S-Prihadi

Guys,

I did this year parasitic load test as part of my maintenance 2 weeks ago.
So for those who wants to do it, some pointers :

01. The car need to be in SLEEP MODE, so this guarantee that the modules are already at its lowest power consumption and that very low power consumption mode is what we need as baseline.
How long will our car eventually fall to sleep. With key FOB as far away as practical, perhaps 15 feet away , depending when was your last engine kill in hours ago, SLEEP MODE can happen as slow as
1+ hour or as short as few minutes if the car engine kill was 12+ hours ago.

To verify car is sleeping, measure the output of the K2 Relay, which the circuit is called Circuit 30g. The g means it is a switched type power ( using K2 relay ) and not always ON/HOT like Circuit 30.
Since K2 relay is a solid state relay is connected to many modules with capacitors, ignore the 0.745 volts reading and take it as ZERO volts. This is like a "ghost" voltage, that 0.745V, you load it up to even a mere 2-3 milliamps, it will be gone.







Now the part where you SHOULD NOT BLOW UP your expensive special 10 amps fuse in your DMM and not wake up the modules.

AFTER ENGINE SHUT DOWN 12+ HOURS :
Door opening and then close it again or unlocking/locking by remote FOB will be worth 12 amps for a few seconds and down slowly to 6 amps and then 2 ish amps and then X minutes it will be in SLEEP MODE.

The 12 amps will blow most DMM amperage section fuse which is only 10 AMPS as highest or if some DMM has 400mA and 10Amps one, the 400mA fuse will blow if the test port in use is the 400mA one,
like my test in the photo I use 400mA test port for better resolution.

You have to make or buy a double alligator clip jumper wire, where the alligator jaw size at one end need to be able to open up to battery post size and the other end opens up to W10 ground brass stud size.





Whatever you do, do not allow a break or disconnection of battery negative connection to car chassis ( W10 ground stud ).
Once broken, and reconnected the computer will wake up and a 10amps fuse will blow if DMM is used at the re-connection.

CAR IS ALREADY IN SLEEP MODE ( K2 relay is open or zero volts ) .
Set/choose DMM to 10 amps reading. Black lead of DMM to a good chassis ground, W10 is a good one.
I use the pointed edge of the red test lead, poke it to the battery negative post at all times while doing 1 & 2 :
01. Loosen the size 10 nut of battery negative post clamp.

02. The jumper wire ( the other end is at W10 stud ) is now to bite the battery negative clamp , while I remove slowly the battery negative clamp till about 60% raised up.
By 60% the battery negative clamp has risen up, there will be space at the battery negative post for the crocodile clip to fully bite the battery negative post lower part.
Once the jumper wire is secured and all well, the DMM pointy lead can now be removed and the battery negative clamp removed completely.

03. I set DMM to use the 400mA port. I then swap the DMM red test lead pointy end with a clip version. Clip the DMM red test lead to battery negative post,while the black lead is still at W10.
When all secured, I then slowly un-clip the jumper wire alligator clip from W10 ( easier for me ), by now the DMM is already alone 100% handling the load of the car in SLEEP MODE.








As seen my car in a DEEP SLEEP MODE, is 5 milliamps only.
I disconnected all OBD2 based accesorries when doing parasitic load test, because I know their stand-by current consumption already. Now I want to know MB modules only.

If your car has more options and hence more modules, perhaps you can see up to 15 milliamps as normal.
Max limit is 25 milliamps by most techy and above this, there is a module which should be sleeping but not yet sleeping or failed to sleep due to some issues.

Oky doky.....have fun doing this test guys.

S-Prihadi

I forgot..........

All doors and trunk is to be closed. A locked car is better.
The hood, for my W212 facelift, the car has what MB called as Workshop Mode for hood staying open, and it will still fall into DEEP SLEEP mode.
So for me, I do not need to trick my hood switches (2) by locking it manually.
If your W212 pre-facelift does not have workshop mode, you need to click-lock the hood switch and please place a big red or blue sticker over those 2 locked switches, otherwise if you forgot
it is in a locked position and slam the hood close...bye bye hood switches !!!

If your car has any other accessories tapping from existing fuse and you do not know the power source you steal from is a 30g source or a 30 source, I will list for you which fuses are from Circuit 30g and which ones are from Circuit 30.
Note 30z is the same as 30


FRONT SAM FUSE BOX
Clamping device is another name for CIRCUIT
Ignore Circuit 15, 15R, 87, 87M and 87F which these all are using another relay to power or kill them. They will be OFF in sleep mode, unless their modules went banana.



















