Battery dying

[Iliveforthis]

hey guys just wondering if this has come up, i was thinking about it today: for those with nav or just the ipod cable that charges ur ipod and plays outloud.... if you plug ur ipod in and play it, then turn the car off and walk away... it doesnt drain your battery right? cause everything is off? just wanted to check and make sure... i could be wrong.... any input is appreciated

[imdanomite]

if you're using the OE ipod system, then no, it shouldn't cause a draw. is your battery dying?

[Year1of1]

i leave my ipod plugged into the OE system 24'7 with no issue

[bman6074]

The cigarette lighters (power sockets) are turned off when you turn the car off. I wish they were left on to charge my phone when left in the car. An ipod or phone would take a long time to drain the battery especially since once it’s charged I don't think it draws as much power anymore.

[imdanomite]

^^you'd be surprised how many cars i get with a cig. lighter power adaptors that cause a draw. a slight increase in amperage will keep the car from going into "sleep" mode.

[MOCKBA]

My Z4 had a bug, if you turn engine off but didn't disconnect BT call, the system remains powered and can drain battery. I believe the problem was fixed by BMW 2 years ago, so no way to drain your battery, except...

When I was buying my 135, it was floor demo, and they jump started it to give it me, since battery was dead. However I have no problems with battery after, I do not know why.

[jeremyc74]

It would take about a year for an iPod to drain the battery in a 135i to the point where it wouldn't start the car. It's not a concern.

[Mad Dragon]

The problem there is the iPod isn't the only draw. If -for whatever reasons- the iPod stays on when the car is off, the car will not go into sleep mode. That will kill a battery relatively quickly.

[imdanomite]

yea, if the car doesn't enter sleep mode, it'll definately kill the battery. i think maximum allowable draw for the 1 series is about 50mA. keeping the car awake would be well over that.

but, in the OP's situation, a factory iPod or USB SHOULD NOT cause a draw (unless it was retrofitted and the installer did something wrong). if your battery is dying, it maybe something else.

[1Ronnie]

To the OP, no it won't drain the battery. The basic flow from what I have seen is that the car will stop the music playing when you lock the doors. After about 3 minutes the power will be dropped to the USB port, at this time the iPod should go into Standby, as their is no power supply, nor music playing. As soon as you unlock the door, you should see the power restored to the iPod, and then the iPod should be ready to play as soon as you hit the Start button.

What I have seen is the occasional bug where the iPod doesn't shut itself down. This should not cause the USB port to continue to power the iPod, instead the iPod will eventually run out of power, at which point, when you restart the car, it will not keep playing from where you left off. A Hard Reset can be useful to stop the iPod doing this.

I have not seen a case where having the iPod connected to the USB port, while the car is off has prevented the car going into sleep mode. A device on a USB prt can not "request" power. If you consider the case of a USB stick/HDD, they have no intelligence as to whether to draw power or not ... they just do if it is there, and they definately go off when the car drops power to the USB port.

[Iliveforthis]

thanks for all the input guys, anyway- no my battery isnt dying, i'm just a little paranoid about my 1er and wanna make sure its okay when i walk away and make sure i dont come back to a car with no power.