XSeries-forum

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

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%.

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

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

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.

........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

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......

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

[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.

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 .

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.

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

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

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.

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.