What is normal current draw with vehicle off?

Does anyone know how many Amps a BMW X3 3.0si draws when the vehicle is off?

I have a 2008 AT, but if you have numbers from a slightly different year etc. I would still like to know.

I know there are suppose to be some systems that don't turn off for 15mins or 30mins depending on who you ask. I've measured right after I turn the car off and after leaving it overnight. Right now the car draws ~1.2A which I think is high, but I don't have a number to compare with.

Thanks

When they tested my battery recently (showed a dead cell) the reading was about 1 or so Amps after shutdown with the new battery installed. The tech said that was normal for my 2.5 MT 05.

Cheers

Originally Posted by bobbyjoe

... the car draws ~1.2A...

That's too much for any significant duration. For a few minutes after shutdown (and, perhaps, after connecting the battery) the car still runs a number of loads so you might have measured before it truly went to sleep. A 100AH battery would support a 1.2A draw for less than a week before it dropped below 10.5v and wouldn't start the car, too short.

I suspect a proper quiescent load would be on the order of a few hundred mA. You've got me curious, so I'll test my '07 and report.

I was close. My '07 E83 draws 150mA (0.15A) when everything onboard has apparently gone into dormant modes.

It drew 6A with the tailgate open (and, thus, a dozen or so bulbs were lit and some processors were surely running) which dropped in several distinct steps over a few minutes after the gate was closed - settling to, and remaining at, 150mA after 30 minutes.

The battery is labeled 90AH so, theoretically, the car could sit for 25 days before it would be completely discharged at that rate. I suppose there could be an even deeper "sleep" step; I recall on our '97 Cadillac Catera (an Opel) - a much simpler vehicle - that 50mA was normal.

Once asleep the draw should not be over 40milliamps or something is wrong. That is typical for most cars. However the new line of BMWs seem to draw more even asleep. I always use a battery tender when I don't drive the car for more than a couple days.

Well I had some fun pulling fuses to try and figure out where the draw is occuring. I thought I would go by that piece of paper in the fuse box and when I get the right group, the car would be in it's natural quiescent state... Of course things didn't turn out that way. I did manage to find a couple of fuses that when pulled definitely reduced the draw, but they don't seem to correspond to any *one* system.

For those interested:
With all fuses in place (those that exist): ~1.2A
Remove Fuse 41: ~0.5A
Remove Fuse 41+69: ~0.35A
Remove Fuse 41+69+43: ~0.26A remaining

Fuse 49 = glove compartment lamp (adds ~0.3A when you check if you don't close up the fuse box + glove compartment). I pulled it out cause I didn't want to have to close the glove box each time before I checked the current draw.

When I went in to check the current draw issue the first time, supposedly there was something wrong with the SHD module, and when it was fix, there was only 20mA draw... The tech seems to have done it by pulling fuses to check. Does anyone know the fuses (numbers) connected to the SHD (Sun roof) module?

So it takes exactly 60s after the last iBus activitys for all modules to enter low power mode. Current starts at about 7A with all interior lights on and is 1.5A for about 30s then after 60s mine drops to 82mA without the alarm set (LED not blinking) and 143mA with the alarm set (LED blinking). ~3 minutes later the current has dropped to 48mA without the alarm set and 105mA with the alarm set. No I don't blame the LED for the ~60mA delta. I'd guess the ultrasonics or perhaps another sensor?

Dear diary, am I normal?

I just spent 300 on a new jumbo AGM battery (the largest suitable for the E83) because the last one was toast after being dicharged too many times by the last owner. My alternator charges at 14.0V measured at the battery terminals which is OK by me but after a few days the battery is down from 12.7V to 12.2V and the car is sluggish to turn over. I'm worried its going to leave me stranded one day in the snow especially if I go on holiday and leave it in the lot for two weeks.