Increased Battery Discharge issue

Your welcome. I know our cases were a little different but I did get the increased battery discharge message so I wanted to post what happen to me on this thread. I was trying to find out more about this module they changed on my car and I came across that pdf file at e90post and when I was quickly reading it I saw that term 15 section and thought about this thread where you posted about it. I figure the more info we can get as consumers the better and this pdf is good info on how the electronics work in our cars. I hope it helps some.

Originally Posted by Bimmer4life

Your welcome. I know our cases were a little different but I did get the increased battery discharge message so I wanted to post what happen to me on this thread. I was trying to find out more about this module they changed on my car and I came across that pdf file at e90post and when I was quickly reading it I saw that term 15 section and thought about this thread where you posted about it. I figure the more info we can get as consumers the better and this pdf is good info on how the electronics work in our cars. I hope it helps some.

for all of us who have the "battery discharge" problem, at least we know we are not alone I still don't get it though, why it seems like everyone just accepted this "fate" aka "battery discharge problem". Definitely, I am glad you posted here for me and perhaps many others to learn about your issue.

terri, you have 2 fobs. Do you know where the other one is ? Leave your key fob in your condo and go down and try and start the car. There was a thread where the person's 2nd key fob was under one of the seats. I have never had CA so I don't know how a car behaves if a key fob is left in the car.

Originally Posted by mclaren

terri, you have 2 fobs. Do you know where the other one is ? Leave your key fob in your condo and go down and try and start the car. There was a thread where the person's 2nd key fob was under one of the seats. I have never had CA so I don't know how a car behaves if a key fob is left in the car.

Hi Mclaren, my 2nd keyfob is always in one of my kitchen drawers. So no issue with any keyfob in close proximity to the car. I will not leave any keyfob in the car cos the car will not locked. Not sure if you read my earlier post, I live in a highrise condo, my home on the 9th floor, car always on the 5th.

Happy New Year to everyone here!

Hi all, I am heading to Global Imports when the engineer is scheduled to visit there this Wednesday. As suspected, the dealership did not call me as promised but luckily I call them this morning. Will post back after I meet with him.

I had a battery warning yesterday. Digging in via the nav to the "status" screen, the recommended fix was to set my clock. Now I don't know why the clock needed resetting--though it was new year's day--and I don't know why the clock not being set would drain the battery. I set the clock last night and haven't been back to check the car...and my wife just drove off in it. Will check back.

Originally Posted by tmitmitmi

I had a battery warning yesterday. Digging in via the nav to the "status" screen, the recommended fix was to set my clock. Now I don't know why the clock needed resetting--though it was new year's day--and I don't know why the clock not being set would drain the battery. I set the clock last night and haven't been back to check the car...and my wife just drove off in it. Will check back.

Hi there!! Strangely for my case, I never have to reset the clock. Just monitor the battery and hope all goes well for your car. Post back here if you have this problem again

Originally Posted by beden1

My wife's '08 535xi has the same issue, as do all of the 5 Series BMWs in that year. I have had to use my battery tender on a regular basis to keep it fully charged. I charge her car's battery if I know it will sit for more than 2 days.

We keep the car locked in the garage which puts the car systems to sleep. I also found that where we were storing the key fob in a drawer in our kitchen was too close to the car and would not let the car systems completely shut down. This caused a drain on the battery. We now store the key fob in our house further away from the car and this has helped.

I think it has something to do with the alarm system. My 2011 335is does not have the alarm and has zero issues with battery drain.

+1!!

I had to Install a 10,000 lb Lead Encased Safe in my Home to Prevent that Issue!!

Originally Posted by terri_atl

Hi there!! Strangely for my case, I never have to reset the clock. Just monitor the battery and hope all goes well for your car. Post back here if you have this problem again

Hey Terri!
Any Luck?

Let's start a Support Grouyp for Disgruntled BMW owners with Battery/Charging issues--
We'll Meet at the Church Basement Right Before the AA meeting and the AC o A...

Now the clock in my 335 is losing time...about 30 minutes over two days. Weird! Taking it to shop next week.

Originally Posted by tmitmitmi

Now the clock in my 335 is losing time...about 30 minutes over two days. Weird! Taking it to shop next week.

I'd be interested to know if the cause is the same as this one:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=582111

Off topic: Why does this forum require me to wait 10 seconds between searches?

Originally Posted by sunny5280

I'd be interested to know if the cause is the same as this one:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=582111

Off topic: Why does this forum require me to wait 10 seconds beween searches?

