AA "Car Genie"

[ZZZZ]

That's the problem with having a cheap ELM327 OBD dongle (or a rebranded one by people, like AA trying to get on the bandwagon) - they are just too dumb to understand 'ignition off' signal.

I had a similar experience to what Mike described above - flat battery after a few days of having a generic ELM327 plugged in. Replaced the battery (was going to anyway), and now only stick that thing in, when I want to fire up the Torque Pro app on my head unit.

And yet, a high quality OBD dongle can sit happily, permanently plugged in, without any issues: I've had my Garmin ecoRoute HD+ (an OBD bluetooth dongle for a Garmin satnav) for four years in the previous car, and for over three years in the current one - never a problem.

In fact, it is hidden inside the dash, and the only time it's off, is when the Y-splitter is unplugged from the main OBD port - this will shortly be rectified, with a custom harness I put together, so that the main port is free, and ecoRoute is plugged in [truly] permanently.

 

[Dave Derrick]

Well my car has been suffering low battery problems & fails to start. I've removed the Car Genie & the problems have gone away. I've asked the AA to refund my garage bills & new battery, they are investigating my complaint. If you've had similar problems, reply here & I'll pass onto the AA, they may compensate others.

 

[ZZZZ]

Just to confirm, what I wrote above - the Garmin gadget is now nine years old, still working perfectly, permanently plugged in - that wiring harness I put together means I have an internal OBD port inside the dash (for Garmin ecoRoute), and two external ones - the original OEM port and another one ... so there's never a fight for a free port anymore