mkhleung

Hi all,

I recently just installed a 10.25" Android 13 head unit on my 2010 W204 C300 4Matic. Specs are 6gb of RAM and 128gb of storage. The car originally came with the OEM non-navigation screen from the factory but the LCD stopped working so I upgraded. I was wondering if anyone else has had any issues after installation where the car battery has been drained after a few days?

I purchased the unit from TaoBao in Hong Kong and had my parents bring it back to Canada (I believe the brand is Mekede/Navifly which appears reputable on AliExpress). I got in-touch with the seller who only advised me to update the tablet software through a ZIP file he sent and informed me that I should lock my car once parked as the car and device will not fully power off/enter deep sleep mode unless the car is locked.

As soon as I remove the key from the ignition, the screen shuts off but I noticed that there is still a red light indicating power still being active in the device even after locking the car via key fob. This red light is not normally visible as its impractical for one to keep unmounting the screen after getting to a destination just to see if the screen is still receiving power. About 2-3 minutes after locking the vehicle, this light will shut off. Is this normal for the head unit to still receive power for about 2-3 minutes after shutting off the car? Once I unlock the car via key fob, the red light indicating that the device is receiving power will light up instantaneously. I am skeptical if locking the vehicle will prevent my battery from draining again although the car does start now with no issues after I recharged the battery on my old school battery tender.

Since the battery drained yesterday, I used my BlueDriver OBD II reader today to clear all the fault codes stored. There were still 6 current codes present after I immediately rescanned all modules (See attached screenshot). Judging by the OBDII report, I'm assuming that although my car starts up fine now after being recharged on the battery tender, there is still a parasitic draw occurring? I don't have much experience in troubleshooting electrical issues so I am hoping to get some guidance on this.

To me, the seller's explanation that my battery drain is occurring due to not locking the vehicle seems odd. I live in a house and don't usually lock my car once I am parked inside. I observed that if I don't lock the vehicle after I'm finished driving, the red power light behind the screen will still shut-off after the 2-3 minutes similarly to when I lock the vehicle and step away. However, I understand that anytime I open a car door/trunk, the screen will be fed power again, similar to if I were to unlock my car to open the car door/trunk.

\What I'm completely lost on is how long it takes for the android unit to completely power down to the point where if restarted, it needs to do a full reboot to power on. When I left my vehicle for 1 hour after driving a short trip, the screen would not require a full reboot and would simply power onto the home screen. When I left my vehicle parked in my garage for 8 hours during the day, a full reboot occurred when I next started the car. In comparison, my brother who installed a similar android style screen on his Lexus SUV, never has had any power drain issues but his screen does always takes about 1-2 minutes to start-up and goes through the full boot-up animation regardless of how much time passed since the car was last started. I was able to go into the factory settings of the device but did not find any settings related to the powering on/off of the device or what kind of power mode I want to enable after shutting off the car. I did see a setting about powering off the memory but I know that these machines can become toast if the wrong factory settings are applied so I didn't want to toggle it on.

In sum, I'm hoping to get some guidance on how to best troubleshoot my electrical problems. I am puzzled as to whether I just have a weak battery, alternator, bad wiring loom for the android unit, or if this is a known issue with these android units? From what I've been able to find online, there are not a lot of complaints about these units draining one's battery. The seller said there's nothing else to do apart from what he's already instructed me to do (I.E Update software and lock the vehicle after parking). I've currently unplugged my battery hoping this may reset things in the vehicle but am hoping I don't need to open things back up in the dash.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Some additional details:
- Car has ~205,000KM
- Original alternator
- Costco battery which is about 2-3 years old
- I have an aftermarket backup camera installed but this has worked without issues for many years prior to installing my android screen
- I don't have any other aftermarket parts on the car apart from some LED license plate bulbs for the trunk or license plate lamp. Although I did used to get rear SAM codes for these bulbs in the past and they sometimes flicker, it never has caused the entire battery to drain.
- Battery was not disconnected when installing the android screen

mkhleung

Just an update, after I unplugged my battery for 1hr, replugged and restarted the car, I was only left with one OBD II code "U0255 - Communication with the Audio/COMAND display has a malfunction". However, I believe this should be related to the leftover wire that did not need to be used once the factory screen was disconnected? On another note, after replugging the battery, the CD changer sounded like it was struggling/jamming. After I turned on the car, I was unable to play any CD tracks in the NTG menu and neither could I eject any of my CDs.

I am leaving the vehicle unlocked tonight and will check the battery in the morning

shotgun_banjo

The android unit should not drain your battery and yes it will draw power for a few minutes after you shut the car down. The red light you talking about can be seen from the back side right?

mkhleung

The red light can't be seen if the screen is mounted onto the bracket but if you unmount the screen to remove the cables and gps/wifi antenna, you can see the red light.