Rudy

The manual recommends not running two programs in a row without running the car in between timers. In other words, if you set the timer, it runs for a preset time then turns off. The time it runs is not enough to drain the battery.

I used to set two in a row on my E39 and never had trouble with a dead battery but I haven't had the guts to try it on the E60 yet.

I like the feature but my problem is I never know what time I'm going to leave work. My office is a remote control keypress away from the car -- I wish I could activate it remotely (yes, I can open the windows and roof from my office but the ventilation would be a nice addition.)

Desert530

I set it for two different times every working day. The other day I got in the car and I got this message "High Battery Discharge"
Nothing went wrong I just drove off and the message went away, I still set the auto switch times twice a day.
I was hoping BMW would have an option like the Audi where the car will ventilate itself when needed without me having to set switch on times.

JDN

I don't use the ventilation option at all for several reasons, but, at the same time, I don't feel the need for it. In Texas, we are into some really hot days now in the 100? range so the heat build up with a black interior is a factor, but the recovery of the AC is outstanding.

This AC seems a cut or two above the AC I had in the E39. No complaints on it either except I had to replace it at about year 5 or 6. One of these days I am going to check the temp coming out of the E60 registers. Anybody done this yet?

browellm

Yes, the system will deactivate itself if it feels the battery discharge will be too high.

Iceman

Yes, the system will deactivate itself if it feels the battery discharge will be too high. [/quote]
Correct. It starts deactivating more and more stuff to save enough power for a restart of the car. If the battery is low you'll get a warning message and you'll notice that your idrive needs a minute to reboot, since it was turned off completely by the smart battery control. There is a smart battery pole that controls the power management. My dealer had a lot of problems to install my GPS tracking device (similar to lojack), because it is connected to the battery and that forced the power management to save power and a lot of systems where shut off and I allways got a warning. Finally they solved the problem, but it wasn't easy. This power management is real smart !