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High Battery Drain!!!!

61K views 37 replies 18 participants last post by  whatheheck 
#1 ·
When I wake up in the morning my car comes on with a message that says high battery drain. I took it to the mechanic the other day when it couldnt start. He check the alternator and said the voltage was too high. H then check the battery cable wires running from the alternator to the battery. He s aid the grpunding wire wasnt connect. He then recheck the voltage and it was nornmal when the car was off 12.5 then when the car is started its 13.5. I am thinking my alternator is going.
 
#6 ·
I don't think it's my alternator. Everything works perfectly fine. I don't see any dimming in my navigation screen. All my lights are normal. The message dissapear when I start driving and If I turn the car on and off after running for a while it dissapears.
 
#7 ·
I have the same high drain battery problem. This is my third time in the shop. First they blamed it on my hard wired radar detector which I removed. 2nd time they blamed it on my after market day time running light bulbs. Third time which is now my car has been in the shop for 11 days now at crevier bmw. They said it is on a battery draw test ( why should it take this long, i don't know) The latest news I got is that they think its my IPOD TOUCH that is causing the problem and they are trying to say the touch is not supported so they might not do anything about it. Getting pretty upset.:rolleyes:
 
#9 ·
Strange. Mine has been in the dealers for a few days now and they have NO idea. I was getting the problem every morning and then after NOT driving the car for a day I had a flat battery. They have NO idea what the problem is, just that the draw is very high but they don't know where to?! I'd love to see if anyone here has an answer to this.
 
#10 ·
I got a new battery in my car its not even a month yet. I know when my car was in the accident they didn't connect the ground wires together properly. Maybe my alternator is going but it shows no sign of that. Because when i got it out the shop 2 weeks later the car wouldnt start so I took it to my bmw mechanic and he fixed the issue. He connect the voltage meter and it was reading fine. The voltage was 12.9 when the car sitting and when it started it was 13.5. I am still getting the message.
 
#11 ·
I had a similar issue a few months into ownership, few years ago.
The car temperature would be warm despite sitting all night, and the battery would be depleted.
I took it into the dealership and was told there was a faulty 'module', whatever that meant.
The 'module' was replaced and I haven't had any issues since.
 
#14 ·
Mine has been doing this for a while and twice now I have had to recharge the battery to fix the issue. As it is 4 years old now, I am assuming it is time for a battery change. One interesting point is that the dealer says you can't put an aftermarket battery in the car. You have to put an OEM battery in and the dealer has to "tell" the computor thru software that a new battery is fitted.
 
#15 ·
had the same high rate of battery discharge warning in my previous E60, a 530i. replaced the alternator first, and also fitted a fresh battery as the diagnostics showed it wasn't charging the battery enough. a few days later, the warning message returned - BMW did some further testing and traced the problems to the main cabling that ran to the battery. once replaced, problem solved for good.
 
#16 ·
FYI, I am having the same problem on my 2006 E63 M6.

The "high battery drain" message came up the next day I got done installing a video interface module and car DVD player.
So I know the video module and the DVD player is the culprit.

So I did some testing and double checking and here is my conclusion.

On E63 and perhaps E60 car too - I discovered that power to the CD Changer, LCD monitor, CD player everything on Radio Mode is ALWAYS ON. Even when the ignition switch is OFF, even after all doors are locked, power is ALWAYS on on their connectors.
I checked & confirmed this using a digital volt meter.

I am guessing that it is the CAN BUS that sends a signal to command all the electrical module to turn its internal power off.
But again, the power to the connector is ALWAYS ON.

So when we hook up an after market part and use the same power connector such as power connector to the CD Changer, that power is always on and will draw power from the battery thus triggering the High Batter Drain message, telling us something is drawing constant battery power.

I have been trying for 2 days now to find a SWITCHED / ACCESSORY mode power wire so I can use that wire to power a relay, and the relay's other connection which I tapped from CD Player power connector will provide power to the video module and DVD player.
So far, no such luck.

I have two posts currently on going asking if anybody knows where I can tap either 12V Accessory Switched Wire, or a power wire that is tied to current sensing like the overhead dome light that I can use to trigger my power relay.

Anybody know?
 
#17 ·
Battery drain

went through the battery drain forever.....so many different ideas from the dealer. Finally they replaced the alternator and the battery and it hasnt happened in months. They used to think the comfort access wasnt allowing car to "sleep"
 
#19 ·
I am willing to bet a dollar, check where the previous owner tapped power from to power his Parrot Phone System, attach a volt meter to it and leave it on there for an hour, then come back, I will bet a dollar that the power to the Parrot system is continuously on.

I did lots of reading on M6board, M5board, the common denominator on "high battery drain" message is - an installation of after market parts.

The fix is simple: Find a switched 12V wire or a wire that is tied to the current sensing device, use that switched wire to trigger a relay that provides separate power to power the after market parts so that when the ignition switched is turned off - no aftermarket part is drawing power and the message will not return.

I have removed my video input device and DVD player power for 2 days = "high battery drain" message went away and never came back until I hooked them up again. Again, I confirm - power is ALWAYS ON on CD changer connector, LCD Monitor, CD player and Navigation Drive.

The quest continues.............

One smart guy here I am sure will find the wire we need. Its only a matter of time.
 
