Technical Parasitic drain on Blue & Me - Danger

typecastboy · May 10, 2020

A shocking discovery this morning. My latest project has a parasitic drain which I presumed were due to me putting new headlight wires on. After plugging in MES I saw that the Blue & Me module said it was “missing”. Remember reading on here that it was a common fault so I investigated today.

I was shocked to find not only a melted module but burn marks on the inside of the rear panel and an inch of ash which is the remnants of the sound deadening. How the hell this car didn’t catch fire is a miracle.

Beware if you have a similar problem could be very dangerous.

John202020 · May 10, 2020

So that's what caused the battery issue not the headlights ? Glad we have a pop no blue and me issues.

typecastboy · May 10, 2020

John202020 said:
So that's what caused the battery issue not the headlights ? Glad we have a pop no blue and me issues.

Well it’s too much of a coincidence not to be. Removed, all put back together and the headlights reconnected. Left the battery connected so will see tomorrow but it has to be.

Incredible that this has ended up like this.

chris3234 · May 10, 2020

typecastboy said:
Well it’s too much of a coincidence not to be. Removed, all put back together and the headlights reconnected. Left the battery connected so will see tomorrow but it has to be.

Incredible that this has ended up like this.

It would be interesting to see inside the unit
If you have spare time and feel like angle grinding the case appart
(I assume they are sealed unit anyway)

Baglady1990 · May 10, 2020

typecastboy said:
A shocking discovery this morning. My latest project has a parasitic drain which I presumed were due to me putting new headlight wires on. After plugging in MES I saw that the Blue & Me module said it was “missing”. Remember reading on here that it was a common fault so I investigated today.

I was shocked to find not only a melted module but burn marks on the inside of the rear panel and an inch of ash which is the remnants of the sound deadening. How the hell this car didn’t catch fire is a miracle.

Beware if you have a similar problem could be very dangerous.

View attachment 208964

I wonder what has caused that? It looks like a sort of meltdown! Maybe it has gotten to hot or possibly some sort of short ?

typecastboy · May 10, 2020

Baglady1990 said:
I wonder what has caused that? It looks like a sort of meltdown! Maybe it has gotten to hot or possibly some sort of short ?

God knows but it was a bit of a shock especially the pile of ash behind the panel and brown burn marks on the side of the car. No smell whatsoever.

I will take it apart and see what it’s like inside.

Baglady1990 · May 10, 2020

typecastboy said:
God knows but it was a bit of a shock especially the pile of ash behind the panel and brown burn marks on the side of the car. No smell whatsoever.

I will take it apart and see what it’s like inside.

Let us know how it goes! And what you find! Wonder if it was that draining the battery!! Hope so .. fingers crossed!

Piccolo Nero e Bella · May 11, 2020

Surely such a failure should have blown a fuse?

typecastboy · May 11, 2020

Parasitic drain on Blue & Me - Danger

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:
Surely such a failure should have blown a fuse?

When I had a non working one a few months ago also in a sport of the same year coincidentally I could not find any fuse for it. I’m not sure where it draws it’s power from.

John202020 · May 11, 2020

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:
Surely such a failure should have blown a fuse?

2-4 Amps, through even a 5A(car fuse, that's 5 Amp fail constant 2.5a) could have a heating effect of 50 Watts easily enough to cook things without blowing even a small fuse?

cingur · May 11, 2020

Subscribed to this one

Smeagol · May 13, 2020

No here’s a question, I’ve just had mine apart and the actual pcb in it is only in the center third of the plastic box and nowhere near the burnt part of yours.
Does your pcb extend all the way to the burnt section or could it maybe have had something spilt on it?

Smeagol · May 13, 2020

It is fed by 2 fuses so it does have the potential for a fair bit of current

varesecrazy · May 13, 2020

Smeagol said:
It is fed by 2 fuses so it does have the potential for a fair bit of current

Where are said fuses?

All good info

Thanks

John202020 · May 13, 2020

It's beyond me why the unit is so big and needs so much power for a Bluetooth controller/receiver?
My external.box is the size of a box of matches and draws half an amp at best

Smeagol · May 13, 2020

F36 and F51 on the body module under the glovebox feed it. One is 10 amp, one is 7.5 amp, it’s held together (not including the 4 nuts that hold it on the bracket) b 4 T9? Torx screws and the label.
Board inside is tiny.(on mine at least)

typecastboy · May 13, 2020

Parasitic drain on Blue & Me - Danger

Smeagol said:
It is fed by 2 fuses so it does have the potential for a fair bit of current

Thanks that’s useful for in future. Do those fuses feed anything else as I couldn’t find d fuses before?

Smeagol · May 13, 2020

USB socket, not much I can see else. Radio too I guess

typecastboy · May 13, 2020

Parasitic drain on Blue & Me - Danger

You’ve got me wondering now whether the previous dead one I had in a black sport that I changed the unit which still didn’t work could have just been a blown fuse. I never tried the usb socket. I wonder why two fuses?

typecastboy · May 13, 2020

Checked the car three days after taking out the burnt blue and me unit and the parasitic drain has gone!

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