Battery Drain?

[andrewwynn]

I'm sure I've verified sleep mode with foxwell and on wife's X5 the orange light nver goes off. On xo it's been established that it's not a guarantee


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[Purplecty]

The orange light may be considered sleep mode for the installed modules but not necessarily a parasitic electrical drain...

[andrewwynn]

That is correct. Some devices get power key off and when they fail they can still drain the battery

[crystalworks]

Just to add one data point. New (aftermarket) alternator a few years ago and just installed a new battery in my 4.8is a couple weeks ago. Truck has been sitting in the garage (~78f constant) unlocked since 10/18. Battery voltage (ignition off, truck not yet asleep) measured at jump points under hood was 12.8v. Yesterday 10/25 battery voltage measured 12.26v, again under hood and truck "awake" as I opened the door to pop the hood.

Orange shift light turns off after ~15 minutes after last door closed when left unlocked. Don't know what it does when locking and the alarm is active. I stick a trickle charger on it last night after measuring voltage.

Don't know if that says anything about your situ, but it's data. Good luck, battery draws suck. EHC module put my 4 year old battery in the grave.

[StephenVA]

I believe some early models have the shifter light that stays on. Not on any face lift models just the early models

[Purplecty]

So the 4.6 is in hibernation for the winter still in a heated garage with the garage tstat set to 50F. I started the x5 last week sometime and today I went to do the weekly start and warm up and it is completely dead again. It's been fine until today. I will recharge the battery again and disconnect the kenwood aftermarket radio...

[Purplecty]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Incorrect. When wifes FSR failed all speeds worked, it didn't run when car off I think I just used my fuse plug ammeter to discover high drain on that circuit.

Do you remember what circuit this was on? Have a link to a good fuse plug ammeter? Im not so good with electrical. I will try what StephenVA posted above to test a parasitic draw although mine seems random. The X5 was starting every week fine and this AM it was dead with not even the cluster coming on and no clicking from the starter. I also leave the X unlocked because last time when the battery got so low, the alarm starting going off at 3am waking everyone in a panic...

[StephenVA]

It can only be one of two things (if all the connectors are clean and tight)
1. Battery failing
2. Drain on battery even with the key in your pocket.

A cheap volt meter is all that is required to find Item #1
Item two is just a question of elimination. Circuit by circuit. Most failures are found in areas like Media players still running, Nav systems still running, door lights and switches turning on due to door wiring chaffing.
Here the quick questions is "Does that vehicle go into sleep mode?"

[Purplecty]

I will probably go with #2 as the car is properly going to sleep unless it is somehow waking up later on and staying awake. I feel that the last time I started it something either caused it to not goto sleep when turning it off ( I didnt check since I haven't had this issue since october) or something I.E blower resistor is potentially causing a random drain when the X is off (which is just an assumption without any real testing being done yet). The last time it happened, I fully charged and took it to advanced auto and the battery was tested as good. This has not happened since october 20th. I disconnected the air suspension module since the PO did a rear spring conversion and removed the BM53 that was already disconnected and no longer being used as the PO installed an aftermarket kenwood radio. Will this multi meter work? It's currently set to volts.

[80stech]

No, you need one that will measure DC current and preferably in milliamps, ---or big old school voltmeter with low internal resistance that you are familiar with. ---or use that voltmeter with an external shunt.