====================================== WILL CONTINUE====================================


REAR SAM FUSE BOX

S-Prihadi

REAR SAM FUSE BOX








NOTE : Fuse no 53 which is a unique Circuit 54, its actual power source is Fuse 54 and is from Circuit 15.






















Okey done.

S-Prihadi

Here is the power of the el-cheapo Uni-T 60BT DMM. It is so worth it.... better than my other one from Owon for its bluetooth apps data logging feature.
US$35 only...WOW !!! I posted it here : https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...eshooting.html


Like almost a month ago, I tried to trace a friend's C200 W204 parasitic drain, which caused his battery be dead in 3 days.
I could not find the actual root cause, it was behaving normal during the 2 days test I was watching its deep-sleep milliamps consumption.
But since I use a 1 second per data point logger from the , I could leave the logging for 1 hour and I found out something new.

I never knew that modules actually has power consumption spikes. See below for the C200 W204



The lower "zoomed" file are the consumtion spikes which I separate from the normal 4-5 milliamps and merge them each with 1 second extra interval as zero milliamps separator,
to see how long in seconds these up to 75 milliamps spike last.




These spikes are too short a duration and too low a power consumption to kill the battery, even if 3 weeks the car un-touched.
Anyhow I fixed this car rear light bulbs holder assy BOTH L and R ones, which is famous for its melted ground wire pin. You can google it and also search in this forum.
So I never actually found the actual culprit of his crazy 3-days-batttery-dead kind of drain, but very probable that the rear SAM could have stayed awake due to the
short circuit caused by the rear tail light melted ground wire pin.

=======================


Back to W212. Seeing the spikes of W204, I was wondering if I log long enough on my car, how high will the spike I get ?

Here is a simple log I did. Below is 15 minutes worth from total of like 25 ish minutes log I did.


Since my W212 and my friend W204 is not sharing the same engine computer me using MED177 , he is using SIM271.
And his W204 has that stupid mechanical lock on the steering while my car with electric power steering does not have such lock.
His tranny is 5 speed, mine is 7 speed.
The ignition key system would probably be identical.
The above are modules which always have power or a Circuit 30 ( always HOT ) and not 30G which will be OFF when car enter deep-sleep mode.
As I recall at least 4 modules is always HOT.

To note and repeat : During the logging of my friend's W204 deep-sleep power consumption, I have not yet fixed the rear tail-light assy short circuit, but the rear SAM has activated its usual
protection which is cut power to it and declared a DTC. So the high spike milliamps might be from the occasional inspection the rear SAM is doing...maybe.



======================



Now I want to share the typical power consumption of a W212, already in deep sleep mode ( engine OFF for more than 24 hours ) and you open its door for 1 second and closed it again, no unlock via remote,
simply close the door. Let see how long will it need to go back to deep-sleep mode and what kind of power consumption took place.

DubVBenz

I realize that tearing apart your 212 is a hobby and you have provided a ton of really nice deep dives, but I feel like I'm the only one on these threads that daily drives my E400 and not a damn thing has gone wrong. I like your threads because they provide potential solutions should something go wrong, but my car is now 9 years old, I have it tuned with a JB4 and the worst thing that's happened is my salty post-run elbow has destroyed the leather/fake leather on my arm rest because it rests in the same place every time. Granted, my E400 is one of several cars I daily drive and lives in a garage, but it has been incredibly solid. Your posts are great, but I feel like you're looking for problems that may not, or may never have been, a real problem.

S-Prihadi

Well, I use my car as an exercise machine, physical wise and brain wise. That is why I get so itchy fingers and would want to learn of how it works when in a KNOWN GOOD state.

I used to like modification for power + handling when I was young, but now I only do modification for improved handling from a better behaved dampers compared to the OE SACHS :
hence I use Bilstein B4 front and B6 , for ablility to still maintain OE comfort.
Also a good differential from Quaife, an ABT type. This DIFF is money well spent. In USA you may go with WaveTrac brand
Once on this kind of DIFF and decent Michelin PS4, you can whack your road opponent on corners with better speed and traction, even in the wet.
I will not touch my engine or exhaust system. Engine wise the current horsepower is decent and I like quiet car, so exhaust system will never be modified.

