Question about battery drain

[evilnickwong]

I should mention I've had no problems recently in resetting my service indicators.

[darrenforeal]

I have a follow-up question on the SI board. I have had a battery drain too like OP and thnk it is coming from the SI board. The service lights wont reset and it constantly has the little yellow light on even when the car is off.

I think it is an old one. I am not sure how to tell but the car is a 4/87 and the battery terminal on the SI board looks like it fits a AA.

Here is the kicker, I pull the board and there are no batteries. Someone has soldered wiring to each terminal on the board and the wiring led to the outside of the cluster and wasn't attached to any batteries. So if I had no batteries how'd that light stay on? And can I just get batteries and attach them to the wires? I don't really now which kind to get at radioshack. Do they just have to be NiCad and 3 volts each?

[evilnickwong]

No more feedback? But I've provided pics! :p

[evilnickwong]

Hmm update.
So I took out my SI board. It appears I already have a version with LiOn batteries. I can't find info on realoem about the part no. though.




So what does this mean for me.. are the batteries still bad? Should I get a replacement board or just try to find replacement batteries and fiddle about soldering them in?

[evilnickwong]

Not sure for you guys there, but here in my place it's really hard to get the more uncommonly needed parts like this SI board. And whole clusters are not cheap either. :)

[Van Westervelt]

The one you guys linked to is a used board. How is that a great deal?

[evilnickwong]

Hmm excellent. I stay in Malaysia, but I guess the extra for international shipping will be well worth it. I might try running without the board first, but I think I'll definitely spring for that SI board then. Thanks for the info dudes. You guys rock.

[StereoInstaller1]

Hey Luke, would this be the newer version you are talking about?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-8...Q5fAccessories

Also, I thought the board is necessary for things like the speedo and temp gauge, won't removing it screw those up?
If all it does is prevent the SI lights from working, then I'll pull it since I never use those lights for reference anyway.

Yes it is, and that is a great price IMO.

You can just pull it completely out, I know a couple of guys who have, but for $55 shipped, I would fix it.

[Jamesjwilliamsa]

Wonderful! Great idea! Please keep on doing this.. we are planning to make a small dwelling place and this GREATLY helps. Thanks!

[evilnickwong]

Yeah nice price for a new version SI eh. Is that the one I can use which will solve the problem?

[Simon S]

holy crap

that's a steal at $45 !!

[evilnickwong]

Hey Luke, would this be the newer version you are talking about?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-8...Q5fAccessories

Also, I thought the board is necessary for things like the speedo and temp gauge, won't removing it screw those up?
If all it does is prevent the SI lights from working, then I'll pull it since I never use those lights for reference anyway.

[StereoInstaller1]

OK back with updates. I managed to pry the Kenwood deck out just like FrankM E30 said. It was just friction fit into the sleeve. I disconnected it, drain was still at 61mA. I disconnected my ECU, drain still at 59mA.

Then I disconnected my instrument cluster. Lo and behold, it drops to 1mA. So now that I've found the cause, I need to know how to fix it. What could be causing the cluster to pull so much current when the car is off?

I dont see any lights in the cluster turned on and the needles are all definitely limp, so can't think of anything else to check.

That would be the SI board charging.

Replace the batteries, they are crapping out. Or, replace the board with one with an EPROM, or just take the silly thing out alltogether.


Luke

[Lof8]

OK back with updates. I managed to pry the Kenwood deck out just like FrankM E30 said. It was just friction fit into the sleeve. I disconnected it, drain was still at 61mA. I disconnected my ECU, drain still at 59mA.

Then I disconnected my instrument cluster. Lo and behold, it drops to 1mA. So now that I've found the cause, I need to know how to fix it. What could be causing the cluster to pull so much current when the car is off?

I dont see any lights in the cluster turned on and the needles are all definitely limp, so can't think of anything else to check.

Thats definitely interesting. I thought my drain started after I pulled my cluster to hook up the "vehicle speed signal" from the tach to my wiring harness after a 24v swap. I initially thought the drain was due to the vss wire I had hooked up. Every source I checked said that isn't possible as the connection isn't powered at all. Maybe I bumped/changed something in the cluster.

[Conster]

My 325iX had the same problem seven years ago; the battery will drain to a point the E30 won't even start. The BMW technicians told me it was an electrical ground causing the battery drain; they fixed the problem but didn't tell me how they did it.