I was working on my car and wanted to listen to the radio, but workout the engine running, it kept turning back off. Is there a way to do it, or is this just the crappy downside of a pushbutton start?

 

The power utilized by a stock vehicle radio (expecting you dont have 15″ kickers, a trunk loaded with amps and so on would scarcely be observable. A new and completely energized battery can run headlights (brilliant) for around 2-4 hours nevertheless beginning the vehicle (however it could chug a little).


Kodi nox

 

There is a simple answer: remote Bluetooth speaker

 

I wasn't worried about it running the battery down. My problem is with the pushbutton start, if the engine is not running the car will only stay "on" for a a few minutes then it turns itself off.

 

Yes, I can do that, but I shouldn't have to when I have a great sounding stereo sitting right there in the car. Every car I have ever owned I could put the key in the ignition, turn it backwards to "accessory" and listen to the radio. It was a feature I used a thousand times when I was working on it, or cleaning it, or just sitting in it waiting for my wife to come out of a store. Now, in the nicest, most high tech car I have ever owned that very basic function is not available. I mean, if I drive too long without stopping, the car will ask me if I am tired and need a break, then ask me if I want something to eat, offer me restaurants options along my route, then tell me how to get to the one I choose. It can do all of that, yet it can't figure that I might want to listen to the radio for more than 8 minutes (according to the manual that is how long the radio will play before shutting off). I am not against the technology in the newer cars, I know it makes them safer and more reliable, and I know that the keyless start is more secure. But, the fact that they got rid of such a simple, useful function is just idiotic...Sorry about the rant, but sometimes something irritates me and I just have to.

 

That was a function designed in cars when there were ignition points and condenser in an ignition distributor. They had to create a way to allow the radio and lights to be on without
the points arcing and burning out. Hence "accessory" and "ignition"
That feature was not carried out into modern cars, and MINI kills the power after 15 minutes.

 

Have you tried turning the radio back on without initializing the accessory function on the push button start?

On a lot of cars I’ve driven this can be done without the key. Not a perfect solution if it works since it will still time out and shut off to preserve the battery, but it might be longer than the time you’re getting now since the it’s only the radio and not the whole accessory circuit. Also, maybe some like adriancl or another member familiar with MINI/BMW software would know if the auto shut off can be toggled off by using something like INPA, NCS Expert, or whatever software works with the F series of cars.

 

Not only this, but a modern car's 'head unit' controls far more than just the audio - and that sum total *can* drain a battery if left on too long.

OP, think of it this way: your car is controlled by a computer - the ECU. Nearly a dozen peripheral hardware units minimum feed off the ECU's processing power - similar to how they do in a laptop. Run too much at one time, and the battery drains quicker - and if you've ever fed external audio or video from a laptop, it can absolutely wipe out battery juice in minutes.

Modern cars run a bunch of relatively power-hungry things on ignition power - older cars mostly don't. That's why audio shuts off.

Oh, and keyless entry/start is actually not more secure than some predecessors. Even if entry and start functions are separate (as they typically and thankfully are nowadays), a signal repeater can capture and amplify both - though the entry portion is far easier to capture with such a device. The more secure setup is no keyless entry/NFC chip-enabled start, which is, sadly, not an option on most MINIs.