Batter drain when parked for 3 weeks
 

Newbie here! Great to discover this forum, very useful for novices like me!

Question regarding battery draining.

I am planning to park my 1 year (8k miles) X3 for about 24 days. I will roll up all the windows and lock the car. It will be parked inside the garage, where the temp should be between 55 and 70.

I am assuming that no electronics run in this "shutdown" state. Is that correct? Either way, do I still need to connect a battery tender/maintener while I am gone? In case I do, any opinions on the Schumacher 1.5amps maintener?

Thanks!

It should be fine as long as you have a good charge on the battery before you park it, but the 1.5 amp battery maintainer is never a bad idea for extended parking. It ensures you come back to a fully charged battery.

Oh, and :xoutpost:

Thanks, Weasel.

The manual gives info on what to do if you park more than 3 months. I recall the dealer suggesting that I disconnect the battery if parked for more than 3 weeks. Then the service consultant has a third opinion - he wants me to use a trickle charger..

Not sure what the current charge is. I have bought a schumacher 1.5amps maintener, but I'd rather not mess with the car unless I have to. Yes, for my skill level, this is "messing around" :D

I don't use my X3 an awful now - so I have a small 'maintainer' which is hooked up to the jump-start terminals under the bonnet pretty much all the time. Keeps my battery nice and charged.

I used to get a problem with my E46 where if it was left for more than a couple of weeks the battery would get drained, so I bought this small charger and have used it ever since on the E46 and now the X3.

I'd certainly prefer to keep the battery trickle charged on the car than pull the battery off for a few weeks. Things on the car have a habit of going TU when the battery is reconnected for some reason, and things like Nav computers can loose or corrupt their flash memory if you aren't careful.

Battery Tender, or a low amp charger of any brand, is your friend, imo...
I use it constantly on my stable, and use an appliance timer for a twice
a week charge, when plugged in for a long duration. Works w/zero problems.
GL, mD