That's is why I never buy a car with an aftermarket alarm system or an aftermarket stereo system, or a remote starter. Too many butchers out there that don't know anything about the electronics in an X and only know how to hook up wires to plus and minus.

Upallnight I agree,but I had no idea I had a tracker installed until I started reading that they could cause drain issues and made me wonder about my drain issue, so searched through pile of doc previous owner gave me and yes has a tracker installed by a reputable company-one of the big ones in the uk

Car Tracking, Fleet and Van Tracking Systems and More - TRACKER

Only issue is I dont know where it is...and may have to follow tips in this post to uncover...previous owner doesnt know where it is....sorry i have hijacked post...I am sure the backup battery unit has is dead after 8 years and so is drawing off the battery (although I havent done draw test across battery yet i still want this tracker removed in case)

+1

If I see ANY aftermarket electronics on a vehicle PPI, I walk!

Most large electronic retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City......) have free installation of items purchased. The installers turn and burn the job.

omodos, your X5 may go to sleep, but it may still draw too much current. Mine was going to sleep (shifter light off after 15 minutes), but there was still higher than normal current draw.

To check the fuses, it is better to remove them one by one, and use your OHM scale on your DVM. Unplug your battery first.

For the rear seat, if you insert your fingers at the front of the seat between the seat and floor carpet and pull up, it will unsnap, then you can pull it toward the front to free the brackets at the back.

On my E46 Touring, my gps locater was in the trunk area, hidden behing the CD changer.

Wow, what a journey.

So based on this, it would not be a good idea for me to install my BlackVue Dash cam with Magic Pro box? Normally dashcams only run when the car is on, but the Magic Pro box allows the camera to run while parked as it will monitor your voltage and allow the camera to run the battery down to a preset level (eg 11.5v) and then turn off so that you still have enough power to start the vehicle.

Based on your findings I'm guessing that if the dashcam stayed running while parked, that it would stop the car sleeping. Is that right?

Some people reported that having a current drain was keeping the X5 from going into sleep mode. My experience is that it was going into sleep mode even if I had a current drain. So, maybe it depends on the severity of the current drain.
You could do a test with a DVM in current mode and see if after 15-16 minutes the X5 goes into sleep mode, and what is the current drained by the camera system compared to without the camera. If your camera system sleeps and wake up every 5 seconds to take a picture for example, the drain would be a lot less than if it films continuously to detect movement. Or contact the manufacturer to know the power consumption.

OK thanks,

I checked the specs on the camera - it consumes 0.20A at all times.

I guess so long as that is not enough to prevent the car from sleeping, even if the current does start to draw down on the battery, the MagicPro will catch it before it goes below a voltage too low to restart the car.

Do you think 0.20A would be enough to prevent the car from sleeping? (question directed at anyone who knows)?

smokey53 sorry no idea alas what current wakes or doesn't wake the x5, @turbobimmer thanks for the heads up on removing the rear seat but will also check the cd changer area at the back see if they stuffed the gps there.....how about access to those high rated fuses in rear? are they in the spare wheel area?

first and foremost will put the multimeter at the battery pole and see if there is a current draw over 50ma (think this is regarded as bad) see if battery is acutally draining cos i haven't done that yet, instead I just checked fuses for current flow whilst X seemed to sleep

The big fuses are in the spare well area behind the spare tire (at least on my 4.8is, the 4.4 may be different). It's a blue plastic box. Unsnap the blue cover to have access. Look at the picture on the first page, this is the fuse box.

Turbobimmer thanks, would you suggest I unscrew each wire whilst having the digital multimeter in series on the battery and see if i get a drop in current reading? am just about to pst another post with pics about some wires I found...but unfari to hijach this post