functioning clusters most usually have the replacement type later board (discernible by a storage jumper, no, not knitwear).

[George]

what year is yours mine is 89 and has the stubbys.

86, so I'm assuming 'stubbies' as well? Where can these be bought from?

[spinner100]

Nickel Cadmium are the usual AA size, Lithium jobbies are 'stubby' to give them their technical name.

Is there a year where the change occurred?

its really easy to get your instrument cluster out and to remove the si board from it and check them.

[George]

Nickel Cadmium are the usual AA size, Lithium jobbies are 'stubby' to give them their technical name.

Is there a year where the change occurred?

Honestly not sure, sorry.

Chances (odds on) are that if they've failed you have the earlier type. All that I come across that have failed are the earlier type, earlier cars with still functioning clusters most usually have the replacement type later board (discernible by a storage jumper, no, not knitwear).

So it is possible to 'upgrade' the earlier type to the later type?

[Chris-W]

Is there a year where the change occurred?

Honestly not sure, sorry.

Chances (odds on) are that if they've failed you have the earlier type. All that I come across that have failed are the earlier type, earlier cars with still functioning clusters most usually have the replacement type later board (discernible by a storage jumper, no, not knitwear).

So it is possible to 'upgrade' the earlier type to the later type?

Later type, here I mean single red SI light boards, are a straight swap, yes. I.e. Nicad to Lithium. Hope that makes sense.

[Brianmoooore]

The earlier boards had NiCd batteries, and the later version used lithium cells, BUT it's very unlikely that many E30s are still on the original NiCd batteries, and most will have been replaced at least once by BMW.
The replacements may have been lithium powered boards or rebuilt NiCd boards, depending on what was in stock at the time, so there is no way of telling what any particular E30 has in it without looking.
Most of the odd problems are caused by boards with the NiCd batteries, not by them losing charge, but by their habit of becoming short circuit when they fail, and 'loading' the power supply for the other instruments.
The main problem I have seen with clusters fitted with lithium batteries is a fairly trivial one of the tacho needle jumping up to several hundred revs when the engine is off, but, since the lithium batteries are not rechargeable, if a cluster with one of these boards is stored for a length of time (years), without the board being switched off, the batteries will permanently fail.

[Polanskygreg1985]

Nickel Cadmium are the usual AA size, Lithium jobbies are 'stubby' to give them their technical name.

Is there a year where the change occurred?

its really easy to get your instrument cluster out and to remove the si board from it and check them.

it's really not that easy, in fact, its a pain in the ass. I gotta replace mine as well, but im not sure which ones to get, would these work? http://www.batteriesinaflash.com/bmz_ca ... 00x240.jpg

[Brianmoooore]

Like most jobs on an E30, if you find it difficult, you're doing something wrong!
What particular part do you find is "a pain in the ass"?
Which batteries you need will depend on what version of the board you have, but whichever they are, they will need to be the type with solder tags fitted.