R23O Battery drain - Comand unit not going to sleep?

[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.

 

[Dec]

There should be numbers moulded into the plastic of the fuse board.

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Dec

 

[gramey]

There should be numbers moulded into the plastic of the fuse board.

See... You are being redirected...

Dec

The fuses I took out were under the storage area behind the drivers seat and I was counting across from the fuse diagram that came with the car but I clearly need to go to Specsavers as I couldn't see any numbers moulded into the plastic?

 

[Dec]

Maybe different on yours then.


Dec

 

[gramey]

Maybe different on yours then.


Dec

The main fuse box under the bonnet may look like that but the rear uses tucked under the bottom of the storage bin behind the drivers seat certainly isn't as clear as that.

 

[Dec]

There must be, or should be, a chart, how else are you expected to know what fuse is for what consumer.

Dec

 

[gramey]

There must be, or should be, a chart, how else are you expected to know what fuse is for what consumer.

Dec

I have the MB chart and I located the fuses behind the drivers seat but I couldn't see any numbers printed next to them hence why I resorted to trying to count across and hope that it was the right one, which it appears it wasn't as this fan continued running?

 

[Dec]

Is your car alarm in full working order.

To test alarm, lock car with remote, wait 1 minute, then unlock the car with the key blade in the door lock and open the door (Don’t use remote to unlock) The siren should sound for 30 seconds and the hazards should flash for 3 minutes, alarm will then reset itself, wait the full 3 minutes to test it properly.

Dec

 

[gramey]

Is your car alarm in full working order.

To test alarm, lock car with remote, wait 1 minute, then unlock the car with the key blade in the door lock and open the door (Don’t use remote to unlock) The siren should sound for 30 seconds and the hazards should flash for 3 minutes, alarm will then reset itself, wait the full 3 minutes to test it properly.

Dec

I'm not sure that it is as one of the things I did was lock it with the window open so that I could lean through and listen for that fan noise again after 30 - 40 minutes to see if it had shut down. When I lent through the open window to listen it didn't trigger the alarm, or could it be that the internal sensors are switched off?
I know I released the boot on the remote to charge the battery and when I disconnected the battery the alarm sounded but I shut it off straight away using the remote, I'll use your method and test it.
I wonder if this is anything to do with the car having been fitted with a Parrot blue tooth and there's also a cable that comes through into the centre console cubby hole which has a 3.5mm jack plug, iphone connection and USB connector. I've tried connecting my phone to the 3.5mm jack and the USB, I don't have an iphone to try, having selected aux on the Comand unit but nothing happens so there doesn't appear to be any power going to this cable, the Parrot works fine but I don't like the look of it in the car.

 

[Dec]

If a car is locked with the remote then the alarm is armed, you can still open the boot, with the remote button, BUT, if you fiddle / disconnect the battery then the alarm will go off as it thinks it is being tampered with, so, it sounds like the alarm is working ok. Don't know if you have internal motion sensors on that car.

Something else you could try, open the bonnet, then lock the car with the remote, the alarm won’t go of with the bonnet open, the alarm will arm itself, the hazards will flash 2 times instead of the usual 3 times (Because the bonnet is open), this will allow you to have a listen around the engine bay in case something else is not shutting down.

Other than that, there my be a short keeping the fan going and although you may have removed the correct fuse the fan is not shutting down because of a short.

De

 

[gramey]

If a car is locked with the remote then the alarm is armed, you can still open the boot, with the remote button, BUT, if you fiddle / disconnect the battery then the alarm will go off as it thinks it is being tampered with, so, it sounds like the alarm is working ok. Don't know if you have internal motion sensors on that car.

Something else you could try, open the bonnet, then lock the car with the remote, the alarm won’t go of with the bonnet open, the alarm will arm itself, the hazards will flash 2 times instead of the usual 3 times (Because the bonnet is open), this will allow you to have a listen around the engine bay in case something else is not shutting down.

