Parastic drain and sleepmode.

[Dark_stranger]

Guys, my battery is draining within a day and have identied its a result of rear fuses 42, 43, 44 or 45 as if they are unplugged, the battery doesnt drain. I have got myself a multimeter and the next step is to find the offending fuse. Trouble is, how do I get the car into sleep mode? And stay in sleep mode as currently with a the fuses pulled I am still getting .7 draw, so guess the car is still awake.

All advice welcome.

[X5Flyboy]

I, too, lost my 1st battery early (though not within a day). I now make it a habit to turn everything off (radio, heater/ac, lights) before turning off the ignition. Now I've only changed the battery at my normal 4-5 yr interval. It does draw a lot of juice as the computer is always on and even the cigarette lighters are with power when the ignition is off (which means you can charge your phone over night or at the movies)

[Dark_stranger]

Ok, I have left the car unlocked for a while, but wont the car wake up when I open the boot/disconnect the battery/connect multimeter or does starting the car wake up the car,

[Dark_stranger]

Originally Posted by trader4

Did you read what I posted? For sure the car gets woken up if the battery
is disconnected and then reconnected. You then have to wait for some period for it to go back to sleep. In my car, I think it took about 45 mins, might happen in less, but I think most here would agree that it should be at min power by that time, if not sooner.

Yer read your earlier post, but if thats the case, everytime you create the circuit with the multimeter, you would have to wait another 45mins or so, meaning testing several fuses could be a rather lengthy process.

[bcredliner]

It may not be necessary to wait for sleep mode. Try measuring the draw with the key off and then removing one fuse at a time to see if amp draw reduces. 42 is vanity mirrors, 43 and 45 are instrument cluster and 44 is airbag control module. If removing a fuse one at a time does not locate the draw it may be that it is not going into sleep mode at all. It should go into sleep mode in about 16 minutes. If it does the amber light for gearshift position will go out. It may also be worthwhile to check for error codes.

What year X5 do you have? Would be best to add year and engine to your signature, almost always needed to help.

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by trader4

I believe the shift lever LED never goes out on models from the first few years.

Even in early E53 models it goes out. I have read owners of almost all E53 years that say it stays on and others that say it goes off. Since other BMW models of earlier years go off my conclusion is it should go off regardless of the E53 year. If so, it should go out in 16 minutes. It can come back on or never go off if something is wrong.

With the fuses OP mentioned removed it should go into sleep mode unless something else like FSR is bad which is not an uncommon fail that causes battery drain.

We need to know year of OP's X5.

I would check for fault codes ASAP.

[JCL]

It is not necessary to leave the ammeter inside the vehicle, or connected. The procedures are well established, and have been posted here previously.

First, put a jumper wire with alligator clips across the battery terminal and post. The remove the battery terminal. The jumper wire maintains the circuit. Now put the ammeter parallel to the jumper wire. Now remove one clip from the jumper wire, and the ammeter maintains the circuit. Bingo.

You have to manage the issue that opening the doors triggers things to come on.

After awhile, it will go to sleep.

And the shift light has no bearing on whether or not it is in sleep mode. BMW techs posting here have confirmed that multiple times. On some models yes, on others no. My 2003 kept the shift light on for four years. Never had a battery issue, despite leaving it in airports for up to 4 weeks.

Edit: BMW bulletin on shifter light, courtesy killcrap

http://www.xoutpost.com/692305-post24.html

Edit: Helpful thread. See post 42, with the link, for a step by step.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...es-fast-2.html

[Dark_stranger]

I think I have figured out the drain. After much fiddling about with a multimeter and fuses, got the car sleeping and it was still pulling between 3.4n and 2.8n (n being between 0 & 9), eventually found that by pulling fuse 74 (Telephone) the draw dropped down to 0.7n and then after so seconds or so, dropped down to a steady 0.04.

That go me thinking as in the front there is a broken iphone cradle for Bluetooth that has a switch on it. Anyway, know what the electrics where like on this car when I got it (DVD Player wired so constantly on and draining the power), I thought I would check the cradle switch and it was on. Switch off and drain dropped down to 0.04, switched back on and back to between 3.n & 2.n

I guess the kids must have switched it on when playing cars. So, have switched it off, all fuses plugged in and will now see if battery drains within a couple of days. If the battery remains charged, I will look at disconnecting\re-wiring the cradle. If the battery does drain...

At least I hopefully have saved myself a big garage bill.

Is 0.04 an acceptable rate?

[BMW BOB]

Unplug the aux fan. They are a big cause of battery drain.

[TerminatorX5]

As JCL pointed out, and Killcraps SIB, the shifter LED is not a true indicator of the car going to sleep - if the light is on, and then it is off after 16 minutes of inactivity, then the car went to sleep. if the light stayed on past 16 minutes it does not mean it is not asleep - prior to 9/01 the WDS shows that LED wired in one way and after that date, it is wired differently. In reality we have established with the forum members that the date does not stand true, as some folks indicated a different behaviour.

And, after 16 minutes the car does not go completely to sleep, the GM module sends a "go to bed" signal and then some modules drop asleep and some modules start their internal countdown timer to go to sleep. when the internal lights are on, and/or the boot lights are on, they will remain on for another 30 minutes or after the "go to bed" signal and then will shut off... The car goes to sleep completely about 45 minutes after the last activity, as was stated before... the draw on the battery is minimal with alarm off, and about 35 mA with alarm on...

I understand that this will not help much with troubleshooting but at least will give an idea about electrical and electronic environment that you are working in - besides, JCL perfectly explained how to measure the amperage without disturbing the peace of the car...