Battery

[kena]

HI folks,
How long will the battery last on my X if left unattended.
I am going back to Norway to work again and I plan on leaving the X in the long stay car park at the airport.
It will be left unattended for 3 weeks at a time.
Will it be OK with the alarm active for that length of time.
My battery is fairly new, supplied by the main dealer less than a year ago.
The last thing I want is to come back to a flat battery.

cheers

[Denis O]

I leave mine regularly for up to 6 weeks at a time and it always fires up immediately so I wouldn't worry about 3 weeks.

If you are concerned you could get something like a C-Tek battery conditioner and leave that attached. I have one on my boat and the battery is always 100%.

[kena]

Cheers Dennis O
the longest I have left it for is 10 days

[shadrack]

i left mine in airport for a while recently and it fired straight up luckily (was 2am)

[AW8]

Ideally beforehand you could.................

Ensure batttery is properly charged with a decent charger/conditioner such as a C-Tek.

Scan with a code reader to ensure no faults that may cause a drain, (such as a defective aux fan).

I haven't used a dashmounted cigarette lighter solar charger before & thus dont wish to advise........be careful to avoid immobiliser conflict issues if going down that route.

[AW8]

........I have just trawled a 2006/7 accessories brochure for the E53 & found solarius dash mount cigarette lighter powered charger part number 82300143365 - never used one or anything similar.

I would also advise you keeping a decent set of jump leads handy in event you still have a problem on return to the car. If you trawl my posts or use search faility you will find reference to the silverline leads myself & others bought. Great leads & for a fraction of price compared to other leads of similar spec/thickness/quality.

HTH

[X5Sport]

I did once have a copy of the BMW Battery Maintenance procedure as used by US Dealers with cars in the showroom. If memory serves, it suggested that batteries should need nothing doing for a month. Given that is going to include punters and their children etc crawling all over the car, pushing buttons (just to see) etc then a car left in a car park ought to last at least that long.

A lot will also depend upon the age and condition of the attery itself. The older it is, the less well it will take and hold a charge. I have had a battery go three weeks with no issue, but the same car and battery in colder weather be dead in a week! Oh the joys of chemistry and physics eh......

[dirtymonkey29]

Don't these airport carparks have booster packs in case of flat batteries?

[Hammy]

[quote=""dirtymonkey29""]Don't these airport carparks have booster packs in case of flat batteries?[/quote]

I used to manage the long stay car park at Heathrow Terminal 4 and we had one, plus a couple of sets of jump leads.

[amacman]

I parked X5 in a cold garage from end of October 2010 until 1st January 2011 , 2 months at minus 18 c and it started no problem .seriously it was that cold constantly .
kids complained of freezing seats though .
battery was new mid 2009 .

[kena]

Thanks fo all the info.
So it looks like I should be OK. Like I said earlier my battery is less than a year old, supplied by the dealer.

[pvr]

How about taking a taxi to the airport? That is what I always do ...

[IanP]

3 weeks in Newcastle(?) long stay. Think I would be getting a taxi

[kena]

I was waiting for the taxi replies.
A couple of times when I have been on the 6am flight they have turned up late.
Making it very very close to me missing my flight.
There's only one decent taxi company near me which I used to use all the time but they are a small company and have quite a few corporate clients. A couple of times they have left me stranded at the airport for an hour or so when they have had a call from these.
So now I would much rather rely on myself.
And it's actually cheaper to leave the car than what the taxis charge.

[X5Sport]

Is there no one like Purple Parking near te airport? Might be even cheaper and they usually run shuttle buses about. No idea which airport you are using.

I know what you mean about Taxi's both from letting me down and the cost - especially for an unusual flight time.