Bongo Fury

Since buying my Bongo last year I,ve been plagued by constant flat batteries. (Both starter and Leisure battery)
I,ve had plenty of suggestions on the forum and ooccasionly the problem seems sorted only to return with a vengeance.
Before biting the bullet and putting Bongo into the local auto electric hospital I thought I would ask a last question.

The radio which is an after market replacement Sony, switches itself onto standby when the ignition is switched on and has to be manually switched off when ignition is switched off. ( Sometimes I forget!!)

The radio was connected to the L/B by a friendly Bongotech at a rally.

Any suggestions please??

Steve

Hi Responder.

As I think you suspect (!), there is a teeny wiring 'thingy' to sort out (I do love to use all the correct technical terms...)

The Bongo has two live feeds - one is permanently live (+12V) to keep the radio's tuning memory, etc. intact when it's switched off, and the other only becomes live when the ignition key is turned to the first 'click' (before the ignition lights come on.)

Correctly wired, your radio SHOULD go off when you turn off your ignition. Yours doesn't - so there's the rub.

Having just fitted a Sony system myself - using the correct Mazda adaptor - I can confirm it should work ok! If the friendly Bongoist didn't have access to this adaptor, then it's quite possible he carried out the short-cut of connecting BOTH of the Sony's 'live' inputs to only the single Bongo 'permanent' supply. It might seem astonishing that a radio's memory (must be mere milliamps...) can drain a car battery over time, but I've read of many cases where this does happen.

If you remove your radio, can you see if there is an adaptor loom in there? There should be the proper Sony loom (which came with the stereo) plugged in to the Sony, with a plug at the other end which connects to the 'adaptor'. This adaptor is simply another short wiring loom with a Sony plug on one end and a Mazda at the other. The 'Mazda' end then plugs into the existing Mazda wiring plug.

If this adaptor is missing, then the best solution is to get one - I can recommend a superb eBay supplier who'll do one for as few squid. If, however, your wiring loom has been cut and connections made using wire-twisting, then perhaps the best solution is to simply sort out the two wires which need talking to.

If the latter is the case, then let me know and I'll have a good shifty at my wiring and try and guide you thought it.

If the radio was connected by the Bongotech person to the LB (leisure battery) then it most likely isn't wired through the ignition circuit specifically so it can be left on when the ignition is off. If it is shutting off / going into standby, and you say you are having flat battery problems, could it be it is detecting a low voltage in the leisure battery and switching itself off as a precaution.

Are you confident the leisure battery is receiving charge OK from the split charge relay when the engine is running. If it has once discharged deeply it could have blown a fuse in the charging circuit and/or have damaged itself.

How is the starter battery behaving? Is it too going flat all the time. If so, how old is it and/or what condition is it in. Also, do you know what AmpHr rating it is as I think the Bongo likes a beefy starter battery anyway (mine seemed much happier when I moved from a 75AmpHr to a 95AmpHr starter battery).

These are just random thoughts (above) but maybe they could help unravel the mystery. Good luck and keep us posted.

Mike

best thing to do is take the front off the stereo when getting out of the bongo as the LB is sending a perminant live to the stereo

You've Been Bongod wrote:best thing to do is take the front off the stereo when getting out of the bongo as the LB is sending a perminant live to the stereo

That's what I do now I have wired an LB kit in and patched the fusebox..........makes sense ....

Oops, I completely missed the fact it's connected to the leisure battery - (I didn't know what l/b was... )

I'm not familiar with l/b wiring, I'm afraid.

Trouble at t'Mill wrote:Oops, I completely missed the fact it's connected to the leisure battery - (I didn't know what l/b was... )

I'm not familiar with l/b wiring, I'm afraid.

Sounds like we're coming up with a solution anyhows!

Is it possible that the permanent live is taken from the leisure battery and the ignition from the main battery. This would cause all sorts of confusion and problems.

I have wired a seperate switch via a couple of relays so that when on site the radio is powered from the leisure battery but when driving it is powered by the main battery and therefore switches off with the ignition.

The other thing to check if the radio has been wired to a permanent feed from either battery is that Sony head units have a little dip switch that needs to be toggled so that when put into stand by the radio completely switches off. Otherwise it will rely on losing the ignition feed to completely switch off and will still be drawing current even when put into stand by.

One more thing. When you switch the radio off do you get a little beep tone to remind you to remove the fascia. If not you may have the permanent and ignition feeds the wrong war arounf and this will cause all sorts of problems. The red wire should be ignition and the yellow wire permanent.

Having just fitted a Willinton LB kit this weekend, I'm having similar issues. I also have a Sony CD player inherited from when I purchased the Bongo. I now have to turn it off at the stereo when I switch the engine off. Not a problem as such, but I guess there will be one day when I forget and the battery drains.

I'll have a look at the wiring soon.

Responder, can you confirm - this stereo is still mounted in the dashboard in the usual place? And the fitter took a feed from the leisure battery especially to it?

I have to remember to switch my sony head unit off too, as it's also wired in to the L/B... I don't have the option of removing the faceplate as it has a motorised front panel...

My L/B must be half decent... Left the radio on for four days once!

stringman wrote:Is it possible that the permanent live is taken from the leisure battery and the ignition from the main battery. This would cause all sorts of confusion and problems.

I have wired a seperate switch via a couple of relays so that when on site the radio is powered from the leisure battery but when driving it is powered by the main battery and therefore switches off with the ignition.

The other thing to check if the radio has been wired to a permanent feed from either battery is that Sony head units have a little dip switch that needs to be toggled so that when put into stand by the radio completely switches off. Otherwise it will rely on losing the ignition feed to completely switch off and will still be drawing current even when put into stand by.

One more thing. When you switch the radio off do you get a little beep tone to remind you to remove the fascia. If not you may have the permanent and ignition feeds the wrong war arounf and this will cause all sorts of problems. The red wire should be ignition and the yellow wire permanent.

Now thats an informative post i knew there was a reason why i asked you about my alarm stringman ps took me mages to figure out the diodes

Dar

I was wanting to resurrect the locked hread http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ch#p250974...... but it's locked so here goes :


Wouldn’t mind resurrecting this thread…..

missfixit70 wrote:Topic unlocked & the 2 topics merged - all you have to do is ask

Had my Bongo 1 month. Have leisure battery fitted and Sony stereo (MEX BT4700U) connected to leisure by bongo friendly garage.

When away we run a coolbox off the l/b but it only seems to last 1 day and night – the fan seems to be permanently on on the coolbox (I thought these things would be intermittent). Due to the post above I suspect it *may* be because the Sony unit is eating the battery when the faceplate is off.

Does anyone know for sure if removing the faceplate from the stereo stops it draining power? We do notice that all the memory disappears, which is an annoying side effect I never considered when draining the leisure battery.

Wouldn’t mind getting it sorted. Like the idea of adding a wee switch if I could work out how to do it....and if I thought it made any difference.

Going by stringman’s note in above post above, I can’t remember ever getting a beep to remind you to take the facia off when we switch the unit off with the OFF button…..and not sure if mine has a dip switch to switch it off completely.

Any ideas / suggestions / things to check out for a wiring ‘numptie’? Wouldn’t mind getting it sorted before a Euro trip so the l/b doesn’t cause my beer to warm up on the ferry, or when we stop up north for a couple of days

Cheers

These Sony units do draw a bit of current - I turn mine off completely but the problem is surely your coolbox - it'll probably show the current drain on the label but I'd expect around 4 amps

You're doing bloody well to get a day & night out of the cool box to be honest as Dandy says, big current drain.