Will open tailgate flatten my new battery?

[hiker]

Hi there - my 2015 D4 was in the shed for 3 days / 2 nights with tailgate upper & lower open prepping for drawers etc. New Delkor battery installed Jan21 by (reputable) auto elec - all good.

When I started the car to move it the dreaded "LOW BATTERY - START ENGINE" came up. Car started OK

Looking for input, please

Can the Body Control Module be 'tricked' into thinking the tailgate is closed? ( I have a GAP IID)

and / or should I just plug in a trickle charger to keep the battery topped up?

many thanks in advance!

cheers

[drivesafe]

Hi hiker, regardless of what caused the battery drain, put your charger on and get the battery back to a decent charged state.

Prior to working in your shed, how much doing have you done over the last few months?

[Macadamia]

most of the ECUs only properly go to sleep when the car is locked so it is well known the car uses more electricity when unlocked. Not sure if 3 days is enough to draw down the battery enough for a warning but would definitely be a contributing factor. If you'd be working in the car for a while, opening and closing doors, lights turning on, throw in a few short drives or just starting and stopping the car to move it - that seems pretty standard.

If I'm working on my car for a while I'll plug in an external battery charger. Grab yourself a bluetooth battery monitor and a charger to keep an eye on it.

[hiker]

Hi hiker, regardless of what caused the battery drain, put your charger on and get the battery back to a decent charged state.

Prior to working in your shed, how much doing have you done over the last few months?

Thanks for responding - car has done local trips, within 100kms

Interesting, though, after a 2 hour scenic drive yesterday, there are no wanings this morning.

have purchased a CTEK MXS10 just now to trickle charge etc.

[hiker]

most of the ECUs only properly go to sleep when the car is locked so it is well known the car uses more electricity when unlocked. Not sure if 3 days is enough to draw down the battery enough for a warning but would definitely be a contributing factor. If you'd be working in the car for a while, opening and closing doors, lights turning on, throw in a few short drives or just starting and stopping the car to move it - that seems pretty standard.

If I'm working on my car for a while I'll plug in an external battery charger. Grab yourself a bluetooth battery monitor and a charger to keep an eye on it.

Thanks! have just purchased a new CTEK MXS10 and bluetooth reader.

Cheers!

[josh.huber]

Did you open doors while doing it.. The bloody doors on these things wake up the car. 30amps mine pulls when you open a door. The charger is a good choice. With all the rain in NSW at the moment. I'm plugged in every 5 days for maintenance.. I've got a panel on the roof and a fridge in the back. My charger has Anderson plug on it so I can plug in mid week easily to maintenance charge.

More importantly where is the drawer photos

[Eric SDV6SE]

most of the ECUs only properly go to sleep when the car is locked so it is well known the car uses more electricity when unlocked. Not sure if 3 days is enough to draw down the battery enough for a warning but would definitely be a contributing factor. If you'd be working in the car for a while, opening and closing doors, lights turning on, throw in a few short drives or just starting and stopping the car to move it - that seems pretty standard.

If I'm working on my car for a while I'll plug in an external battery charger. Grab yourself a bluetooth battery monitor and a charger to keep an eye on it.

Imho 3 days (maybe even 1) is enough to drain / drop enough voltage to bring up that code.

Ive changed all interior lights to led, (save the one bulb in the drivers door puddle lamp, as otherwise the BCM has a hissy fit) to reduce parasitic current draw a bit, but waking up the ECUs is defintely a big draw on the system. I connect a charger if its a job over a day or so to keep the battery topped up.

[DiscoJeffster]

Imho 3 days (maybe even 1) is enough to drain / drop enough voltage to bring up that code.

Ive changed all interior lights to led, (save the one bulb in the drivers door puddle lamp, as otherwise the BCM has a hissy fit) to reduce parasitic current draw a bit, but waking up the ECUs is defintely a big draw on the system. I connect a charger if its a job over a day or so to keep the battery topped up.

I just ignore the silly BCM error for the door lights. Doesn’t hurt anything. It’s much like my never ending error about “lost communication with the EPB module” yet everything works fine

[Macadamia]

Imho 3 days (maybe even 1) is enough to drain / drop enough voltage to bring up that code.

Ive changed all interior lights to led, (save the one bulb in the drivers door puddle lamp, as otherwise the BCM has a hissy fit) to reduce parasitic current draw a bit, but waking up the ECUs is defintely a big draw on the system. I connect a charger if its a job over a day or so to keep the battery topped up.

??? I've changed all my interior lights to LED, including all the puddle lights, the glove box light, footwells, etc and I don't get any BCM error?

[drivesafe]

Hi again Hiker, you may want to carry out this battery maintenance procedure, to get your cranking battery back to a good health state.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/the-verandah/246755-line-auto-electrical-info-8.html