Other than that, there my be a short keeping the fan going and although you may have removed the correct fuse the fan is not shutting down because of a short.

De

Thanks for your help with this, it sounds ridiculous that I'm not sure if I found the right fuse although I think I did as it said it's a 5 amp fuse for the Comand unit and I pulled all three of the 5 amp fuses I found so one of them should have been right. As I say I'm assuming the USB cable thingy is after market as it doesn't come all the way through to the cubby hole, it actually comes out just in front of it where the gear selector/console trim finishes. When the lid is closed it covers the short bit of wire that's exposed when you lift the lid. I would have thought that if this was a factory fit it would have been kept out of sight altogether and you would only see the ends in the glove box. Given that nothing appears to happen when you plug a USB stick or phone into either of them maybe this is causing a short somewhere?

 

[Dec]

You would need to trace the wiring back to investigate, and it may have nothing to do with the problem.

Dec

 

[flowrider]

On my SL i have to disconnect the Viseeo blutooth adapter as it always seems to be on and drains the battery.

 

[gramey]

Given that my battery literally drains overnight would I be able right in thinking that's a pretty heavy hit from a stereo/sat nav unit?
I know the fan on it keeps running but would this be enough to literally kill a battery in 10 hours?
One of the things Star Motors at Caversham did when they serviced it prior to me purchasing it was clearing the roof drains. Having read a thread on another MB forum that a water damaged PSE pump caused similar issues would this be more likely to be the culprit?

 

[flowrider]

Have you checked for damp under the carpet in the passenger footwell? This is a problem spot when the airbox drain is blocked. Its worth checking all the drains are clear.

 

[gramey]

I

Have you checked for damp under the carpet in the passenger footwell? This is a problem spot when the airbox drain is blocked. Its worth checking all the drains are clear.

Shall check there asap, thanks for the suggestion .

 

[Dec]

Given that my battery literally drains overnight would I be able right in thinking that's a pretty heavy hit from a stereo/sat nav unit?
I know the fan on it keeps running but would this be enough to literally kill a battery in 10 hours?
One of the things Star Motors at Caversham did when they serviced it prior to me purchasing it was clearing the roof drains. Having read a thread on another MB forum that a water damaged PSE pump caused similar issues would this be more likely to be the culprit?

If your car battery is in a poor state of charge or not holding a charge then it won’t take much of a draw to flatten it.

Are you positive that the noise is from the command unit?

PSE pump would be running and making a noise if it were consuming power.

What you could do is disconnect the car battery when car is not in use (BE SURE YOU CAN MANUALLY OPEN THE CAR IF THE BATTERY IS DISONECTED AS YOU WON’T HAVE ANY REMOTE CENTERAL LOCKING)

Or you could try to access the command unit and unplug it until you get to the bottom of the problem.

Dec

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[gramey]

If your car battery is in a poor state of charge or not holding a charge then it won’t take much of a draw to flatten it.

Are you positive that the noise is from the command unit?

PSE pump would be running and making a noise if it were consuming power.

What you could do is disconnect the car battery when car is not in use (BE SURE YOU CAN MANUALLY OPEN THE CAR IF THE BATTERY IS DISONECTED AS YOU WON’T HAVE ANY REMOTE CENTERAL LOCKING)

Or you could try to access the command unit and unplug it until you get to the bottom of the problem.

Dec

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Been there and done that with the battery today, disconnect close boot and then realise no remote function, doh!

 

[flowrider]

Been there and done that with the battery today, disconnect close boot and then realise no remote function, doh!

Hopefully the boot lock is working so you can use the key, a lot of SL's boot locks are jammed due to lack of use.

 

[gramey]

Hopefully the boot lock is working so you can use the key, a lot of SL's boot locks are jammed due to lack of use.

It was working after a liberal application of WD40 and use of a pair of pliers on the key blade as it was still rather stiff, according to the invoice from Star Motors for the service just before I got the car the boot lock barrel was replaced by them but it was absolutely stiff as hell which makes me wonder if it actually was.