E70 Increased Battery Discharge while Stationary

[RRE70]

Originally Posted by JCL

For those interested, here is BMW's Energy Management Strategy for the E70, dating back a few years.

http://www.bmwmotorsports.org/pdf/e7...Management.pdf

Executive Summary: Penguin's Explorer, referenced above, had a voltage regulator that read battery voltage, and decided whether to charge the battery or not. Worked pretty darn well. OTOH, the above document takes 35 pages to explain when the alternator should be charging the E70, or not.

Great info JCL, thanks.
I am going to really get into this, talk to the BMW techs and get back at the forum.

[FreddyG]

Originally Posted by JCL

And with that amount of complexity, just think of the job security for our beloved BMW techs!

(The training manual is posted under the Online References tab, and covers all of the E70 systems, for those interested)

Do you have a link for that Please?

[RRE70]

Originally Posted by AzNMpower32

Curious, what's the normal voltage of an X5 when the vehicle isn't running and there is a load? I checked the X5's voltage this afternoon with the engine off but all electrics ON; vehicle has not been driven in a couple days: 11.8V.

The battery was just replaced on 23. Dec 2010. One thing I noticed that's new (compared to before flat battery) is that the P is not illuminated/displayed on the gear shifter until I put the key into the dash slot.

If alternator is not running and all electrical else is on it sounds like a reasonable voltage. Rule is; when battery is measured without load and not charging 'full' would be 12,89 V and higher, 'empty' would be 11,89 V and lower.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by FreddyG

Do you have a link for that Please?

Across the top of the forum page, there are tabs for Home, Forum, Articles, How To's, Online References, FAQ, and User CP. It is in Online References. If any members can't see all those tabs, it is likely because they aren't Premier (paying) members. Not sure exactly which benefits come with Premier Membership any more, but I can see them all. Within Online References, select PDF documents, then E70.

If you see the link I provided, for the Energy Management section, you can also use the navigation tree on the left side of the page in that link to access the other sections of the training manual.

[southwold]

I had this similar problem a few month ago.... My dealer done a software update and the problem is gone.

[2007X5]

Has anyone replaced their 180 amp alternator with the 220 amp alternator to see if this solves the problem? Is this a bolt in swap? Do you need a different belt?

Thanks for any info.
Mike

[GPSnV1]

I am starting to see the message "increased battery discharge" with my 2012 X5 that has less than 12K miles. Disappointing.

[ard]

Just at random times?