It's a vBulletin issue. All vBulletin boards that I've seen do this. Probably has something to do with spammers searching for certain information.

Hi all, I am going to come back and post my experience with the BMW engineer later today. Just a quick note though, I dropped off my car and picked it up this morning, my leather wheel was scratched I have called them. The day has been very crazy, sorry for the delay. I am so eager to share this with everyone. Brb!!

I meant I dropped off my car on Wednesday n only got it back this morning. But I will want them to repair the scratched leather

This is going to be a lengthy post.. Hope no one falls asleep by end of my post (Ok, I confessed.. I can get too detailed in many things)

So I have posted earlier, I called on Monday and made an appt with my SA to see the engineer on Wed at 9.30am. On Tuesday, I was surprised to receive a call from the Service Director himself letting me know the engineer coming in the following day. Told him I have already scheduled with my SA that I would come at 9.30am. He seemed to have no idea I have already called the day before, but informed me the engineer would only be available from 10am onwards. I said I would come at 10am then.

On Wednesday prior to my visit to the service center, I was busy printing out all the visits I had, who I spoke to, what I was being told, etc and also a copy of the voltage readings I have taken for the past 5 days. I prepped myself for the battle.

Surprise surprise.. when I went to the Service Director's office, the engineer was already there looking at my file. I briefly explained the whole situation and he told the Service Director to go ahead and reimburse me for the battery. For me, it was not just the cost of the battery because I felt there was a problem somewhere (in the car). I have actually met the BMW's standard of "Battery Care" on Page 22 of the "warranty & service information" booklet. So why on earth this "Terminal 15 was on" kept haunting me and my battery was failing. I showed the engineer my readings of the voltage of the battery. It was 12.2V on first 3 days (idle, ignition off, no AC, no music), but on the last 2 days it dipped to 11.9V He asked me how did I get those readings, I said I went into the onboard computer and unlocked the functions. He said he wanted me to show him how I did it.

So both of us went to my car, I started showing him how I unlocked the onboard computer, his expression was amazed and very impressed. He went something like "Woah, how did you learn how to do that? Who taught you that?" So we had a conversation in the car. He asked if I have told my SA or anyone I live in a highrise. He said the SA I have is new, so he apologized that I had to pay for the battery, etc.. I told him I have been mentioning my living in a highrise (to everyone I spoke to in the center) which eliminate the possibility of the keyfob being in close proximity of the car, or my car not being locked or the radio being run all night. I also told him I specially went in and talked to the Service Director and he too said because of the "Terminal 15" fault, BMW will not reimburse for the battery. He said he would straighten things out with the director about this. He started looking at the phone that is paired with the car, which is an iPhone. I asked him why, if that is an issue. He said no, iPhone is perfectly compatible. However, if my phone is a Blackberry, there may be an issue because some times blackberrys won't let the car sleep. He said he would throughly check my car for any drain or anything not working. He said he is usually good in finding things like that. He said if he found no other problem, he might come to my condo building to run a test on the spot I parked my car. He said he had never heard of this particular car e93 has this problem but there could be a possible that some electrical in walls draining the battery. He quoted an example of a name (I suspect is a celebrity) living at Nashville (country singer??), she has this huge house. Her car was parked near some walls which have electrical wirings inside and actually drained her car's battery. I did not ask what model but it is a BMW.

We walked back into the Service Director's office, and the engineer started telling the director "she actually knows how to access the onboard computer, .. instrument cluster.." Of cos I have no idea what he was saying. All I heard next was "I bet 20 of your tech guys do not know what she knows". Wow.. Ok, clearly I must have done something right. Actually I am thankful for someone who has been so kind and patient to teach me everything I know. The credit is to him. So the engineer said he would like to keep the car for a day. I said please keep the car until any problem is fixed. I got a loaner, not complaining much cos it is brand new with only 8miles on it, though it is a very basic car.

On Wednesday evening, my SA called me and said the engineer would like the car to be driven with the voltmeter on it and someone is going to take the car home and run the test all night. My SA said this need authorization from me. I am not too thrilled but what choice do I have. I asked my SA if the car just going to be driven from service center to whoever's home and back. He said yes. I said ok as long as whoever drives my car is not going to take my car to the mall. He said that would not be authorized. He emailed me the form, I signed but put this "*only on condition no damage is to be incur on the car', scanned the signed form, and emailed back stating "Global Imports is responsbile for any damage(s) on the car". Ok, I am getting paranoid here, but can't blame me after hearing horror stories of how dealerships ruin/damage the cars. (I am right, my steerling wheel was scratched )

On Thursday evening, I called my SA cos I heard nothing from them. He said he was about to call me (I hope he wasn't lying). He said they find no other fault in the car. The engineer wanted the service center to explain to me in details what test they have done and show me the readings of the battery when I went to collect my car.

