Is Carly Battery Registration a Scam - Does it really work?

Idfkman wrote

I’m getting ready to install a new battery in my car and am trying to decide between the various options for registration that don’t have too steep of a learning curve.

Have any more folks tried BMWlogger and verified it works? Seems too good (and easy) to truly work.

I’m assuming Carly still doesn’t work. Would be nice since I already have the OBD adapter.

Also considering ordering a Foxwell NT510 if it’s a better option.

Any guidance from folks who have successfully registered their own battery?

A mate did mine the other week using Bimmersgeeks (https://www.bimmergeeks.net/protool). My own Carly identified the change after it was done, but could not perform it. Sent in a quick complain which was answered with stupid questions.

Helmsman wrote

My own Carly identified the change after it was done, but could not perform it. Sent in a quick complain which was answered with stupid questions.

I had the same experience with Carly. I used the free version of BMWLogger to register the same type and size of battery. After registering the new battery with BMWlogger, Carly reported all of the updated battery registration information.

I posted this a few months back in another thread here.. but this is what I found:



About 4-5 years ago I replaced the battery in my '12 E93 M3. Registered it with Carly and had assumed it was all good.

Yesterday I replaced the battery again. Nowadays I'm more familiar with BMW tools such as INPA, ISTA/D, ISTA/P, etc. So before replacing the battery, I checked INPA which showed the right battery capacity, but it had no record of the battery ever being replaced (it logs the mileage of the last 4 battery changes - all 4 spots read "0.00" km). So I replaced the battery, registered it with Carly (latest version as of 8/16/21), but sure enough, INPA didn't have the record of it. I then checked via ISTA+, same thing - no record of the battery being replaced.

I then tried both INPA and Tool32 to register the battery. Both reported "Okay" as it successfully registered the battery, but then I checked both INPA and ISTA+, and neither had any record of the battery being replaced. Again, all 4 spots read "0.00" km. I turned the car off, waited a while, etc thinking maybe it takes a while to record the change, but nothing.

Finally, I used ISTA+ to register the battery, and this time it DID record the battery change at the proper/current mileage. I can see it in both INPA and ISTA+ now. So ISTA+ seems to register the battery AND update the last changed value. Carly and Tool32 "appear" to register the battery (and perhaps they both do, or don't?) but they do not seem to update the mileage of when it was last changed.

Note that I used both the Bimmergeeks Pro cable as well as an ICOM B during this testing with no difference between the two.

brettcp wrote

I posted this a few months back in another thread here.. but this is what I found:



About 4-5 years ago I replaced the battery in my '12 E93 M3. Registered it with Carly and had assumed it was all good.

Yesterday I replaced the battery again. Nowadays I'm more familiar with BMW tools such as INPA, ISTA/D, ISTA/P, etc. So before replacing the battery, I checked INPA which showed the right battery capacity, but it had no record of the battery ever being replaced (it logs the mileage of the last 4 battery changes - all 4 spots read "0.00" km). So I replaced the battery, registered it with Carly (latest version as of 8/16/21), but sure enough, INPA didn't have the record of it. I then checked via ISTA+, same thing - no record of the battery being replaced.

I then tried both INPA and Tool32 to register the battery. Both reported "Okay" as it successfully registered the battery, but then I checked both INPA and ISTA+, and neither had any record of the battery being replaced. Again, all 4 spots read "0.00" km. I turned the car off, waited a while, etc thinking maybe it takes a while to record the change, but nothing.

Finally, I used ISTA+ to register the battery, and this time it DID record the battery change at the proper/current mileage. I can see it in both INPA and ISTA+ now. So ISTA+ seems to register the battery AND update the last changed value. Carly and Tool32 "appear" to register the battery (and perhaps they both do, or don't?) but they do not seem to update the mileage of when it was last changed.

Note that I used both the Bimmergeeks Pro cable as well as an ICOM B during this testing with no difference between the two.

Thanks for this.

I used BlueDriver. Anyone have any experience with it? Also do you need to code the battery if it's the same amp and size of the oe battery?

Battle wrote

I used BlueDriver. Anyone have any experience with it? Also do you need to code the battery if it's the same amp and size of the oe battery?

