Thanks.

I'll bring it back to my dealer next week. Perhaps he will find something wrong...

I've had this error many times. In fact, in both my new 335 and my X5, I've had the battery drain completely.

The X5 was the worst, as EVERYTHING is electronic, from the rear door (to access jumper cables) to the shifter (trying to put in nuetral to reposition dead car).

I've found that if I leave my Radar detector on, I always get the message in the X5. On the other hand, I can leave it on in the 335 and no problems.

My guess is the CD's are constantly spinning, as the radio doesn't seem to turn off. I've noticed that I turn off the car with one song on, and next morning, it's on completely different song. Who knows what other systems are constantly running.

ADVISE: Never use the climate feature that cools the car without you in it. It WILL RUN THE BATTERY DEAD.

Such a stupid feature - wouldn't you think BMW would shut down systems to save enough battery life to start your vehicle???

@ burnin m:

there is something wrong in your car. normally all systems are shut down
in a 15-30 minutes period after locking the car. even the ipod will be turned off...
is your radar detector wired to the car electric system (hard wired) ?
Yes it is as you post in the other thread. and you took power from the next suitable cable around, aha. In aviation this is called hot wired meaning when the device is on it will remain on even you shut off the rest of the systems. In your case the V1 thing blocks the shut down procedure of your car as the BMW controllers can´t shut off the detector and so the systems will stay alive (CD players included) and kill your battery !!!
Better get this "rebuildt" in your BMW shop. The bus system of the E70 is a totally new one, so you have to be very carefully when you try to bring non BMW approved stuff in.

So long

Christian

interesting!!!

guess I'll need to find an alternate source for a radar hookup!:confused:

drod, try to get a cable of the cigarette lighter up to the mirror, there are no control units involved in this (I hope so... never heard of it so far).
The cigarette should be shut down after a time period . You may test that, take an old lighter cable and install a bulb (Thats the word for light ?) at the end. Lock the car and wait for a while. The light should go out.
I had a Volkswagen Touareg before and if you don´t lock the car it will kill the battery in 2-3 days even with no external online...

Regards

Christian

This is a very interesting post. I have an E53 X5 and have the same sort of problems (occasional reseting of the date and time, etc.) which I am told are most likely due to battery discharge. In any case, I am amazed that BMW did not solve this problem sooner. Here is what I think they should have done/do: BMW currently sells a solar panel battery charger that consists of a placemat size solar panel with a cable that plugs into a cigarette lighter socket that slowly maintains battery charge (provided the car is out in the sun). My suggestion would be to make the entire sunroof (or panorama roof) have this solar panel and as long as the car is stationary and in the sun the battery would be fully charged. Anyway, just a thought.

This is the reason to use the switched source for 12V power IMO

I had a similar message when I first got the X5...for me it turned out to be that when I had my car in the garage and it was not locked(secure), my cell/bluetooth function would continue to function and it would be maintaining a connection to the vehicle...bluetooth can go for 30ft...if I locked the vehicle it would shut down all the systems including bluetooth

just a Q .. how do u activate or deactivate this feature ? everytime i switch on the engine , i see the AC starting up and its getting a pain in the a$$ , how do i stop this ? i need to warm up the engine without the AC running ..

thanks in advance :)

Seems like a common problem.. I have had this issue twice now. Dealer just put in my 3rd new battery today, but this will NOT solve the issue. I insisted on finding the root cause, which seems to be impossible judging from all the above posts.

There must be some electrical device(s) that keep on pulling power from the battery, even after the 15 min shutdown period. Otherwise, the battery drain cannot be explained. I have no hot wired connections at all, I never play the radio with car shutoff. I always lock the car when its parked.

Seems to be much harder to find the root cause because of all the electronics in the car. A shame that BMW did not test this all the way to the end...

I also told my dealer that I do not want to have my car back until they have solved this once and for all.

Will keep you guys updated !