So this morning (Friday) I went to the Service Center. The tech guy who drove my car explained to me a voltmeter (think that was what he said) was plugged into the aux outlet, and the car was driven around. Think he said with the presence of the BMW engineer. The voltage was around 14.4-14.5 which is good, meaning the charging system is working. When he went home, he drew the reading, it was still good. He mentioned something about mills (Sp?) He said 80 is the magic number, anything below 80 is good. He said all the readings, the highest reading for the battery is like 20+..

He said he recharged the battery, I stopped him there and asked him if everything is working and charging properly, why the need to recharge the battery. He replied saying he was waiting for the engineer to come by, he just recharged it so that there won't be any problem. He and the director took me to a deck where the car was parked overnight. Okay, I didn't get it too, I thought the tech guy supposed to drive the car home and brought back in from his home to the service center. He told me the car was parked overnight with the hood propped up so that nothing disturbs the car and not waking the car up. Apparently even by opening the hood will wake up the car. He put the voltmeter with the 2 clips on the terminals, it reads 12.6V which he said is a fully charged battery. Of cos he has recharged my car battery remember? But well, he said to go ahead and opened the car door, and access the onboard computer.. so he was still taking readings and showing me the voltage readings actually dropped when all these things being done.. I told him I fully understood, but if I did the exact same things every time & if I see a dip in the reading, I will wonder why? I opened the same door, did the same thing and my commute the same everyday during that 5 days readings (they questioned the car woke up around same time but also depends where the car has been the day before).

So conclusion: they find no fault whatsoever. The tech guy has said the first diagnostic test came up nothing, so usually that is a sign for the tech people to look at the fault. For my case, he ran another test to specifically look into the car "manually" to find any fault. None. So their conclusion is my car is fine now. I did ask the service director and the tech guy if anyone has a theory why the "Terminal 15 was on". They have nothing. So I told them then perhaps let's leave it as a mystery for the time being. I did ask them could the walls in my condo building draining my battery or could some homeowners left their blackerrys in the cars n hence drained my battery. The service director said that may happen if the phone is paired with the car. And of cos now I wonder if something in other cars draining my car battery. could it be the DB9 parked near me or could it be the 328xl? Yes, I am going crazy here, hehe...

The service director said he would contact the engineer to see if he wants to come by my condo building soon or come by if I start to have the same problem. The director told me to contact him directly if there is any irregulairites occurred again. I called my SA after I got home to ask him to note in my record my steerling wheel was scratched and the service center is to fix it the next time I come. He said ok. I hope it can be smoothened n made less visible. My heart broke when I said the scratches. I was already driving far from the service center.

Originally Posted by x26

Hey Terri!
Any Luck?

Let's start a Support Grouyp for Disgruntled BMW owners with Battery/Charging issues--
We'll Meet at the Church Basement Right Before the AA meeting and the AC o A...

read my lengthy post The crying is for my scratched wheel.

yes, include me in when you start the support group. It is in a way comforting know I am not the only one, but I wonder why some owners won't complain about this to BMWNA but accept this "fate". I felt so helpless before I posted this thread here. I actually felt alot better after "talking" to everyone who has been very kind.

Same thing my tech has been saying to us about our '08 535xi since we've had it...everything is normal...we need to drive the car more...lock the car even in the gargage...use a battery tender.

The interesting thing is that my 2011 335is (I've had it now 20 months) has been sitting in the garage not being used for over a week. My wife's car was not used but once over the weekend to go to the supermarket. (She uses it to drive 6 miles on the highway back and forth to work every weekday.) On Monday morning, my car's battery is fine and her's was so low that it wiped out all of her saved information "AGAIN".

The only thing my car does not have that hers does is the alarm system?

Originally Posted by terri_atl

Surprise surprise.. when I went to the Service Director's office, the engineer was already there looking at my file. I briefly explained the whole situation and he told the Service Director to go ahead and reimburse me for the battery.

Excellent news. Did you have a new battery installed prior to the engineer coming on site or during?

