Battery Drain

[Rando047]

Hi Guys

Apologies if this question has been asked before.

I recently moved up to Gauteng, and my car(E92 - 325i Auto) had been parked off for 2 weeks or so and refuses to start.

I have a netstar tracking unit installed and the vehicle is still under motorplan.
I booked the vehicle in at BMW Midrand today and was advised that if the battery running flat was due to the tracking unit then I would have to pay in R1700.00 for the tests that BMW runs on the car.

Has any one been in/ experienced this situation before ?
and can I claim this amount back from Netstar or is the MP suppose to cover this irrespective of the cause ?

Thanks
Randall

 

[Philip Foglar]

First of all, winter is usually when batteries suffer and/or die. So for the car to stand for 2 weeks regardless of there being a tracker is already looking for trouble. I would invest in an intelligent battery charger (like a Ctek) to keep the battery topped up every now and again while the car is standing.

I would also have the battery tested at a battery place to see if it is holding a charge and its general condition before having BMW run their costly test.

Had to replace my car's battery towards the end of winter last year, but considering that the battery was still the original that the car came with, meaning that it was 8 years old, it had lasted longer than most and served the car well. Replaced with a new OEM battery of the same capacity and had it fitted and registered - was cheaper than most of the prices of other batteries from typical battery places...

 

[Ralf*]

First of all, winter is usually when batteries suffer and/or die. So for the car to stand for 2 weeks regardless of there being a tracker is already looking for trouble.

Yup Philip, I agree, two weeks with the winter temperatures is where the problem lies....IMHO

a regular "top-up" charge via an external charger will go a long way to alleviate problems.

 

[Rando047]

Thanks alot guys

 

[GPGrobler]

I agree,

If your car stands for 2 weeks without starting it up every now and then and running it for a few minutes, the battery will be drained. The auxiliary systems like the clock and radio memory do consume power even with the car off, even though it is only a few milliamps per day.