All I DON'T want fo Xmas is an Aldi Radio Grrr V6

[New Forest Terrier]

More weird electrics with my Aldi radio.

I replaced my original Jap radio with one of these and on Friday 13th (Of Course ) the Bongo decided not to start. Nothing worked, battery charged, ignition system checked, still dead. The leisure battery was also apparently drained.

On Saturday 14th the Bongo started again, The leisure battery had strangely recovered its charge, but the radio started tripping out. I treated the whole ignition system with damp start. , All was fine for a week but no radio. I thought the damp start was the solution and following advice from this forum, reset the radio.

This worked for two days and then I had a dead Bongo again. Leisure battery no power, no starting despite a long fast motorway run the day before. Ran the starter battery low and gave up for the night.

Next morning I removed the radio for starters and was about to charge the battery before testing the ignition again. Before doing this I gave it one last turn of the key. Surprise, surprise it started first time despite the low charge and gusting rain. It has been starting first time ever since. This has continued through thunderstorm, gale and freezing nights. The charge in the leisure battery also bounced back once the radio was disconnected.

Obviously the radio and the leisure battery did not get on in the slightest, but how did it affect the ignition system The radio must have pulled a heavy power drain even when switched off, but I would have just expected a flat leisure battery.

The leisure battery is four months old, installed in a single battery Bongo with a Willinton kit, by Fred at Discount Trucks. Never touched bottom on it in normal use. The starter battery was new when I had the Bongo and is also in good nick, Alternator output OK. No obvious ignition faults.

Anyone got any ideas what happened and what to look for in another radio so that it does not repeat this scenario

Just found my receipt and the box so will try to get my 50 quid back. If not, is there anyone I hate enough to give a nice shiny new radio to for Xmas

[g8dhe]

I think its going to need some one with one of these radios (several people are reporting various oddities) to measure the power drawn by these sets to identify the real problem. Other than that its a case of change it out. If anyone close to Worthing in Sussex wants to be the guinea pig, I'd be happy to measure the currents if they can get to me.

[dave_aber]

I'm home on Tuesday. I'll be making some measurements then.

I thought the odd reset was all I had to worry about. Appears I may have more to think about now....

[bongolow]

My Aldi radio was drawing 310mA. It took about a week to drain the leisure battery if I didn't use the car but it didn't, and shouldn't, affect the main battery. As you know, the batteries should be isolated from each other by a relay and only connect together when the ignition is on. Could be worth checking this relay and make sure it's working correctly.

[missfixit70]

This thread may help if you haven't seen it already Mary - http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =3&t=36367

[g8dhe]

Ha ha if they have swapped 4 and 7 around then yup that would explain it, how twisted can they get
It might be best to just remove the 4 & 7 pins from the Plug and reverse them around and mark the diagram appropriately.

[madmile]

Pretty sure one of my recent customers vans had a Tevion CD player and after fitting a leisure battery and wiring the CD player etc permanently there was a significant current draw from the ingintion switched live feed. We ended up putting a switch in the CD circuit so as to leave the CD player on the leisure battery.

[New Forest Terrier]

Thank you for all your input. It has really helped to get to grips with what's happening.

Since I posted this I have talked it through with a mate who knows a lot more about leccy problems than me. What we reckon is that there is more than one fault.

The radio is probably faulty. The extent of the power drain and the constant tripping out seem worse than simply being c**p.

The Bongo also almost certainly has an intermittent ignition fault, either a faulty earth or a relay. These two combined with almost continual rain have created havoc. A faulty relay on the Wilinton kit is also a possibility.

My TM2 alarm is on the starter battery and has performed perfectly throughout all. Even when the Bongo won't start it still reads correctly.

Next step is to get a good auto leccy to check out the Bongo. The Aldi special is going back to Aldi. Its a waste of space and the sound quality is worse than my jurrasic old jap Sony. Once the Bongo is sorted then I will stsrt again with a decent radio. Halfords 50% sale looks worth investigating.

[Alison01326]

I'll have to go out and check which model it is but we've got a really nice Sony one that we had in our old car before we sold it. Naturally we put it in the Bongo! They probably don't make that model now, and it's chucking with rain so am not going to check model number at present. It wasn't seriously expensive compared with some, and it's switch offable. I don't believe it draws any current at all when it's off (there's two sorts of off - clock on, and nothing on). We haven't checked though but have certainly had no issues.

Will try and remember to post up model number tomorrow

[daveblueozzie]

Until i get round to fixing /dumping or smashing the effing radio to bits for draining my LB ,i connect an intelligent battery charger up to my LB during the week.(well its cleverer than me) .
At least i know my alarm and remote central locking will work when i need the bongo .

[stringman]

I have posted previously how it is quite easy to wire up a couple of relays and a switch so that during normal driving the radio will take its feeds from the main battery, hence switching off when you turn the ignition off, then when you are parked up you flick a switch and the relays switch the feeds over to the leisure battery so you can listen while stationary. Works for me!