Battery Drain - Solved
 

I went out this morning and tried to start my X. Starter just clicked. Charged the battery for 5 min with my Schumacher automatic charger and she started right up. Don't know what happened. Maybe the rear hatch was not fully closed or the radio was left on, I'm not sure as the last time I used her was on Saturday afternoon to buy groceries.

How could I leave the radio on? Well maybe the volume was all the way down but the radio was still on. I was pretty tired and could of left it on I'm not sure. My radio doesn't power off when you remove the key, it stays on and you can also use it without the key. When I went to start her radio was off but I have noticed that sometimes it turns off by itself with no warning.

Battery is brand new. I'm going to let the battery fully charge and see what happens. Incase it discharges again, is there anything specific I should be looking for as far as the power draw? (If there is one) My shifter light also does not turn off when she goes into sleep mode. It has always been like that since I got her and seem to recall other member stating that their X shifter light also does not turn off. Let me know what you guys think.


(Update)

Alternator is toast. Wasn't charging battery. Got no battery light in the instrument cluster at first. Battery light later started to flicker on and off when in drive. Light wouldn't turn on while in park and idling. Tested alternator by putting it in drive applying the parking brake and turning on a few things such as headlight wipers radio ect. Used a multimeter to check voltage and got 11.1 volt. Bad alternator.

BMWX5CHI hi
the light normally goes off after about 16mins, BUT have read it does not for everyone, only way to see if you have a drain is pull out spare and get to battery and wire up a digital voltmeter in the circuit (use a screwdriver to get hatch lock closed so the lights go out too, and just close all doors no need to lock) and wait 16-17mins you should see the amp draw drop on the meter to sub 0.05amps after this time........there are loads of sites on the web with pics on setting up the multimeter....officially the drain for an e53 shuold be max 40ma....but thinking of it now if you have a drain slighlty above this e.g 50ma and happen to purchase a replacement battery with a higher capacity than the OEM this must be a good thing as you are counteracting the slightly higher drain with a bigger battery (anyone out there please feel free to correct me)

My shifter light never goes out. I've waited for it to turn off in the past and it never did. I hope my problem was because of something I left on or open. Got the battery charging right now so I guess Ill try that if it drains again.

Just an FYI about the new gen radios...they can be operated without the ignition being on...and should turn off after a specified time limit...usually within the 15-17 minute time interval when the BUS goes into SLEEP mode...which only occurs after no calls being made on the P-bus after removing the key from the ignition:

TIP about KL R:
KL R = ignition position 1
KL 15 = ignition psotion 2
KL 50 = ignition start position
KL 30 = position ignition returns to after starting vehicle

So the radio would of turned itself off if I left it on ? What about the tail gate lights ?

If I do have a parasitic battery drain, what is the most common cause if there is one ?

Most parasitic drains are due to people installing a non factory item in the car and the boys at Best Buy are clueless as to the electronic in a BMW. Do you have a remote starter, paging alarm system, after market amp or HU, LoJack tracking device?

Other item that are factory related is a nav dvd spinning ALL NIGHT. lol JUST NOTICE THE ALL NIGHT.

Mine was the TCU and many people report the FSR.

Ha ha. I don't have anything aftermarket. I just checked the charger and battery seems to be fully charged. So at the moment she's just sitting in my garage. Last time I drove her was Saturday afternoon so she sat in my garage until this morning when I tired to start her up. The Starter just clicked. Battery wasn't fully drained as I connected my charger for a few minutes and she started right up.


My X is a base model (if there is a base model). It has no fancy features that I know of. I sat inside for a minute. Didn't hear any noises of any kind. I'm hoping this was a one time thing as I don't want the new battery to keep draining. I will see if she starts tomorrow. I will check the battery with a multimeter. With the alarm active and in sleep mode, how much power should the multimeter be reading ?

Does your charger have a 2 amps charge option?
if so,let the battery charger overnight at 2 amps for a couple of nights.That way your battery would get a deep charge instead of superficial caused by higher currents provided by the on board charging system.