You think your E400 has nothing wrong because you wait for DTC to happen.
If I were to inspect your car, I guarantee you I will find components drifting out of spec or not in its prime state of health, but it wont produce any DTC or any changes you can yet feel.
Aside from an exercise machine, I keep my car to nearly as brand new feel as possible, this is the difficult one as everything will wear out and sensors value do drift a little.
Zero future trouble from predictable wear and tear or aging components is another reason now at 9th year I do more inspection, as I want to keep my E400 to 20 years.

Having JB4 tune on your car is not the worst thing you can do in terms of engine torture.
How often you whack your engine to WOT continuously and to 120C ( 248F ) coolant temperature is the actual torture.
Have you driven hard enough till you see 120C coolant temperature and has to slow down ?
It only took me 9 KM or 5.5 miles of run to get to 120C (248F) , while ambient temperature is at 32C / 90F and that has to be done on a track as there is no "togue" kind of safe road to
do it in my city and it will be irresponsible to other road users if I do so on public roads. I am too old to be a hoonigan on the road

Now, how long have your rear tires last , down to its 1.6mm legal limit in normal daily use ?
If your rear tires can do better than 12,500 miles life on it, you did not use enough of your JB4 mod.
How long have your engine mounts last ? If it can last and being a vibration free like new to 20,000 miles, you have not kick-down often enough to 1st or 2nd gear.

Have you ever inspected your front damper bump stop for sign of wear on its bottom part ?
If the bump stop bottom part is still flat and not "consumed", that means you have not corner hard and often enough on your car.
If your front sway bar links has survived without a torn rubber boot pass 30,000 miles, that is another sign the car did not get enough hard cornering.
If your rear damper bump stop top part, where the dust cover resides, is still fat and nice and not thinned down, you have not done enough high speed run on wavy road.
High speed on wavy road taxed the suspension system a great deal and that is the fun part , where the concern of traction loss is the challenge from a mere 15-20 degrees turn while
suspension is over-whelmed by weight shift hence traction changes from such wavy roads.

Have you ever logged and inspected your rear oxygen sensor speed of response aka lazy or not lazy ? DTC will be issued only when this sensor goes BAD.
They get shorter lived when one does high speed often, where the temperature of the sensor would be at 970C ( 1,778F ) a bit too long.
930C ( 1,706F ) its its typical long term heat limit for this narrow band, albeit peak 1,030C ( 1,886F ) is allowed.

Have you ever inspected the carbon build up on your intake valves ?, our turbocharged M276.820 is more prone to carbon build up, albeit not a high deposit one like
older BMW-s or Audi-s.


Do I drive fast on public roads ?
Yes, when the road is safe enough as in a paid highway, where in my country slow and moron motorbikes* ( *regardless of engine size ) are not allowed in paid highway.
Paid highway also means no azz-holes crossing the road like he or she owned it or push-cart food seller pushing his cart ON the road.
3rd world country non paid highway is a very risky and dangerous road, merely because too many nut cases using the road.

I do not worry of any traffic violation when I speed on my public roads, be it paid highway or regular back roads. Unlike in USA.
As long as I do not crash my car and cause harm to most importantly : PEOPLE and property of others, speeding ticket is something I never been issued with, let alone a few hours cell time.
I worry most when I harm people in a traffic accident, even when it is their fault. Touch wood, I never been in that position and would not want to be in one.
Cops here do not really care if you do 120+ MPH on a 62MPH speed limit, more so when you are a solo car and not racing with another opponent doing crazy zig-zag and
endangering other motorist. At the worst even if the cops chased me, all I need to do is speak politely, ask for mercy and I give the cop the "magic-handshake", off we go, zero issue.
Speed camera I never dealt with, and it may not be too friendly as it is a system based and not a person based. However, it is only a "magic-phone-call" away if needed to be to solve it, if it
goes beyond $$ fine. If $$ is the only matter, no worry.

So, those above are a short summary to how I "abused" and at the same time pampered my car mechanically. Its degradation is measurable when and if we want to spend time inspecting it.
Electrically or electronic signal wise, all we can do is learn of their values or how they behave when in a healthy state of being and while we keep all electrical contacts clean, dry and tight and cool.
Cool temperature wise for module is not something I can do or control
These damn modules can go bad whenever they want to. With enough database , we hope to catch the anomaly, which is what intermittent issue usually comes from and a
bi-etch to track down.

I do not wait for DTC to happen, the gap or allowance between a 100% normal functioning device to the limit a DTC will be triggered is way too wide and harmful and it is an insult
to a well maintained car.