Diagnostic help

[marinaman]

Hi all
I have just got the INPA and set up on laptop, i thought though i remembered reading somewhere i need to have a battery charger attached to the points under the bonnet while using it ,  is this correct ?  i do have a charged up spare battery so if i do need it could i just clip that on instead or must it be actually charging as i scan  etc

Thanks

[X5Sport]

You are advised to have a charger connected as these beasts use a lot of electrical energy doing nothing!

My X6 draws over 60A with the ignition on but engine off.  My battery lasts 15 minutes and then the car shuts down.  I use a CTEK MXS10 in constant supply mode to keep mine going longer, and avoid keeping the ignition itself on for any time too.

A spare battery will work however a charger is better as keeping a second battery connected for any length of time is not really recommended as it could cause more issues and data misreads from the error log.  I believe it is because the battery has many times the capacity that a charger can deliver.

[marinaman]

Ok thanks for that info,  so if you start the car i presume you disconnect it ?

[X5Sport]

Yes to both (as in charger or second battery).  The alternator will try and charge both batteries and that might really confuse it...  :'(

[marinaman]

is it not better then to leave the car idling if possible to avoid problems unless what you were doing needed engine not running.

[Horizon]

[quote="marinaman"]
is it not better then to leave the car idling if possible to avoid problems unless what you were doing needed engine not running.
[/quote]
If I remember correctly, my BMW scanner 1.4.0 used to ask you to start the engine. I always keep the engine running whilst using Carley app.

[Upex]

Plus 1 on having car running if poss, or connected to a charger.

I recently freaked out big time, having run one scan, car crapped out during second, everything went off apart from a flashing left side main beam headlight.

I'm not ashamed to say I totally freaked out and thought I'd killed all sorts of computers and electric stuff, even told the wife to look for a new car and go get for it her the next day, only to find (via nice folks on here) that battery had got low and car gave up to save itself, bar the 1 flashing main beam light (sos/cry for help perhaps lol).

Having never needed to manually open the boot, I darn near gave myself a hernia lifting boot floor out and the battery out, over back seats!

[lezmtaylor]

Upex,
There is a pull cord to do emergency tailgate lock overides, it is on the tailgate trim near the floor on the rh side looking from inside car facing to the rear.
May be in the car handbook how to.

Lez

[Upex]

Cheers lez, sussed that (with help from the kind folks here and good old google) after having removed everything in a blind panic. Made everything much easier yo put back lol  )

Although mine was on left side (in car looking rearwards) just a few inches below rear screen (perhaps your talking about the lower half - I just did it all through the top half lol)

[kkx5]

No need for battery charger while using INPA.