chasing of e70 battery drain in progress
 

Ok I am seeing a battery drain when the x5 should be sleeping.
The alternator is charging but when you stop the car is discharges the battery at ~3 to ~5amps so overnight you have a 50%+ discharged battery. Sometimes the problem happens and sometimes not, I haven't worked out why.
I have removed all the CDs so the player can't be doing it, I have deleted all Bluetooth phone connections.

I have a TPM malfunction that I can't reset, and perhaps that is keeping the car awake and then it drains battery? Right now I am wondering if I need to disconnect the battery to get the car to give up on the attempted TPM reset which the display continues to say it is doing?

IF I do not resolve this soon, I am going to order a low voltage mini amp clamp and go searching, If I need to also get a logging dvm with that I will. Seems these cars like to drain batteries and I must tame the devil.
Stupid BMW has built a real complicated beast, which desires to feed the $service department$

Do you have comfort access? I have seen a few posts around describing issues where people say their comfort access handle is hot to the touch and draining the battery, obviously a short of some kind. Just a shot in the dark, here, but if you have CA I would check the handles.

Something should be warm
 

Thank you I will check, I do not think handles warm but I will check them all. I realize something should be very warm sinking those amps but haven't found it.

Thinking of coding the comfort access off since I have a Carly for iphone which I believe can do that.

Seems short in passenger door, comfort access?
 

The passenger side handle isn't warm but the metal next to it is warm and open the door and touch near the latch which is near the handle is very warm. Yep seems to be where the lost current is warming. So something in the door it likely shorting to ground what would it likely be?

I will see if I can code with my Carly and turn off the Comfort stuff, then the drain and warm spot should go away.

Comments please, am I right? really?
 

Status >>> Charged up x5 yety again after work yesterday, this morning I go out and start the car and see again "high battery drain" message. So something is clearly draining the battery as the car should be sleeping.

comments please >>> I conclude that BMW has designed a computer based charging system where the Alternator is not being allowed to charge a low battery on short trips. BMW has network of systems in the car like Bluetooth phone, like comfort system, like entertainment, Like tire pressure monitoring, etc. Any of these can stay awake if they have some problem and then drain the battery overnight. So if one only drives short trips and the X5 system stays awake draining the battery in a short time you have no juice in your battery and the x5 can stand you! If you have a low battery the x5 will go into transmission limp mode ... it makes a big clunk, displays how you transmission and has failed and you should drive careful and seek service .. very scary! With little to no battery juice once you stop the car in this limp mode, you can't even get it out of park to push the car to a safe spot. You need to use a special tool in your tool kit to get the car to neutral. .... do I have this right?

Alternator charging the battery and the battery drain are two issues, IMO. There are posts with suggested procedures to seek out the source of the battery drain. Essentially, you take the fuse out of the fuse box, one by one, until you identify the source of the problem. A multi-meter is quite cheap. I just bought one for under $20. With a quick search, you should be able to find posts from people who have already gone through this process. Alternatively, you can ask a dealership to diagnose. It will take a minimum of one hour, likely many more, to do a good job so that will be $$ expensive.

The drain could come from any module but again, the navigation system is a common source. Perhaps you can start from there first.

Good luck.

He already found the issue- he needs to replace the door handle component. IMO not 'turn it off' via software- DISCONNECT it.

OP commented on the comfort access yesterday. Reading his post today seeking more comments, it appears he is still searching for the root cause of the problem.

Battery drain is a nuisance for a lot of BMW vehicles. Looks like Mercedes does a better job in this area. Wonder why BMW is still lacking here. Sigh.

I think it may have been the sun, it hasn't presented itself again. The jury is still out. Ordered a low voltage mini clamp so I can use with my DVM to find who is drawing power when. I am considering the redfish idvm 510 as the right weapon to find the current draw ... More to come.

Will be very interesting to find out what it is exactly and I will post here!

BMW has built a complex system, they could have built in some debugging capabilities. Like how about the computer tells the driver when the battery voltage is dropping nearer to limp mode failure, instead of having it disable normal transmission functioning and putting up messages that sound like your transmission has failed! The car know the voltage and the water temp but the user doesn't get to see them or know of any impending problem til it is time for the tow truck.

Yes Likely many hours for dealership to diagnose and then likely they will replace many more expensive parts as they replace the one likely cheap wire that has a short. I will suffer the education and learn to fix type of problem because unfortunately I assume this car will have this type of problem again. If it turns out to be an old wire I will replace all the old wires I can and not wait to have the problem again. Learning the truth will be interesting and will likely help many here in the future. No wonder BMWs out of warranty have such a poor resale value ... the market knows they have way to many costly issues to pay to have fixed. It a great driving machine provide you can deal with the issues!

more facts, what does it mean?
 

I went on a trip for 6 days the x5 just sat, came back and the car wasn't significantly discharged.

The next day drove it 3 miles to work and drove home, I could see the alternator charging at 14+ volts and holding battery with 13.8. All looking good!

The following day I drive to work and see it holding with alternator putting out ~13.8. Then I go to lunch and see it showing 11.9 volts so no charging is taking place. why? after work I drive home still no charging with 11.9 volts. I hook up the 10 amp battery charger and see the battery is about 50%? discharged. Over hours I charge the battery up. Then when I use the x5 it is once again charging and holding with 13.8+

I believe there is a drain which takes battery down, seems like when the battery gets lower than 25%? down then voltage regulator refuses to charge the battery?

What do you all think?

I have a valeo regulator and brushes I ordered on ebay, I am now wondering it is time to pull the alternator and try replacing the regulator. I would bet a BMW engineer somewhere would know these symptoms, wish I knew him!

In ISTA, there are several test plans for diagnosing power related problems.It will pin point your problem area.There is even test plan for verifying alternator function.When you run that test plan,ISTA automatically turn on headlights,runs radiator fan at full speed and also turns on other electrical accessories. and then measures alternator output.You should try to use ISTA.

Could you point the way for this test on ISTA+?
I'm new to ISTA+ and this test might come in handy in the future.

Thanks,

Sure.

Cheers!