Originally Posted by terri_atl

The voltage was around 14.4-14.5 which is good, meaning the charging system is working. When he went home, he drew the reading, it was still good. He mentioned something about mills (Sp?) He said 80 is the magic number, anything below 80 is good. He said all the readings, the highest reading for the battery is like 20+..

He was likely referring to the current draw which would have been measured in milli-amperes for this particular measurement. Amperes is the measure of current drawn from a source (such as a battery, which is rated in amperes). Milli-amperes is 1/1000th of an ampere. According to this information any current draw less than 80mA (milli-amperes) during sleep is within specification. Anything above 80mA is out of specification and means the car is drawing too much current in its sleep state which would prematurely draw down the battery.

Originally Posted by beden1

Same thing my tech has been saying to us about our '08 535xi since we've had it...everything is normal...we need to drive the car more...lock the car even in the gargage...use a battery tender.

The interesting thing is that my 2011 335is (I've had it now 20 months) has been sitting in the garage not being used for over a week. My wife's car was not used but once over the weekend to go to the supermarket. (She uses it to drive 6 miles on the highway back and forth to work every weekday.) On Monday morning, my car's battery is fine and her's was so low that it wiped out all of her saved information "AGAIN".

The only thing my car does not have that hers does is the alarm system?

Hi beden! So your wife's car run on highway back and forth each way during weekdays and once over the weekend to go supermarket? From how the service center staffs been "brainwashing" me, hahaha.. ok they said driving short distances will not be sufficient to charge the battery. I told them I meet BMW's standard of "Battery Care". It stated if car is driven less than 10miles (per trip I believe) and not occasionally run on highways (I believe they referring to 30mins), the charging system won't work. I need to add something what the engineer said to me in my next post. He said my 200 miles over 14 days is perfectly good. But the service center still loves to talk about the low miles in my car. The service director said even 10 miles per trip is not sufficient to charge the battery. I told him I got that figure from the "Battery Care" but if we all meet BMW's standard, no one should fault us. If BMW likes, they can be very specific as to say drive more than 20 miles per trip, etc..

Originally Posted by sunny5280

Excellent news. Did you have a new battery installed prior to the engineer coming on site or during?


He was likely referring to the current draw which would have been measured in milli-amperes for this particular measurement. Amperes is the measure of current drawn from a source (such as a battery, which is rated in amperes). Milli-amperes is 1/1000th of an ampere. According to this information any current draw less than 80mA (milli-amperes) during sleep is within specification. Anything above 80mA is out of specification and means the car is drawing too much current in its sleep state which would prematurely draw down the battery.

Yes, I did get a new battery installed 2 days before X'mas. The service center made me pay for that. But the engineer told them to reimburse me back on Wednesday when I first met him. I do genuinely like him cos he doesn't patronize me or talk to me cos I am from a gender group whom most know nothing much about cars. I like the respect from him.

Thanks for that info, I learned another new thing today. yes the tech guy said the car was sleeping and nothing waking the car up.

Originally Posted by terri_atl

Yes, I did get a new battery installed 2 days before X'mas. The service center made me pay for that. But the engineer told them to reimburse me back on Wednesday when I first met him. I do genuinely like him cos he doesn't patronize me or talk to me cos I am from a gender group whom most know nothing much about cars. I like the respect from him.

Thanks for that info, I learned another new thing today. yes the tech guy said the car was sleeping and nothing waking the car up.

I learned something new today as well: The specification for current draw while in a sleep state should not exceed 80mA. This would be helpful information for other people who are experiencing low battery warnings. It's an easy measurement to make.

Originally Posted by sunny5280

I learned something new today as well: The specification for current draw while in a sleep state should not exceed 80mA. This would be helpful information for other people who are experiencing low battery warnings. It's an easy measurement to make.

I need to reply to if it is possible to deactivate the car alarm when locking the door. I was told that it is supposed to arm the car and prevent theft after car is locked. So the answer is no. Then again I read 1 series has this original accessory, an anti-theft alarm that one can deactivate or activate it with the remote.

Originally Posted by Lufthansa

When you lock your 535, doesn't that activate the alarm, which undoubtedly puts somewhat of a drain on the battery just to have the clown flashing. I don't lock my car when it's in the garage, and thought (maybe mistakenly) that more things would be shut down than when the car was locked with the alarm activated. I would like to know, as I posted earlier, if there's a way to lock the car without activating the alarm.

See my latest post which I have checked for you. Btw I was told if you don't lock your doors, you not putting the car to sleep