Battery life

[edogg]

I left the parking lights of my '06 X5 on while I was at work today. About 6 hours later, I came out and the car wouldn't start. Accessory power came on but when I turned the key, lights on the dash blinked off and the normal "put your seatbelt on" chime was a broken squeal.



A quick jump from a coworker fired it right up.



The battery is a newer Interstate. It was replaced sometime before I bought the car in February.





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[X5SND]

It Doesn't matter how new your battery is...leave the lights on like that and there ain't gonna be enough juice left to crank it. Just move the light switch to auto and enjoy not having to flip the light switch ever again!

[edogg]

I just realized in my haste to post this while cooking dinner, I forgot to actually ask my question. Apparently, I'm just in too big of a hurry today!



Makes sense that the headlights would drain the battery pretty quickly. It seems that the parking lights wouldn't quite drain that much...but maybe they do.



I've found the auto setting isn't quite sensitive enough. I like having lights on when it's grey outside in typical Seattle weather.


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[Zulu95]

Current drain from the lights prevented the vehicle electronics going into "Sleep Mode" and those WILL kill your battery pretty fast.

[dkl]

Originally Posted by edogg

I just realized in my haste to post this while cooking dinner, I forgot to actually ask my question. Apparently, I'm just in too big of a hurry today!



Makes sense that the headlights would drain the battery pretty quickly. It seems that the parking lights wouldn't quite drain that much...but maybe they do.



I've found the auto setting isn't quite sensitive enough. I like having lights on when it's grey outside in typical Seattle weather.


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You can still leave the switch to auto so they'll shut off automatically. Whenever you want the headlights to come on (with the switch set to auto), just hit the fog light button, which I believed will force the headlight to come on as well.

[edogg]

Didn't realize the electronics are tied to the lights. Good to know. Guess I'll just need to be more careful about remembering to turn my lights off. I can take comfort in that this is the first time in my driving career where I've done that.


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[dkl]

Doesn't the car makes an annoying sound if you leave your lights on when taking out the key?

[X5SND]

You can also change the sensitivity of the lights to have them come on sooner (in lighter conditions). You'll need to source the BMW software (or someone who has it) to do so though.

[edogg]

Originally Posted by dkl

You can still leave the switch to auto so they'll shut off automatically. Whenever you want the headlights to come on (with the switch set to auto), just hit the fog light button, which I believed will force the headlight to come on as well.

Thanks for the tip! I'll try this out.

Originally Posted by dkl

Doesn't the car makes an annoying sound if you leave your lights on when taking out the key?

Yes, it makes a beeping sound. I was late for work and in a hurry so must not have heard it as I was grabbing my laptop bag and diving out of the car.

Originally Posted by X5SND

You can also change the sensitivity of the lights to have them come on sooner (in lighter conditions). You'll need to source the BMW software (or someone who has it) to do so though.

Is this something indy shops usually have? I'm taking the car in for an oil change next week.