Hi folks,

 

I noticed yesterday that the following display is permanently active in the instrument cluster, with the doors closed and the vehicle locked - even after a whole night:

 

 

Unfortunately, I don't know if the behaviour has always been like this (regardless of whether it would be normal or not - I simply have no valid basis for comparison). But I guess the answer would be: No, not normal.

 

Therefore question 1: Is it normal that the digital display remains active?

If not, then the following additional information / question 2:

Yesterday we replaced the door lock on the passenger side; this also has an electrical contact (closing contact) - do you think this could be the cause?

Strangely enough, I also installed the old lock again and the behaviour is identical.

 

And what's also strange: if I don't connect the electrical contact plug to the lock at all, the behaviour is also identical!

 

Thanks in advance

I checked my MFD and though different from yours, it stays on when I lock the car. However, if I go back sometime later it has shut down.

I take it when you say "even after a whole night", you approach the car without pipping the locks, as this switches my display back on.

Exactly yes - I do not have a remote unlock, I have only the mechanical door opening. So yes, I approach the car and lookin through the windows and the display is still on ... ;(

I don't think it's necessarily a fault, on our Mk1 and my 9N Polo all that info is displayed 24/7/365.

LCD displays take miniscule amounts of current, only really taking any at all when the digits change, most of which aren't doing when the car is parked.

 

1 minute ago, Breezy_Pete said:

I don't think it's necessarily a fault, on our Mk1 and my 9N Polo all that info is displayed 24/7/365.

LCD displays take miniscule amounts of current, only really taking any at all when the digits change, most of which aren't doing when the car is parked.

 

My only fear is that a gateway and/or Control unit could still run in the background. 

But I'll try to measure the Idle-Current and let you know. 

 

Two points w.r.t. to permanently active LCD:

a) A friend of mine owns a Mk 2, same display type (LCD), and he says for him, it's turning off immediately... But yeah, maybe it's dependent on the concrete configuration

b) Interestingly, when I pull Fuse 22, the Instrumental Cluster is off / gone. But when I start the car with the Fuse pulled, it's still coming alive. That tells me that there are possibly two units which could be responsible for showing this data - maybe one "Standbye Unit" (Off by pulling 22) and a rela Instrumental Cluster Unit whihc only runs when you start the engine...? 

Its normal, it takes less current than your LED watch does without the backlight and that lasts for years yet you dont have a car battery strapped to your arm!

 

If ever you have looked at cars in a used car lot you will normally be able to see the mileages through the window without opening the vehicle or using the ignition key.

If you send me your VIN by private message, I can find the exact date your car was built, and tell you what fuse 22 covers with reference to wiring diagrams accordingly.

 

17 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Its normal, it takes less current than your LED watch does without the backlight and that lasts for years yet you dont have a car battery strapped to your arm!

 

If ever you have looked at cars in a used car lot you will normally be able to see the mileages through the window without opening the vehicle or using the ignition key.

You are right, but as I said above:

My only concern is that a gateway and/or Control unit could still run in the background which controls the LCD.

And also why does it go off for a friend with a similar Fabia Mk 2 (same productoin year).

Very weird  I'd have hoped at least that the behavior is consistent through all the different Fabia Models...

 

27 minutes ago, AlexDoo said:

And also why does it go off for a friend with a similar Fabia Mk 2 (same productoin year).

His car may have a fault!

Wait for others to look at theirs and see what they see. Must be a mk2 made before March 2010 to be relevant, I think

 

Thanks @Breezy_Pete very interesting indeed!!

 

I measured the idle current.

Roughly 120mA when locked and after waiting for 10 minutes...

When I pull fuse 22 to completely shut the display off, it drops to 0.000A, i.e. Fuse 22 is the only fuse where some permanent 12V devices could possibly be used over Very interesting!!!

8 minutes ago, AlexDoo said:

10 minutes...

Try 30 minutes, and how are you measuring the current?

My Fabia Mk 2 has an LED display, not LCD, like the one in this image.

 

 

Perhaps your friend's is similar. Have you seen it?

Edited 19 June, 20232 yr by Jocko

Good shout!

Nope, my friend said he has exactly a display like mine with LCD. 

 

@Breezy_Pete measuring with multimeter. Why? Anything specific to post attention to??

It's all about making sure everything has gone to sleep before taking the measurements and making sure no circuits are woken up by the process of measuring. 

So, kidding the car that everything is closed and locked for at least 30 mins, whilst still having access to where you're measuring, and having the equipment already in circuit so nothing wakes stuff up again.

Yeah sure. Lucky the battery is right under the hood. So it's easily accessible while the car can be locked.

 

So I opened the hood, disconnected minus port, and inserted my multimeter in-between. I went and unlocked and opened the door to wake things up - afterwards closed and locked the door and waited... 

 

 

Is there a microswitch on the bonnet catch? Probably only there if the car has an alarm factory fitted.

Edited 19 June, 20232 yr by Breezy_Pete
Sp

You need to have closed the bonnet catch with a screwdriver or similar and then wait 20 or 30 minutes.

 

If you use the multimeter on the 200ma range which is the best one for measuring the expected 25ma or so then the central locking motors will blow the fuse, the readings on the 10 or 20 amp range are not accurate enough and people often make an error with the decimal place.

 

Easiest way to do it the way you are trying is to open bonnet, close latch with screwdriver, leave battery terminals connected, close and lock the door.

 

After 30 minutes connect the current meter probes across the live terminal and live clamp and remove the clamp leaving the meter in circuit, a bit fiddly but you only need to maintain the meter connection for a second while removing the lead and clamp.

Only if there is a microswitch there J.R., which isn't there on Fabias without alarms, I believe, like ours.

 

Thanks, after 2 Octavias and a Yeti all being pretty much identical I often make the mistake of thinking all the models are the same.

Thanks you two!

There's no microswitch on the bonnet catch because, as you said it, I dont have a Alarm system.

 

When doors opened, it looks like this, 2.44 A:

 

 

And after closing and locking, as described, like this:

 

 

But I'll do another test and will check after 30minutes..

 

 

A healthy result is maybe 15mA in full sleep.

If you have the deadlock LED flashing on driver's door, expect it to jump around by a few mA in sync with flashing. 

I just had a look at my daughter's FII from 2009.

The display is off and even when I work the closed door handle the display stays off.

The Fabia normally displays if any door, bonnet or boot is open. The bonnet opening is integrated into the windscreen wash and interrupts when the bonnet is open. Ours is the level 3  / elegance trim.

117 mA is a lot for a shut down FII - I think.

@26DIPP is that a display like  the OP's or like @Jocko's above ^

Yes 117ma is about 100 too much. Can be a BCM fault, in my experience, if real. An update from the OP on the measurement after 30 mins of allowing to go to sleep would be good.

Mine is a 2009 Elegance.