[eliteimporter]

Morning Guys

This may sound like a silly question but i am installing a micro amp in the glove box area which was recommended on this forum using a T-Harness, i just wanted to check to see if the battery needs to be disconnected before removing and reinstalling the cables. The main reason im asking as ive seen posts saying the battery shouldnt be disconnected for too long so just want to be on the safe side to avoid any issues.

Thanks in advance

[NealfromNZ]

When doing audio system always disconnect the battery. At best if you don’t it will be ok. At worst, miss align the idrive qualock connector and short the inputs with power you will brick the unit.

But tie a rag around the trunk catch so it can’t close whilst the battery is disconnected.

There’s no issue with having the battery disconnected for a length of time. But dropping power does mean you may need to reset your car preferences in idrive if you haven’t saved these to a profile.

Had my car battery disconnected for over a week if that helps . Only module that will run is the ATM / SOS which has a backup battery. This will recharge when power is restored.

[Arthurrs]

An additional consideration for disconnecting the car's battery is when you do work in close proximity to any airbag. If you're working on the dash around the glovebox, you have two airbags, one above, and one below the glovebox compartment. Even if you avoid messing around with these areas, there is enough juggling of wiring and vehicle trim to trigger one of these inadvertently, making for a very bad day for you. Disconnect the battery. Wait 5-10 minutes, much safer.

Just curious what micro amp you chose? I'm pretty impressed with the newer micro amps from Match/Audiotec Fischer.

[Billfitz]

Unless you really, really know what you're doing disconnect the battery negative before doing any electrical work.

ive seen posts saying the battery shouldnt be disconnected for too long

Posted by those who don't know what they're doing. All of the memory in the car is non-volatile. Worst case you may have to reset the clock.

[eliteimporter]

So I disconnected the battery in the end to be on the safe side. Installed the amp and everything had been working fine. Since installing the amp and reconnecting the battery I have not been able to reset the time and date. I’ve updated it on the drive but it does not update once change in the settings the time does not display on the dashboard and instead just shows 4 dashes. Before uninstalling the amp and putting it back to standard does anyone know of a fix?

I read somewhere that you just need to disconnect the battery for 45 mins and then reconnect it as this should fix the issue but I’ve had no luck. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Billfitz]

It may take a stop/start cycle or two.

[Arthurrs]

I experience the same clock amnesia with my bmw, usually what I do is toggle off/on the switch to allow time set from GPS/Connected Drive.

[NealfromNZ]

Originally Posted by eliteimporter

So I disconnected the battery in the end to be on the safe side. Installed the amp and everything had been working fine. Since installing the amp and reconnecting the battery I have not been able to reset the time and date. I’ve updated it on the drive but it does not update once change in the settings the time does not display on the dashboard and instead just shows 4 dashes. Before uninstalling the amp and putting it back to standard does anyone know of a fix?

I read somewhere that you just need to disconnect the battery for 45 mins and then reconnect it as this should fix the issue but I’ve had no luck. Any advice would be appreciated.

See if this link is useful. I Normally uncheck and check update automatically where the car will get time over 4g from the BMW servers. Suspect if you uncheck update automatically you should be able manually add time.

Personally I need to take my car out of garage as mobile data reception at home is poor with minimal signal for the time update.

https://youtu.be/NDhosjWuqj4?si=KUXjLUKiVDlM1bO-