04-08-2021, 01:31 PM | #1 |
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Remote start out of town
If one were to leave town for 1 - 2 weeks, and the car is parked unlocked in the house garage, will the battery drain?
If so, should I remote start the car every 3 days for 5 minutes or so? I can also open the garage remotely during this time. I read somewhere (not sure, maybe tech manual) the battery charging units should not be used on these models. 2021 LCI M550i |
04-08-2021, 04:14 PM | #2 |
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No, the battery should not drain. I went on a two month trip during winter with coldish weather and my car started up just fine after returning. Just make sure you have no accessories (e.g. dashcam, radar detector, phone chargers, etc.) drawing power from the car.
You can absolutely use a trickle charger or battery charger on these cars. I personally use a custom server power supply I made for coding and I-Step flashing and a NOCO Genius G3500 for maintaining the battery during long periods of no use. Another solution if you don't want to do any of that is to physically unplug your battery during long term storage periods. However, at one to two weeks, I wouldn't even worry about any of that.
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04-08-2021, 06:14 PM | #3 | |
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04-09-2021, 05:27 AM | #5 |
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If itīs parked in a locked garage, there is no reason to lock the car. My cars are always unlocked, since they are parked indoors anyway.
As already stated, itīs no issue to use i.e. a CTEK trickle charger connected either directly to the battery or using the terminals in the engine bay. But for two weeks, donīt bother. My car has been parked for weeks without being used due to working from home (Covid-19), and it starts every time.
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04-09-2021, 10:43 AM | #6 |
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OP - you will have zero issues starting the car after 2 weeks of non-driving.
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04-09-2021, 01:41 PM | #7 |
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04-09-2021, 01:42 PM | #8 |
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Thanks again everyone!
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04-09-2021, 03:36 PM | #9 | |
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Quote:
One caveat in regards to the highlighted text in the quote above...IF the battery is still installed/connected to the vehicle...then BMW DOES NOT recommend hooking up a battery charger/tender/maintainer directly to the battery. This bypasses the IBS (intelligent battery sensor) thus can cause messages from the check control system due to the IBS not knowing why a change in the battery's voltage occured. If the battery is connected to the car, then ALWAYS charge it using the terminals in the engine bay which are designed for this purpose because the IBS will then be "in the know" as to what is going on with the car's battery.
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Become a BMW CCA member! Click HERE to join and feel free to use my BMW CCA member #191509 as a referral. Last edited by Qsilver7; 04-12-2021 at 10:10 AM.. |
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04-11-2021, 10:51 AM | #10 |
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QSilver7 is right to emphasize that a float charger should only be hooked up to the under hood jump start points, the positive one under a red plastic cover with a "+" on it, and the negative one being any good ground point, usually a nearby bolt. Periodic starting and running a bit will not charge a BMW battery. The car needs to be driven to do that or left on a charger for a while. I regularly swap my 540xi and my Corvette Z06 on my lift (two car garage with three cars). In the winter the Z06 is up for four months on its charger and the BMW is my daily driver. In the nicer months, the BMW is up on the lift a lot, sometimes for several weeks at a time. If the weather is going to be nice for a good while I leave the BMW on a float charger like a Battery Tender. I am glad to hear that people have experience with not driving for several weeks or longer and still having the car start up. My experience with both my own cars and with the cars at our dealership is that more than a couple weeks stored is best handled with charger. In the winter at the dealership if the BMWs and Minis hadn't been run for several weeks they often needed a jump start. Better safe than sorry for me. Of course batteries also get old and can fail. After four years, my OEM Z06 battery was about done for; even though the Z06 had been on a float charger all winter, it barely started when I got it down last year. A new battery solved that problem. --Bob
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04-12-2021, 02:09 PM | #11 |
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Personally, I'm using the BMW charger to trickle charge and keep the battery charged.
Car is locked. Only thing to change on the BMW charger is to make sure it's set to the AGM Car program instead of the motorcycle/Li-On setting. (got the battery tender/charger idea from looking at the cars on the dealership floor) |
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