#21 ·
Just be aware that tapping into the cars wires, especially the glass fibre, may have serious consequences. My ccc broke down, and even though it cannot be proved by BMW that the after market components (dvd, tv etc) caused it, and they do tend to go bad regularly, BMW Munich had a look at it through their network, and they saw that somebody tapped into the wires, voiding warranty. I now had to purchase a new ccc (head unit) and a lot of reprogramming was involved (even the moon roof!). Very expensive. Be aware guys.
 
#22 ·
I've been getting the same message intermittently since October (no starting problems or any other electrical problems that I can tell though - so far at least). I've had the car into the dealer twice but with no result so it's going back next week and they will keep it in overnight. Mine is absolutely stock electrically, no iPod is left in the car, no phone connected through bluetooth left in the car so as far as your aftermarket add-ons being the culprit (although some may me wired incorrectly) I don't think all these can be at fault, it's just an easy thing for the dealers to blame when they have no idea what the real cause is.

This seems to be a widespread fault, and it seems wrong to me that dealers are charging you guys for analysis, batteries and alternators when it might be a design fault.
 
#23 ·
The problem is when electric components are added to the car and connected to continous power. The BMW system is so sensitive that it throws an error code. There is only a very small margin before the message appears. Now this does not at all mean that the battery will be drained and you couldn't start the engine. But it is annoying to have that message every day.

When everything is hooked up correctly there won't be any messages. I have a lot of stuff connected:
digital tv and radio, video interface, dvd changer, 2 screens with control module, an amplifier, extra subwoofer and it's fine. Just pray your ccc doesn't malfunction (see previous post).
 
#24 · (Edited)
That is correct. I read somewhere that BMW system has a tolerance of 40ma continuos drain and if that current draw dont go away after a certain amount of time - it throws a fault code.

If your car is bone stock, then its possible that its the current sensing device is going bad.
If you have after market parts, then as I suggested, unhook the power of your after market device and see if the message goes away.

M-bitious is correct, the car will start fine in most cases but the message is annoying.

And he is correct too that if after market parts are installed correctly, there should no error codes thrown as power is removed to after market components once the engine is in the OFF position / all doors closed and locked or tied power is shut down after 15 minutes

As M-bitious said too - be very careful with fiber optic connection. These are the green colored wires.
These are very sensitive to fiber break down or even dirt in the connection. Easy to have poor or inconsistent connection due to bad / damaged fiber or dirt in the connections.

I know mine and I am aware of this as I work with fiber optic connection on Boeing airplanes.
I am a Boeing engineer by trade. We do have fiber connection in the airplane.

By the way M-bitious - can you share with us where you tapped power from since you have after market parts installed and high battery drain fault code is not being thrown?
 
#27 ·
PLEASE!

That would be greatly appreciated as this is giving me a big headache already.

As a last resort, I will use the same wire I used to power my V1 - the Overhead Dome Light.
Power to the overhead dome light (before the switch) is always on, then it shuts down after 15 minutes / engine off (current sensing).

I am just hoping I wont have to run a wire from the overhead dome light all the way down to the A pillar, down to back of glove compartment. I will do this as a last resort.
 
#26 ·
Battery drain

i have nothing plugged into my car other than a Valetine One in the cigarette lighter and an iphone charger plugged into another cigarette outlet. And i hve spent 2 years trying to fix the problem. Since my new battery and alternator i havent gotten the message in a long time.
 
#28 ·
Then its possible in your case - it was the battery and alternator that's gone bad triggering the "high battery drain" fault message.

Thank you for sharing info.

i have nothing plugged into my car other than a Valetine One in the cigarette lighter and an iphone charger plugged into another cigarette outlet. And i hve spent 2 years trying to fix the problem. Since my new battery and alternator i havent gotten the message in a long time.
 
#29 ·
Me too

Got that message this morning, first time. Drove 20 minutes, shut the car off, then on, message gone.
Kinda weird that there are a lot of people having the same problem at the same time.
 
#30 ·
I did hours of reading last night. This is a common issue.

Summary: It could be battery going bad, alternator going bad, current sensor going bad.

But the first question always should be - what changed in the car before you get the message?
Disconnect that part - does the message go away?

If the fault message goes away after you disconnect the part - then that electrical part is most likely the culprit (drawing constant power)

You have any aftermarket electrical module installed?

Got that message this morning, first time. Drove 20 minutes, shut the car off, then on, message gone.
Kinda weird that there are a lot of people having the same problem at the same time.
 
#31 ·
Interesting Read... I have a 2007 E63 and I had the BMW IPOD controller installed and now I'm getting the message regularly. Wondering if the this is plug n play or if the dealer had to pick a power source? Is anyone familiar with this install? If the case is the latter I'm going to fix it myself as they seriously lack competence.
 
#33 ·
Batttery Drain Warning

I have not read every single post in this thread, however , I had this issue and it was cured. I had a Trackstar ( aka Lo Jack in North America) and every morning the car gave warning of high battery drain. The issue was a faluty Trackstar that was wakening up at random and then some of the car electronics wakened up too.
The Trackstar was replaced and hey presto never saw the warnng again. This was only after the dealer replaced the battery and the battery sensor.
( under warranty :applause:)
Stewart
 
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