Hello all,

2005 Cooper R50. Been parked in storage for the winter. I go out once a month to start it and run it for a while. But every time, the battery is dead and I have to jumper it.

Now, I just bought it last fall and put a brand new top of the line battery in it, so I don't expect it to be a battery issue.

So - could I have some sort of electrical problem draining the battery at a trickle?

Thanks.

 

Do you lock the car with the remote? If not, there are always some things left on that draw some current. Even with it locked there's a little gremlin waiting to receive an unlock signal. Just running the engine for a few minutes will not keep a full charge on the battery, you need to spin that alternator pretty good, take him/her out for a little romp next time you need to make a beer run. Just starting it and running it at idle for a while more than likely uses more juice than it generates. The other less fun way is to just buy one of those chargers that maintains a constant charge.

Expect to catch a little grief for leaving it parked too but take it in stride. There are two diverse schools of thought on the matter. Our l'il guy loves to frolic in the snow.

 

I like Fly'n Brick's explanation, although I would have though it would go to sleep completely after some short period of time. Either way, a trickle charger works great and will extend the life of your battery. I spent about $35 for mine a few years ago, but I didn't have time to shop it. You might be able to find them cheaper.

 

Cheaper is usually not better, buy a good name brand charger like Battery Tender, one that's designed to float the charge and not just continuously charge it.

It's normal for it to draw down over a month or more, a good charger is the answer if you're going to park it for long periods of time.

 

I'm curious what ideas people have too. My mom's 2005 MCS drains the battery if it's sitting for more than a few days. I told her about keeping it locked, since it's usually unlocked when it's parked in the garage, so we'll see if that helps. Since hers is an auto, I noticed that the red P on the PRNDL stays lit...

 

Red "P" indicator should only stay lit a few minutes after shut down until the computer goes to sleep. Not a significant drain on the battery. The keyless lock/unlock receiver must always stay alert ready for a command from the fob and does draw a small drain.

 

A good battery maintainer is an excellent idea in this case. Even with everything shut down that can be, there is still sufficient draw to render starting after a month problematic. It becomes even more problematic the next time if you start it and just let it run awhile. You'd need to drive it several miles just to get the battery back to it's state of charge just before the cold start; then a lot more miles to get it back to where it was a month before that.

 

Thanks, all, for the replies.

I'll double check the remote locking.

But the rest of the replies seem to be variatis on the theme "well, of course your baterry's dead after sitting a month, that's perfectly normal" - which, frankly, I don't entirely agree with. Maybe in 1960. But battery technology is pretty good today. Sitting one month should do nothing. Heck, my dump trailer sits for four or five months in winter, then the battery powers the hydraulic lift in the spring like it was parked yesterday. And my truck sometimes sits several weeks in winter with no problem.

Still seems odd to me, but OK.

Thanks again.

 

Well, you can disregard what we're ALL saying if you like, but I thought you came here for information - everyone here pretty much told you the same thing. Believe what you want.....

Another thing you could do is disconnect the battery when you park the car, chances are it would still be fresh enough to resart the car that way, but you would need to drive it a good ways to get it charged up again, as Jim Michaels wrote....

The other issue with this is that you'll lose your radio presets, and it's like reflashing the computer - it adapts to the owner's driving style - so it would take a while to re-adapt.

 

Dave,

Honestly, I imagined I might be told something like, "ya, it's a well known issue with this generation that subsystem xyz draws heavily and drains batteries.", or "a common problem is that sensor abc dies and leaves system xyz on", or something like that.

Rebuilt and maintained enough vehicles in my life to know the generalities of batteries, and I'm sorry if I offend anyone's sense of expertise, but "it's perfectly normal for a brand new top of the line car battery to be stone dead after being parked a month" doesn't ring true. Now, when I parked my 1965 Ford Galaxie from Sept to December back in '67 and it was dead, that made sense. Batteries were crap back then (ah, acid holes in the jeans). But a 2010 new gel-cell unit? Not in just a few weeks like that. Like I said - same unit (differnet size, obviously) in one of my trucks sits just fine for a few weeks.

But - please no one take offense - I do appreciate the replies - tells me that this not some well-known common vehicle issue. Maybe a bad battery. It happens.

 

My battery is slowly dying. I had to call AAA Sunday to have them jump start my car. I was programming the Satellite Radio station presets and only had the accessory on for 5 minutes. My gauges have been making a weird vibrating sound sometimes when I start the car. From what I've been told that is a sign the battery is going.

AAA checked my battery and it showed good and the charging system of the car also checked out good. Is it true when the reserve power starts to reduce the battery is slowly failing?

 

Don't compare '60s Detroit iron with an '05 computer on wheels. All that '60s model had to power was a starter, lights and a radio if that. You've got more computing power in that MINI than the Mercury and Apollo space program had all together. He!!, your throttle is even computer controlled. If you are going to park that puppy for a length of time, do as everyone says: Take it out and drive it for an hour every 3 or 4 weeks, put it on a maintenance charger or disconnect the battery, simple as that.

