Battery drain R230 - Comand not going into sleep mode?

[gramey]

I have a slight problem with my newly acquired R230 SL350 in so much as something is draining the consumer battery. I believe it to be the Comand unit as despite the engine being switched off there is a fan or something whirring away behind this even after you've locked the car and left it for an hour or more.
I've have tried desperately searching the internet, this forum included, trying to find a way to shut this down but so far with no success. I pulled what I believe were fuses 57 & 77 which should cut it off, but with no apparent numbering on the fuses it may have been the wrong ones. That said I pulled a few of the others as well, but that didn't work and I didn't want to pull the high amp ones in case I did any damage.
I'm sure someone else has suffered this, there seem to be several posts relating to battery drain on R230's, but can anyone who has please tell me exactly where to find the correct fuse/fuses to shut it down?
The car is booked in for a diagnostic check but they can't look at it for a week so if there's a simple fix, as in cutting the power as you do with your Sky box, I would love to know.

 

[Submariner1]

On mine, after a drive. When you switch it off, the fan in the Amplifier is designed and will run on for a minute or two.

If I have switched Command off ( the button on the Console ) then this doesnt happen .. as one would expect.
Can you switch off Comand on the console.
Think its a roller switch that depresses, sorry cant check as car is at the Dealers.

I didnt understand what you mean by ... no fuse numbering.
All mine have a printed no. On the fuse box, next to the fuse.
Remember you might have Comand fuses and Amplifier Fuses. Well mine does.
Note on the wiring diagram it call the Amp/AGW a number like X32/9 (btw thats the wrong number just an example)
The fan on mine was either 140mA or 200mA.
Thats 14.4AH ... enough to make her a non-starter in 3 days?

You also dont want that fan buggered, as its not screwed on but has flange tabs securing it. Huge pressure must have been applied to squeeze the tab flat after inserting the fan. Not a DIY replaceable part.
And I doubt you could buy the top of the Amp as a component.

Do you have the Genuine as delivered Fuse Chart?

Note the Amp fuse on mine was 40 or 50A sorry cant remember.

Do you have a clamp Meter? DC Amps
If so what is your drain .. with the car locked and the bonnet latches shut?
- after 2 mins?
- after 45 mins?

Should be under 60mA. Mine ranges from 40mA to 0A
Note my meter is to 10mA, so 0A could be up to 0.005A.

 

[gramey]

I'm not sure what you mean by turn it off at the console? I just press the 'on' button at the top left hand corner of the actual head unit?
Sorry I don't have dc clamp, I don't even know what one is, I only a multimeter.

 

[gramey]

So upon looking my car has a 3.5mm socket inside the glove box which although it doesn't show up on the Comand as being connected if I connect my phone to it them I can play music on my phone and it comes out through the car stereo. There's what looks like an aftermarket cable that comes out at the rear of the centre console trim, hence why I think it must be after market, and the end has been put, as in left loose, in the centre arm rest.
This cable has an iphone/ipod connector, USB connector and a 3.5 mm male jack plug, I don't have an iphone but if I connect my phone to the jack plug or a USB stick neither put anything through to the Comand unit. Is it possible that this cable is broken and shorting out somewhere that's causing my problems with the battery drain?

 

[Submariner1]

I'm not sure what you mean by turn it off at the console? I just press the 'on' button at the top left hand corner of the actual head unit?
Sorry I don't have dc clamp, I don't even know what one is, I only a multimeter.

Yep that's the on off button I meant ... on mine its on the centre console.

A DC clamp meter has jaws you clamp around the target wire and it measure the DC Current flowing through it ( inductive measurement I guess )
They are a godsend.

E.g. to measure current drain with a multimeter means you have to undo the battery terminal and put your multimeter in Series.
When mine shuts down, having a clamp meter can allow you to see the current drop as one by one the SAMs shut down.
With a clamp meter a reading can be taken in 15 seconds.
To do it the in series method could take 15 minutes l

 

[gramey]

Is anyone able to tell me if the Comand unit not going to sleep would drain my battery overnight?
Literally from parking the car at 10.30 pm to 9.00 the next morning the battery is dead.
I'm beginning to think this is a heavy draw for a stereo/sat nav unit.
I saw this thread in relation to consumer battery drain and I'm thinking the previous owner may have had issues given one of the items Star Motors put on the invoice when they serviced it prior to me purchasing it was clearing the roof drains?
The thread I've just read was this one - http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/index.php?threads/r230-most-likely-source-of-battery-drain.143543/

 

[flowrider]

Hi Gramey

How old is the consumer battery? I had issues when i first got my SL and had to buy a new battery. The old battery charge only lasted a couple of days but the new battery now lasts at least 3 weeks. My only issue is that i have to make sure the Viseeo blutooth adapter is disconnected.

 

[gramey]

Hi Gramey

How old is the consumer battery? I had issues when i first got my SL and had to buy a new battery. The old battery charge only lasted a couple of days but the new battery now lasts at least e weeks. My only issue is that i have to make sure the Viseeo blutooth adapter is disconnected.

I think the battery is quite old, I just didn't want to replace the battery even though I wouldn't be paying for it until I can identify what's causing it to drain. It's booked in at my local indy to go on Star on Wednesday so I shall get them to test the battery at the same time.
I was just hoping to identify what the cause maybe before then if possible as I'm using it daily at the moment but the battery still dies come morning the next day.

 

[flowrider]

It might not be a drain issue, it might just be a duff battery. Will need to see what the testing shows.

 

[gramey]

It might not be a drain issue, it might just be a duff battery. Will need to see what the testing shows.

