Hi folks,

 

Is there a fuse, either in the car, or under the bonnet, that I can pull to isolate the OEM Stream audio unit ?

 

I ask, as I suspect mine may have a wierd fault where it's switching itself on (yeah I know lol) and draining my battery.

 

Explanation - brand new Bosch S4 battery fitted less than 2 weeks ago, and my OEM Stream audio unit still insists on switching itself on, at totally random times. Really not sure why :(

 

I've gone out to the Octavia quite a few times, and found the radio on, even though the car is locked, secure and definitely switched off the evening prior. I've also been driving it, with the stereo off, when it's decided to spring to life of it's  own accord, initially going into CD mode before playing the radio :(

 

Any thoughts ?

Two thoughts from experiences on my facelift model:-

1) when a battery is failing you can get all sorts of apparent failures in software controlled units, including the radio.

2) the fix is to remove the supply for a short time to initiate a reboot.

 

I have reset my radio (Bolero) a couple of times. The first time I disconnected the car battery. The second time I removed the radio fuse under the bonnet. Mine was fuse 8, the last and right of a small group of eight closely spaced small fuses near the back. Your handbook should have a picture. If you need a handbook then download it from the sticky at the top half of this forum.

 

 

5 minutes ago, pikpilot said:

Two thoughts from experiences on my facelift model:-

1) when a battery is failing you can get all sorts of apparent failures in software controlled units, including the radio.

2) the fix is to remove the supply for a short time to initiate a reboot.

 

I have reset my radio (Bolero) a couple of times. The first time I disconnected the car battery. The second time I removed the radio fuse under the bonnet. Mine was fuse 8, the last and right of a small group of eight closely spaced small fuses near the back. Your handbook should have a picture. If you need a handbook then download it from the sticky at the top half of this forum.

 

 

 

Cheers Phil,

 

My first Bosch S4 battery, purchased in Feb 2017 failed, and was replaced under warranty approx 2 weeks ago.

 

After a very short period of just 6 days non-use I came out to the Octavia, to find it wouldn't start. Multimeter across the terminals showed a voltage of less than 4 volts :( This was on a brand new battery ..

 

Alternator is working fine, with a charging voltage of between 13.9 and 14.2 volts when engine is running.

 

So something is draining my battery, whilst the car is parked up, hence my suspicion about the radio unit.

 

I was going to isolate the radio, to eliminate it as being the cause...

If you have a decent ammeter or multimeter connect it up in series between one of the battery terminals and the appropriate battery lead and then see what sort of current drain there is with the car idle.  Remember that the current drain can get up to serious amps (30+) when you use heated and/or electric windows and any motorised item, so try make sure they're all OFF.  Also (and pardon the capitals) DON'T TRY TO START THE CAR or you will pull LOTS of amps - 75 or so - which may fry your meter.

 

If you can identify the fuse/s for candidate drainage offenders try pulling them one at a time and observe the current drain.

 

A slightly less drastic route is to identify the fuse/s involved and series the ammeter across the fuse holder but with a fuse still in circuit (just in case).

 

You may be able to use a clamp-type ammeter around the relevant cable/s but I've never used one for a low voltage supply, only for mains supplies.  Anyone out there tried this?

 

9 hours ago, StickyMicky said:

 

You may be able to use a clamp-type ammeter around the relevant cable/s but I've never used one for a low voltage supply, only for mains supplies.  Anyone out there tried this?

 

 

It is not a problem with it being low voltage but rather the fact that normal clamp on ammeters only work on a.c. current.

I have an expensive Hall effect clamp on ammeter specifically designed for d.c. which works down to around 2 Amps on the lowest 40A range so could do this job but never needed to. The general problem with clamp on meters is they need to have enough free cable to get the clamp around it. 

 

It is a good suggestion but a normal electricians a.c. clamp on ammeter just doesn't work on d.c.

4 hours ago, pikpilot said:

a normal electricians a.c. clamp on ammeter just doesn't work on d.c.

 

Now you point that out it makes sense. I just never considered the necessary physics before ...

 

Thanks.