 

I can't tell you what subsystem is draining the battery, but I can tell you from personal experience, that it's not "something's wrong with the car", and it is how they act, what they do. I bought an '09 and took about a year to sell my '03. Whenever I hadn't driven it for a month or more, it was hit or miss whether it would start - and that was both with the old battery, and a new one that I bought because I thought the old one might be going bad - even tho the battery company did a load test on the old one and it checked out fine. I had owned the '03 for a long time and it always started perfectly, when I drove it regularly. Charging the battery every couple of weeks, the '03 always started fine - not charging it, not so much.

That does not discount the fact that you could have something else going on, but I most sincerely doubt it.

Why are you so reticent to put a Tender on it? $35 and your problem's over....

 

Omicon Pie: Knowing the generalities of batteries seems insufficient justification for continuing to resist the intrusion of new knowledge; especially considering the help you got here with your previous battery problem.

While I'm still considering sitting for a month the prime suspect, a mysterious electric drain of some sort is certainly possible. I've read about several such cases, and they can be time consuming to trace. In one case (not involving a Mini), the owner couldn't start his car if it sat for just a couple of days. A mechanic traced the drain to the passenger window motor that remained on continuously due to a bad window-stop sensor. I don't remember reading about any common mystery drains in Minis, however.

 

One other thing to consider is that you may not have driven the car long enough with the new battery to get it fully charged. They do not have a full charge when new.

 

Brilliantly stated. May I add it to my lexicon or is it attributed to someone beyond yourself? Walpole, perhaps?

 

Fly'n Brick: That's partly borrowed from a college professor's statement to the effect that "some students seem to have an infinite capacity to resist the intrusion of knowledge." I can't remember where I read it (probably decades ago), but I liked it so much that I wrote it down.

 

Ya, that was possible - but it drove a good 60 miles on the new battery before parking. Of course, I didn't put a voltmeter on it afterward to check that the alternator was actually charging - but I assume this computer on wheels would have been smart enough to tell me if there was a charging problem.

 

Ah - the plot thickens.

MiniDave once had the exact same suspicions - that finding his battery empty after parking for a few weeks meant there was a problem, maybe a bad battery.

It's the presence of significant electronics that draw even when parked.

It's how they act, what they do.

But it's not how all modern vehicles act. My late model trucks sit just fine, no problem, just like my toy truck ('79 F250).

So, in absence of evidence of something exceptional like Jim's window sensor story (good one, thanks), one could conclude for future reference: the Mini Cooper, like some but not all modern vehicles, drains even new, good quality batteries in a matter of weeks with their many stand-by systems. Unlike many other modern vehicles, you cannot expect to park the Mini Cooper for a month without draining the battery.

Yes, it's important not to resist new knowledge obstinantly - but it's equally imporant to evaluate information presented as knowledge critically. Doesn't mean the info isn't appreciated. Sheesh.

 

So what do we do if we leave our cars parked for an extended period of time. I dont want to not arm the alarm just because I am afraid of getting a dead battery.

 

Are you going to be parked near an electrical outlet? If so you can hardwire your Battery Tender to the battery then all you have to do is plug it in. When you come back, the battery will be fully charged and ready to go, and your alarm will still be on as normal. Unplug, drive away.......

 

Checkmate: To summarize: (1) Use a battery maintainer if you're leaving it someplace that has an electrical outlet, such as a garage; or (2) disconnect the battery. Otherwise, one can only insure that the battery is fully charged before sitting, and that any electrical draws that can be shut down have been. Hopefully, there will still be enough juice for a start when you return.

Starting the car every few weeks and letting it idle for a while will not charge the battery due to the low rpms at idle. Going for a long drive instead will help recharge the battery. How long a drive is needed to fully recharge depends on how much discharge occurred while the car was sitting.

 

If there has been an IPOD connector to 3.5mm cable adapter added, or an IPOD device is left on the end of the IPOD cable before the radio is
physically turned off via its control **** while the car is still on, then this is the problem! The radio does not enter the "sleep" state properly
and keeps alive / stays on even when the car is off (although the radio does not appear on). There is a known defect with the Alpine radios that
keeps draining battery power!
As a temp fix, the radio must be turned off with the car still on AND THEN either the IPOD device disconnected from the IPOD pigtail, or the 3.5
adapter disconnected from the radio's IPOD pigtail before the car is turned off & key taken out of the ignition. An updated Alpine CD53 player is
supposed to be available from the manufacture by now. Affects R50, 52 & 53……Technical Service Bulletin reference # M6520005 issued January 14, 2005
addresses this. It is a known problem. See: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ain-since-ipod-
installation.html
I had noticed that every time the car was dead, for some strange reason when I got inside, only the radio kept its settings while everything else had
lost its settings / memory.