It would appear that this is more than likely the case, I popped it into Prestige Car Repairs here in Ipswich this morning for a diagnostic check to try and establish what was wrong. They had difficulty doing this because the battery was low, even with a 14.4 volt battery stabiliser hooked up to it the battery wouldn't hold a charge.
My local main dealer quoted me £137.76 for a genuine MB replacement, inc. VAT, which I did't think was too bad and I wanted to get the best price I could even though I'm not paying for it.

 

[flowrider]

It would appear that this is more than likely the case, I popped it into Prestige Car Repairs here in Ipswich this morning for a diagnostic check to try and establish what was wrong. They had difficulty doing this because the battery was low, even with a 14.4 volt battery stabiliser hooked up to it the battery wouldn't hold a charge.
My local main dealer quoted me £137.76 for a genuine MB replacement, inc. VAT, which I did't think was too bad and I wanted to get the best price I could even though I'm not paying for it.

It will be good to replace the battery so that you can see if you really do have a power drain or if the duff battery was the only issue.

 

[00slk]

Duff battery would be my guess, have had issues before with low voltage and even a new battery can be an issue too
My 55 was plagued with many electrical issues until I replaced the battery and had all the faults cleared and not an issue anymore.

 

[gramey]

Duff battery would be my guess, have had issues before with low voltage and even a new battery can be an issue too
My 55 was plagued with many electrical issues until I replaced the battery and had all the faults cleared and not an issue anymore.

Well a new consumer battery went in today which will hopefully cure the constant ' consumer electrics offline' or whatever is greeting me every day.

 

[gramey]

Duff battery would be my guess, have had issues before with low voltage and even a new battery can be an issue too
My 55 was plagued with many electrical issues until I replaced the battery and had all the faults cleared and not an issue anymore.

Well having left the car overnight and all day I returned home form work today and thought I'd best check the battery rather than just assume a new battery had solved the issue. Sadly it appears that whilst the new battery has lasted longer, the old one was definitely goosed, the drain is still there as the battery was reading 11.9 volts so it will be back to Prestige Car Repairs now at least we know the battery is ok once charged to try and get to the bottom of this. The Comand is not going to sleep as although the screen is off the fan on the back continues to run so something is keeping the system awake.
As well confirming the battery needed replacing two things Prestige did say when they tried to run the diagnostics was that for some reason Canbus was not showing up, although clearly it's working or everything on the car wouldn't working. They also showed me that Comand was saying TV not found, it has no TV, could it be that the system is continually searching for something that's not there hence why t's not going to sleep? They said about fitting a connector to close the loop in the fibre optic system if a new battery didn't resolve the problem, which it hasn't but it obviously helps that the battery isn't being pulled down so quickly but I don't want it to go the same way as the last one which apparently was just over 3 years old.

 

[gramey]

I've found the reason why the aux lead in the centre glove box wasn't working. Never having had a Parrot thing before and with no instructions with it I went online only to find out that the remote on the dash which I thought was hard wired isn't and the battery in was flat. I've put a new battery in that and everything is fully functional now so I think that may rule out the Parrot as being the problem, according to the online manual I found on their website if the two positives aren't wired to the correct terminals the display would be incorrect and it wouldn't turn on and off in the 2nd key position.

 

[L John]

A DC clamp meter has jaws you clamp around the target wire and it measure the DC Current flowing through it ( inductive measurement I guess )

Inductive measuring is for AC amps. DC amp measurement utilises the Hall effect.

 

[00slk]

Sure sounds more technical than I could handle, but glad to hear you could be getting on top of it

 

[Submariner1]

Well having left the car overnight and all day I returned home form work today and thought I'd best check the battery rather than just assume a new battery had solved the issue. Sadly it appears that whilst the new battery has lasted longer, the old one was definitely goosed, the drain is still there as the battery was reading 11.9 volts so it will be back to Prestige Car Repairs now at least we know the battery is ok once charged to try and get to the bottom of this. The Comand is not going to sleep as although the screen is off the fan on the back continues to run so something is keeping the system awake.
As well confirming the battery needed replacing two things Prestige did say when they tried to run the diagnostics was that for some reason Canbus was not showing up, although clearly it's working or everything on the car wouldn't working. They also showed me that Comand was saying TV not found, it has no TV, could it be that the system is continually searching for something that's not there hence why t's not going to sleep? They said about fitting a connector to close the loop in the fibre optic system if a new battery didn't resolve the problem, which it hasn't but it obviously helps that the battery isn't being pulled down so quickly but I don't want it to go the same way as the last one which apparently was just over 3 years old.

Very Sorry to hear of your problems.
1. Dont rule out a faulty new battery, after 29 years of perfect MB batteries I have had 2 bad ones in succession. Is the replacement A 92 AH Varta MB?

Do you have a CTEK to get that battery on charge? Not good to leave them low.
What is your alleged shut down drain?

Do you have Bose or HK upgrade/amplifier?
Worth pulling the plug on it. Till you sort the drain.

 

[gramey]

Very Sorry to hear of your problems.
1. Dont rule out a faulty new battery, after 29 years of perfect MB batteries I have had 2 bad ones in succession. Is the replacement A 92 AH Varta MB?

Do you have a CTEK to get that battery on charge? Not good to leave them low.
What is your alleged shut down drain?

Do you have Bose or HK upgrade/amplifier?
Worth pulling the plug on it. Till you sort the drain.

The battery is an MB branded one but I think the same as the original only 70 ah. I have a Ring intelligent charger which I set at 4 amp charge overnight but when I came down this morning after 5 hours as the battery was apparently too low.
I put a multimeter across it and it was showing 11.5 volts.
So either my drain is higher than the 4 amp charge going into it or its a duff new battery?

 

[gramey]

Sorry I should have said even the old battery would always take a charge it just wouldn't hold it.