I have not been able to find the answer to this question anywhere, and I think I've looked at every site that would relate. I have seen pieces of the problem, but never the whole problem put together.

I have a 2008 Mini Cooper S convertible, with the Sidewalk package.

We have our bluetooth phone system from NewMinisStuff installed and working beautifully for almost a month, and I love it. (It does use the steering wheel buttons.)

But we had a weird thing happen with our electrical system. Yesterday, the car wouldn't start because, as it turned out, the battery was drained. And I mean drained. Trying to start it didn't even make a sound. The inside and outside lights went on, but nothing else. It was so drained that jumping it 3 times didn't do anything for it. But the Roadside service guy showed up promtly with a bigger charge and it started. It is fine today.

I drive this car every day, and the most it sits is 12 hours, and even that is unusual.

We took it into the Mini dealer today, and they are saying everything checks out, but that there is a 120 milliamp drain on the system when the car is off. The onboard computer, they say, doesn't go to sleep (because of the phone) as it should, and the battery is drained. They said they disconnected the the loom and its connctions, and the drainage is more like 1.5. Is this possible? Although the mechanic is saying it would drain the battery in about a week, and although we have driven the car every day, they are still saying the parrot system is at fault. Could this be the case, and what can I tell them?

I wonder if anyone else has this kit from Mikey and what car they are using it on. Mikey said they have used it on a car like mine with no problem. (I haven't heard back from him yet about my problem, but it would help me to get whatever information I can. Because they say that it takes about a week to drain the battery and the minimum I put on the car daily is 10 miles, but there are 4 days a week it gets at least 25 miles, what could this mean?

My car is really brand new; it has not quite 1850 miles on it.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

bcg, aka Fantastic Choice

 

Any resolution to this issue? I'm in exactly the same boat. I've got a new MC convertible about 8 weeks old with a parrot kit installed from newministuff. About three weeks ago, I went to start my mini and found its battery dead on several occasions. The service center looked it over and couldn't find anything except a few connections that might be loose. Two weeks later, it came up dead again and it has been towed in to the service center.

They did a draw load on it the first time and couldn't find a parasite load. The draw during sleep was within spec. ( 18 mA tested, spec is less than 40 mA)

I'd love to hear what happened with your mini. Was it the parrot system after all?

thanks,
jay

 

No resolution, and we are continuing to search. Mikey sent us a new loom, and the same thing happened again. Apparently there is something different with the wiring on our 2008 models than on the 2007. Mike said he has not heard of it, so it would be good if you let him know about yours.

I have just about given up and am thinking about getting a gps navigation unit of some kind, a Garmin Nuvi with lots on it, including bluetooth. Apparently they can be ordered with our model of car, so they "must" work?? If they do, then I can use it to do handsfree communicating, but the down side is it won't use the mfsw, but at least it will work easily, I would hope! I've sent a letter to the local service dept, and I hope to hear tomorrow if it will work.

My husband and I have both tried to work this through with Mike and others, and no one seems to have a clue. My husband is going to try higher up in the tech part of MINI, regionally or wherever.

So far, you're the first person who has communicated with us about having this issue! I'll let you know what I hear as soon as I hear.

Barbara, aka Fantastic Choice

 

I'm sorry to hear that you're still having issues. I can certainly relate. So, have you narrowed it down to the parrot kit? Did you pull the kit and the drained battery problems go away? I'd like to know if eliminating the parrot kit will solve the problem or if there is some other gremlin in the electrical system.

thanks,
jay

 

During the time we didn't use the kit, while we were waiting for the new loom (more than 6 weeks), there was no problem. And since we removed it again, in early April, no problem. And so, for my car, yes, its the kit.

 

Thanks, that's good to know. At this point, I'd be happy just to know that's the problem. It sounds more and more like mine has a slow drain somewhere and since your setup is almost exactly like mine, I suspect that's it.

When you pulled the kit from your car, did you pull the entire wiring loom, or just disconnect the parrot control box and the other interface box? The two boxes for mine are mounted behind the kick panel. I'm wondering if disconnecting them would be sufficient or if I need to disassemble the center stack and remove the entire wiring loom.