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Comfort access

Discuss your latest mods or ideas, and anything to do with the BMW X5 (E70).
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DIY-PETE
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Comfort access

Post by DIY-PETE » Fri Aug 28, 2020 7:28 pm

So I have been persistently getting the high discharge on the battery warning but although its persistent it also remains to be intermittent. I'm aware it could be down to the amount of miles I do as when the car doesn't move I get the warning, however I have left it for several days and not had the warning!!
I have also had a problem with the comfort access to the tailgate and not be able to gain access when the doors are locked. This has come up on the Carly app as bumper antenna, but this has been also intermittent (now it seems permanent ).
My question is, are these related?
I have removed the bumper passive access antenna (not too differcult even with the towbar taking up space!) to see whether the battery high drain goes away, I have also measured the reading between the 2 pins (read somewhere it should get about 4 Ohms) not getting a reading so I guess its shot.
Another question came up, what is the difference between interior and bumper passive access antenna's as it's only 1 digit different, is the bumper one more waterproof or is it because where it is situated it has a defined range (smaller or larger than the interior antenna's).
Enough rambling, going to order a new bumper antenna, but would still like to see peoples thoughts on this.

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X5Sport
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Re: Comfort access

Post by X5Sport » Fri Aug 28, 2020 9:35 pm

How old is your battery? If more then about 5 years it will very likely be approaching end of life. If it keeps going flat - or at least throwing warnings - that is a sign all isn’t well. If you aren’t doing a lot of miles to recharge the car then investing in something like a battery conditioner/charger may be worth thinking about.
:ant: Never anthropomorphise computers. They hate that.

DIY-PETE
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Re: Comfort access

Post by DIY-PETE » Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:44 pm

Hi, thanks for your reply,
battery not more than 2 years old and I do have an intelligent charger. I work shifts so I do rack miles up but on my break if I have a lot on at home the car stays where it is for a few days.
Having had a jeep grand cherokee I'm somewhat used to electrical gremlins but sometimes these things just defy logic.
I thought I'd ask about the relation of the battery warning and the bumper access antenna as they seemed to become problematic about the same time frame.

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Re: Comfort access

Post by DIY-PETE » Fri Oct 02, 2020 2:42 pm

Just thought I would update my progress on this. After waiting for my new antenna to arrive from Latvia and tested across the 2 pins it did indeed show 4 Ohms.
When fitted the tailgate was back to normal unlocking with key in pocket tailgate only, even problem with battery discharge appeared to go away alas only for a couple of days.

A new problem arose, one of my taillights (boot lid one) had gone out, think this had been like this for a short while, a guy in work had told me but took a while to get around to it. Anyhow I have took the trim off and the connector to the LED tail light had badly corroded, there we go that must be the draw on the battery, err.. no it wasn't, after repairing the problem was still there after a couple of days.

I also had a niggling feeling about my reply to X5Sport. it turns out the battery was replaced about 2 years ago. But on my other half's car, mine was nearly 10 years old!!
A new battery has been fitted and all appears good so far (about a week) used Carly app to register.

A thought about my question on the antenna internal/external being only a digit different although from appearance they are identical, my feeling is that the difference is in the logic when it goes bad the system is able to identify whether its the bumper or internal antenna, so you could possibly interchange but if there is a problem you maybe mislead involving unnecessary time lost in fixing.

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Re: Comfort access

Post by X5Sport » Fri Oct 02, 2020 3:43 pm

The difference is probably no more than the part number itself. Unless there is an ID component in the antenna assembly (which will then need power from somewhere or it’s just a passive device). The connection wiring back to the control module may well pick up which pin the signal arrived on and that tells it which antenna was the receiver. It could also be a diversity system. Not having seen a wiring or logic diagram I can’t say what or how it works. It may even be dual frequency with one active and pinging whilst the other receives.
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