[samaln]

Hi everyone...I have a 2011 535 Xdrive and had a battery warning show up on the I-Drive stating battery level low and to either keep driving to charge the battery or charge the battery to an external source.

No lights or anything were left on and wanted to get your opinion as I am pretty nervous about this. I live in Syracuse, NY and right now its 7 below zero so I am kind of hoping maybe the discharge is just due to the cold weather? I park in a garage every night but today the car was outdoors for about 3 hours.

When I got home I hooked it up to a battery charger at 2 volts for a slow trickle charge.

Your opinions are appreciated!

[cdmulders]

I had the exact same error message yesterday, and it was similarly cold here in Canada. This type of problem is occasionally discussed in other threads, and consensus is that BMWs use quite a bit of electric power to run the many computers, electronics, and other amenities. Throw in cold weather (and resultant cold battery with reduced capacity), turn on the heated seats, heated steering wheel, and rear defroster, and the current draw is more that the car makes and/or stores, particularly when your commute is short and rpms are low from stop&go traffic. My solution (which has worked every time for me) is to drive to work with the transmission in 'Sport' mode (by moving the shifter to the left). This keeps the rpms higher, and charges the battery more quickly during the commute. I only have to do this when the temperature falls below approx -20C / -4F, and today my error message disappeared without having to do anything else. Give it a try and maybe you won't have to trickle-charge your battery next time.

[samaln]

Thanks for the info!

Originally Posted by cdmulders

I had the exact same error message yesterday, and it was similarly cold here in Canada. This type of problem is occasionally discussed in other threads, and consensus is that BMWs use quite a bit of electric power to run the many computers, electronics, and other amenities. Throw in cold weather (and resultant cold battery with reduced capacity), turn on the heated seats, heated steering wheel, and rear defroster, and the current draw is more that the car makes and/or stores, particularly when your commute is short and rpms are low from stop&go traffic. My solution (which has worked every time for me) is to drive to work with the transmission in 'Sport' mode (by moving the shifter to the left). This keeps the rpms higher, and charges the battery more quickly during the commute. I only have to do this when the temperature falls below approx -20C / -4F, and today my error message disappeared without having to do anything else. Give it a try and maybe you won't have to trickle-charge your battery next time.

[BMWrules7]

Originally Posted by samaln

Hi everyone...I have a 2011 535 Xdrive and had a battery warning show up on the I-Drive stating battery level low and to either keep driving to charge the battery or charge the battery to an external source.

No lights or anything were left on and wanted to get your opinion as I am pretty nervous about this. I live in Syracuse, NY and right now its 7 below zero so I am kind of hoping maybe the discharge is just due to the cold weather? I park in a garage every night but today the car was outdoors for about 3 hours.

When I got home I hooked it up to a battery charger at 2 volts for a slow trickle charge.

Your opinions are appreciated!

Plus, bmw monitors the battery and attempts to determine its condition.

If cars from 1960,1970,1980,1990,2000, and 2010 all had battery monitors then you would see the same errors when it's really cold.

It's not that bmw batteries are inferior or BMWs soak up way more juice. It's that the battery is monitored.

[crmgr]

Same message here last week when it hit 11 below on my 2011 M-Sport. Hooked it up to the my charger and I have not had a repeat. Chalked it up to the extreme temp. and shorter trips during the cold spell.

[GooseInOz]

Same issue here, especially when it's cold. I've also assumed that my remote starter system is an additional source of drain on the battery when it's parked. My solution -- however imperfect -- has been to put it on the battery charger at least once per week. Usually, Sunday night is charging night. Take it off on Monday morning and I'm good to go.

Pretty silly to have to do this...my wife with her Lexus thinks it's absurd...but guess it'st the price I pay for not wanting to drive a ricer.