Battery drain
#1
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My Ride: 525d
Model Year: 2004
Battery drain
Hello, got a serious battery drain occurring with the e60/e61 525d 2004, and any help would be much appreciated.
About 3 weeks ago experienced a flat battery, unable to unlock etc, put it down to possible leaving a light or similar on, charged battery put back into car, all ok.
A few days later same flat battery issue and sure nothing was left on, proceeded to test for parasitic draw unable to find anything wrong with the voltage dropping to near 0.050amps, they way i was testing was to connect the multimeter into the circuit between the negative battery terminal and the negative battery clamp, and each time i tested the reading dropped to a good reading, connected back up, all appeared ok. Later the same evening went out to car and i could hear and electrical sound coming from the engine bay, the sound was coming on for about 5 seconds and off for about 10seconds roughly and the gearshift illumination was off so i think the car was asleep, the sound was constantly coming on and off, opened bonnet and i think the sound was coming from the down the right hand side of the engine as you look from the front bumper, pulled fuse 2 out for the diesel burning heater/secondary air pump as thought this could be the culprit and this morning totally flat battery, this is happening intermittently and am unsure what could be causing this drain, any help would be greatly apprieciated, have connected to inpa and cleared fault codes and still causing problems, have tested battery with an act tester and all ok
About 3 weeks ago experienced a flat battery, unable to unlock etc, put it down to possible leaving a light or similar on, charged battery put back into car, all ok.
A few days later same flat battery issue and sure nothing was left on, proceeded to test for parasitic draw unable to find anything wrong with the voltage dropping to near 0.050amps, they way i was testing was to connect the multimeter into the circuit between the negative battery terminal and the negative battery clamp, and each time i tested the reading dropped to a good reading, connected back up, all appeared ok. Later the same evening went out to car and i could hear and electrical sound coming from the engine bay, the sound was coming on for about 5 seconds and off for about 10seconds roughly and the gearshift illumination was off so i think the car was asleep, the sound was constantly coming on and off, opened bonnet and i think the sound was coming from the down the right hand side of the engine as you look from the front bumper, pulled fuse 2 out for the diesel burning heater/secondary air pump as thought this could be the culprit and this morning totally flat battery, this is happening intermittently and am unsure what could be causing this drain, any help would be greatly apprieciated, have connected to inpa and cleared fault codes and still causing problems, have tested battery with an act tester and all ok
#2
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Couple quick questions. How old is the battery? Is your car auto or manual transmission? If auto, left side of Transmission shifter there is a window, with LED orange light, showing gear selected. With car in park and ignition off, doors/trunk/hood closed, the LED light should go out within 1 hour if car is not disturbed. If light does not go out, something is preventing it from going to sleep (all modules powering down). You are on the right track with your diagnostic approach of one fuse at a time with ignition off. The going to sleep check is the first step. These cars are energy hungry, my 05 530i has no fewer than 37 modules eating power. If the battery is more than 5 years old have it load tested. Let us know how it goes.
Last edited by jtbgonesailing; 07-26-2018 at 09:10 AM.
#3
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Many thanks for replying, auto gear box, and yes the orange illumination was asleep when i heard the electrical noise ive mentioned, and battery about 18month old and it has tested ok with an a.c.t load tester machine, thanks again
#4
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Don't see many diesel's on the forums on this side of the fishpond. Having said that, what error codes is INPA revealing?
Have you had the charging circuit checked? Also, how many miles on your car?
Have you had the charging circuit checked? Also, how many miles on your car?
Last edited by jtbgonesailing; 07-26-2018 at 09:34 AM.
#5
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50ma is a normal at rest battery consumption. The following comes from a BMW training document on power management.
In order to protect the battery, ideally the battery should be disconnected from the electri- cal system after shutting down and locking the vehicle. This, however, is not possible as the antitheft alarm system, for instance, must remain in operation or the control unit for unlocking the vehicle (CAS) must receive current at all times. Consequently, this means that electrical energy is constantly taken from the battery while the vehicle is stationary and a small current, the so-called closed-circuit current, flows. The number of control units that are supplied with current via terminal 30 (continuous positive) is kept to a mini- mum so that a maximum closed-circuit current of 80 mA is not exceeded in BMW vehi- cles. This measure ensures the battery does not suffer exhaustive discharge even over longer periods of time.
A fault code is stored in the DME/DDE if the battery current exceeds a value of 80 mA during the vehicle rest phase. The energy management initiates automatic shutdown if some control units cannot assume sleep mode after a certain period of time.
In order to protect the battery, ideally the battery should be disconnected from the electri- cal system after shutting down and locking the vehicle. This, however, is not possible as the antitheft alarm system, for instance, must remain in operation or the control unit for unlocking the vehicle (CAS) must receive current at all times. Consequently, this means that electrical energy is constantly taken from the battery while the vehicle is stationary and a small current, the so-called closed-circuit current, flows. The number of control units that are supplied with current via terminal 30 (continuous positive) is kept to a mini- mum so that a maximum closed-circuit current of 80 mA is not exceeded in BMW vehi- cles. This measure ensures the battery does not suffer exhaustive discharge even over longer periods of time.
A fault code is stored in the DME/DDE if the battery current exceeds a value of 80 mA during the vehicle rest phase. The energy management initiates automatic shutdown if some control units cannot assume sleep mode after a certain period of time.
#6
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Many thanks, have just read the fault codes, have got a few codes showing, on the blocks of dme/dde, shd/mds, and also on the klima block
#7
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If the car is in sleep mode, ie the orange gear selector is off, and there is something being or is powered will the fault memory store the car activity even though it seems to be or thinks it is asleep, also is every electrically powered device within the car fused, at present struggling to even identify the faulty item, many thanks JTBGONESAILING
#8
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What are the actual falt codes reflected during this last scanning.
The DDE should store a code if the battery exceeds a current of 80mA or more, while the car is asleep. That brings us back to the error codes in DDE...
Here are a few document that I still have as PDF files that are not in my iPad library.
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...2&d=1526135505
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...4&d=1526135505
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...0&d=1526135505
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...6&d=1526135505
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...4&d=1526175528
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...8&d=1526175340
Sorry the Power Management I referred to earlier is in my iPad library and I don't have the ability to post to the forum.
The DDE should store a code if the battery exceeds a current of 80mA or more, while the car is asleep. That brings us back to the error codes in DDE...
Here are a few document that I still have as PDF files that are not in my iPad library.
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...2&d=1526135505
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...4&d=1526135505
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...0&d=1526135505
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...6&d=1526135505
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...4&d=1526175528
https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/at...8&d=1526175340
Sorry the Power Management I referred to earlier is in my iPad library and I don't have the ability to post to the forum.
Last edited by jtbgonesailing; 07-26-2018 at 10:42 AM.