Same amp and technology (i.e. AGM) no need to code. Seems most tools do both reg and coding though. If you registered/reset the battery just go back and double check it did, you should clearly see new mileage start.

Hi, I’m trying to sync battery monitoring to the Carly OBD2 adapter, but it isn’t working. I follow the instruction given by Carly. I plug in the adapter for 14 hours, lock the car, and don’t open the doors or unlock the car until then. After it’s done I get a notification from the Carly app that sync is done and I can see the results. However, when I check the app there are no results. It says insufficient data. I’ve done this 5 times already. I have registered the battery already, but it won’t let me check on the history. It let me check it one time and that’s it. I can no longer access it. Even when I register the battery again, nothing happens. I get no confirmation like the first time when I registered it. I have a feeling that I don’t think Carly actually registered it. I’m saying this because of how I can’t access the history, sync battery monitoring, my I-drive turns off so fast when the car is off and my adaptive headlights don’t turn on when I’m unlocking the car. These are basically signs of the battery not charging properly because I first noticed these issues when my old battery started failing. I drive a 2011 BMW E92 M3 DCT. Please help!!

It doesn’t.

spammysammich wrote

It doesn’t.

What do you mean it doesn’t? Carly app is still advertising that it does. Here take a look here.

Several people in this thread report otherwise. As recently as 2021. Just a few posts up from yours.

The car saves a log of every time the battery was registered, which is retrievable by ISTA, the dealer service tool. After performing the battery registration in Carly, examination of the battery registration log in ISTA shows no battery registration took place. No evidence that Carly battery registration does anything.

Can confirm that bimmerlink correctly registers batteries and it shows up in ista.

These are the instructions I got from Carly.
Plugin the adapter
Plug it out
Plug it in again, wait for 72 hours and proceed again
Then it should work.

That sounds like a load of horse shit but I hope it works out for you. You’d be breaking new ground. Be sure to report the results.

So glad I found this thread!

I replaced my battery a couple of weeks ago with a new, genuine BMW 92aH.

I used Carly to register it, it said it was successful, but the mileage for battery change didn’t reflect that.

So I tried registering a second time, but even though it said ‘success’, I felt uncomfortable enough to Google and came across this thread, thankfully.

Today, I used the free BMWLogger tool via my laptop which successfully registered the battery.

I was able to confirm the success by plugging in Carly and reading the battery data, which now shows the correct mileage for the new and the previous battery replacements.

Okay so I think it worked after I did all that. The only thing is that it’s saying nothing for “last registered battery info.” So, I’m not sure if that means my original registration with the Carly app was successful or not. I have emailed Carly support to clarify. Take note of the orange highlighted text in the photo I attached because that’s the reading I took when I originally registered the battery with the Carly app. The photo with NONE orange highlighted text is when I re-registered the battery again. The other thing is my I drive is still turning off relatively quicker than when I had my old battery installed. Also, my headlights/tail lights still don’t turn on when I’m unlocking the car. I’m not sure if this is a battery issue or another issue with the car. Can someone chime in on this? Can someone also explain what the “statistic hours info means?” I haven’t even had this battery longer than 2 months so, idk where the 7,424 hours of charging battery history came from. That’s like 309 days.

Maybe I'm too dense to understand what I'm looking at but your pictures look pretty much like post #100 where it shows no evidence of prior registration. If you have driven the car since your last registration attempt it should have a value in the last mileage battery info.

For example this is what I see in ISTA after I registered the battery at around 97k miles with BimmerLink. I have about 104k miles on it now.

This maybe the problem with my electrical gremlins......thought Carly was worth a $h!T

^It is not. It works for some things, but not enough for me to buy it. I have been using ISTA and have recently purchased BimmerGeeks Protool. Far superior to Carly in every way.

tbuck wrote

^It is not. It works for some things, but not enough for me to buy it. I have been using ISTA and have recently purchased BimmerGeeks Protool. Far superior to Carly in every way.

Yeah, I won’t be renewing…I hate that it masks that it doesn’t work but gives you just enough info to think it actually did….

This is the response I got from Carly representative, “Hello, it seems the first battery was not registered/or registered, but not “set as registered.” Only additional battery will be displayed as registered.”