Becker headunit switching off after an hour

[mb240]

Hi,

I have fitted a Becker Cascade 7944 to the W208. Basically I have this bizarre problem of the headunit switching off automatically after an hour of being on. It makes the shutdown soft Beep and then if you press the power button quickly, it comes back on, or else it shuts down and you have to wait 5 seconds to turn back on.

This is totally weird. As a clue, the stereo does not come on and off with the ignition. I am thinking that there is some weird CANBUS power thing that is turning off after a while if it is not getting a signal from the OEM unit or something. Or, some weird Becker thing that is making you sit up and not fall asleep or something crazy like that.

The power comes from the standard ISO A-plug, and I just plugged it straight into the Becker (was an Audio 10 by Becker, circa year 2000).

Anyone got any ideas? It all works fine, but this hour thing bugs me - on a long journey I need to basically not fall asleep at the wheel

OR, probably the most logical, is that it turns itself off to not drain the battery - as it does not come on or off with ignition. ANy ideas on how I can correct this? Do I need to get something from the original wires that I am not using? Like make sure that the Switched Positive (pin 7 on A-block) is connected? ANd why the old Becker headunit came on and off with ignition and this doesn't....must be some CANBUS thing. And I have a CANBUS adaptor but am scared to use it! Hehe.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

OR, probably the most logical, is that it turns itself off to not drain the battery - as it does not come on or off with ignition. ANy ideas on how I can correct this? Do I need to get something from the original wires that I am not using? Like make sure that the Switched Positive (pin 7 on A-block) is connected? ANd why the old Becker headunit came on and off with ignition and this doesn't....must be some CANBUS thing. And I have a CANBUS adaptor but am scared to use it! Hehe.

Sorry, I can't advise how to fix it, but I think you may be right with regards to being related to your ignition. It doesn't seem to know whether the engine is running or not.

We have a Becker, which seems to behave correctly:

• If driving with stereo on it does not switch off until you do it yourself or turn off the engine.
• When the engine is not running, then you can switch the stereo on, and it will stay on until you turn it off or one hour has passed, at which point you can switch it on again.
• If the stereo is on when you turn the engine off, it will turn on again when the engine starts again.

 

[fuzzer]

yep , sounds like canbus.


you either use the adaptor or modify the ISO block A on pin 7 with a feed from somewhere else in the car.

 

[Alfie]

Hi,

I have fitted a Becker Cascade 7944 to the W208. Basically I have this bizarre problem of the headunit switching off automatically after an hour of being on. It makes the shutdown soft Beep and then if you press the power button quickly, it comes back on, or else it shuts down and you have to wait 5 seconds to turn back on.

This is totally weird. As a clue, the stereo does not come on and off with the ignition. I am thinking that there is some weird CANBUS power thing that is turning off after a while if it is not getting a signal from the OEM unit or something. Or, some weird Becker thing that is making you sit up and not fall asleep or something crazy like that.

The power comes from the standard ISO A-plug, and I just plugged it straight into the Becker (was an Audio 10 by Becker, circa year 2000).

Anyone got any ideas? It all works fine, but this hour thing bugs me - on a long journey I need to basically not fall asleep at the wheel

OR, probably the most logical, is that it turns itself off to not drain the battery - as it does not come on or off with ignition. ANy ideas on how I can correct this? Do I need to get something from the original wires that I am not using? Like make sure that the Switched Positive (pin 7 on A-block) is connected? ANd why the old Becker headunit came on and off with ignition and this doesn't....must be some CANBUS thing. And I have a CANBUS adaptor but am scared to use it! Hehe.

Check you have the CANBUS wires into the back of it, wired properly. If they are the wrong way round the CANBUS wont work at all with the unit.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

We have a Becker, which seems to behave correctly

What did I go and say that for??!!

When I got home from work Mrs D said - the Becker display went black whilst driving today, but music carried on. Pressed buttons, but no change. Doh!!

Next time she used the car, it was fine again.

I hope it was a one off!!

 

[andy_k]

What did I go and say that for??!!

When I got home from work Mrs D said - the Becker display went black whilst driving today, but music carried on. Pressed buttons, but no change. Doh!!

Next time she used the car, it was fine again.

I hope it was a one off!!

If it's one where you can remove the front face, my guess is it wasn't quite seated properly.

Andy

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

If it's one where you can remove the front face, my guess is it wasn't quite seated properly.

We never remove the face, but maybe a pot hole might have disturbed it? Hopefully a one off thoughh.

 

[mb240]

SOLVED:

The Problem:
Following on from the thread (a little while later), the problem is solved. Becker make their units power off after one hour if there is no switched ignition power detected. This is even if you have a permanent 12V power connected - the unit needs both to function properly, or else it will work independently of the ignition and simply turn off after 60 mins.

The Solution:
The Dietz 62010 CANBUS Interface 2 with the appropriate Dietz 61022 Cablekit for the W208. It connects to Connector A (main power 8-pin connector from the dashboard) and also Connector C (the 10 pin one with 5 connections on the MB side). It creates a new Connector A with all appropriate wiring including switched ignition signal in the new Connector A Pin 7, and it also has a Connector C1/2/3 subconnector which is for Becker headunits and Cd changers. You don't need to use this.


The Connector C adaptor on the Dietz connector has only two wires attached and they are Pin 1 and Pin 2 for CANbus low and high. This is the only difference and only addition I made compared to the original wiring to the Becker so I can only assume that the CANbus adaptor is working as it now powers on and off with ignition.



(Furthermore, it is now reading a proper GAL/VSS signal. I know Alfie said that the CANbus in my car doesn't support VSS, but the Becker now reads movement and stopping on the VSS sensor test properly, and indoors it also gives speed properly when no satellites are visible (0/12). I can only now also assume that the CANbus in the car does indeed transmit VSS. The wheel sensor reading counts up with forward movement and is appropriate to the speed. It also stops counting up when the car is motionless. Now, I will test and see if it's the gyroscope tomorrow, but it didn't do this before (preiovusly if GAL was activated in the diagnostics screen, it just kept counting up whether moving or not). The third big thing that has happened since connecting the CANbus is that speed sensitive volume now works. This is disabled unless the Becker gets a GAL/VSS signal and will not function purely on gyro or satellites (says it in the manual). Turning it up to maximum sensitivity and changing driving speeds is making a noticeable volume change - so again, it seems the CANbus does transmit a speed signal in the car. I don't know why it should though, but who knows. From the manual: "In order to utilise GAL, a square wave
voltage with a mass-related amplitude of +4 V to +12 V must be provided by the vehicle's electronic speedometer. Volume is increased in 7 increments
of 2.5dB each.")



Thanks to everyone who helped! Hopefully this post might help somebody else in the future.