I tried to use my MaxiDAS to Register/Program a replacement battery on a 2008 E70 X5. While the tool has the menu and what appears to be the battery Registration/Programming feature, it will ONLY allow a factory battery to be Registered/Programmed.

There does not seem to be an option to allow for NON BMW batteries to be Registered/Programmed. There were menus asking for a specific BMW number from the battery and talked about a QR or some other code on the battery.

This somewhat defeats the purpose to even have the feature if you can ONLY configure a BMW supplied battery. There are many batteries available that are not BMW batteries that will work fine, you just need to be able to Register/Program the battery. Maybe Autel comes up with some unique number that indicates the battery is not a BMW battery, but the tool/software also needs to be flexible enough to allow for a range of user entered numbers for the Amp Hour rating of the battery. The new battery I received has an Amp Hour rating of 99, I have another tool that only gives you the choice of 4 fixed or hard coded Amp Hour ratings and the highest Amp Hour rating is 90. There also needs to be an option for standard Lean/Acid flooded batteries and AGM style.

Its been 11 years since the first BMW rolled out that required battery Registration/Programming and it seems that few vendors are still getting this right.

Need to see the battery registration software to allow non BMW batteries and Amp Hour values that maybe are from a common pick list as well as a "Custom" option for future batteries with non standard Amp Hour specs.

For example the battery I received has a 99 Amp Hour rating, to other tool I was looking at had nothing higher than 90 Amp Hour for AGM batteries.

Love to hear Autel's response.

Tags: DS708 , ds708_problems

Autel??

Are you listening?

  I appreciate your reply.

Is there any plan to consider modifying the DS708 software to allow Non BMW batteries to be registered/programmed?

This kind of defeats the purpose of even offering this feature on your tools. I would guess that Non BMW batteries are replaced 3 to 1 over BMW dealer purchased batteries.

Tools need to support what happens in the field and I see a larger need for Non BMW programming then BMW battery programming.

I mean this is going on over 10 years that many of the BMW models require battery registration/programming and tool manufacturers need to get caught up with what is needed to support vehicles when the Warranty expires and they start to show up in the independent shops for repairs.

 taly,

Thanks for posting the comments that indicate the DS708 will be discontinued in 2016.

Really sux that Autel seems to drop the support for things that are really needed by the field/end user.'

I guess we will really have to see if there will be 5 years of updates or at the end of the day they limp the DS708 along and do the bare minimum with supporting it.

I also guess Autel does not want to officially announce the DS708 is discontinued at this point because it may impact sales of any units still sitting on someone's shelf or in a warehouse distribution center. Still available on Amazon and via other vendors.

I guess we will need to see if there are any future updates and if they are worth paying for the annual update.

Anyone that owns a DS708 should immediately make a back up copy or 2 of their SD card before it gets corrupt so the tool does not turn into an expensive brick. Cannot say the problem is Autel related, I have seen MANY micro and regular SD card fail lately. I think there are a lot of cheap and clone SD cards that are just garbage out in the market these days.

Something like the battery registration/programming was not well thought through. Only offering to support OEM batteries is very limited at best. How many independent shops have easy and cost effective access to a BMW dealer and/or a BMW OEM battery. Why would a shop screw around with installing a battery in a BMW if they could not properly register/program it?