Battery isolator

A

AT21

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MG ZS EV
Does anybody know if I fit a battery isolator, will the radio code be affected?
 

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I fitted one to mine when I got it last week and had no problems with any of the infotainment system. :)
 
AT21 said:
I don’t know about that, just that my son mentioned it.
Does that mean it will be ok?
Click to expand...
Okay, as i recollect the radio codes, this was something that was used in cars ~20 years ago.

At that time the radio was usually a unit that could be pulled out of the dashboard, so they included some code that had to be entered after the radio had been without power.

Reason being, that at that time thieves broke into cars, to steal the radio, so by adding a code after it had been without power would essentially render the radio useless to a thief that did not know the code.

Nowadays, the radio is integrated into what is commonly called the HMI (Human Machine Interface), and it is more like an infotainment system.

The actual electronics is more of a small general purpose computer, with the needed chips for radio, GPS, and so on, and it is usually situated in a place, not easily accessible without taking the car apart.

Also, the HMI is usually coded together with the rest of the electronic "computers" in the car, so that it can not easily be transferred without needing coding by the manufacturer.

For this reason, they abandoned these codes, so there should be no codes, needing to be entered if you disconnect the battery.
 
Interested to know what the benefits are of disconnecting the 12v battery. Why would I want to fit one of these?
 
CTofW said:
Interested to know what the benefits are of disconnecting the 12v battery. Why would I want to fit one of these?
Click to expand...
will be on holiday for a while, and the battery does discharge while the car is standing,
also a theft deterrent when away
 
CTofW said:
Interested to know what the benefits are of disconnecting the 12v battery. Why would I want to fit one of these?
Click to expand...
I have purchased a spanner but was also looking at these. My reason was there has been a few posts where there has been issue with the car (some rapid charger issue) which has been fixed by disconnecting the battery for 10 mins.

With regards to leaving the car for weeks at a time I have an AA solar battery saver I was planning on using like I do got my ICE cars.
 
hmadsen said:
Okay, as i recollect the radio codes, this was something that was used in cars ~20 years ago.

At that time the radio was usually a unit that could be pulled out of the dashboard, so they included some code that had to be entered after the radio had been without power.

Reason being, that at that time thieves broke into cars, to steal the radio, so by adding a code after it had been without power would essentially render the radio useless to a thief that did not know the code.

Nowadays, the radio is integrated into what is commonly called the HMI (Human Machine Interface), and it is more like an infotainment system.

The actual electronics is more of a small general purpose computer, with the needed chips for radio, GPS, and so on, and it is usually situated in a place, not easily accessible without taking the car apart.

Also, the HMI is usually coded together with the rest of the electronic "computers" in the car, so that it can not easily be transferred without needing coding by the manufacturer.

For this reason, they abandoned these codes, so there should be no codes, needing to be entered if you disconnect the battery.
Click to expand...
Interestingly enough I found out the hard way my wife's 5 year old Fiat 500 still has a code. Took me ages to find it in the manual which I was lucky enough to still have.
 
CTofW said:
Interested to know what the benefits are of disconnecting the 12v battery. Why would I want to fit one of these?
Click to expand...
Quite a few of the issues posted on this forum can be fixed by disconnecting the 12 volt battery for 10 minutes.

A sort of Alt-Control- Delete for EV's. :)
 
Gadget Geek said:
Quite a few of the issues posted on this forum can be fixed by disconnecting the 12 volt battery for 10 minutes.

A sort of Alt-Control- Delete for EV's. :)
Click to expand...

It's well documented that the MK1 can be reset using the 10mm spanner trick

Has anyone been successful with it on the MK2? I've seen it suggested as a fix a number of times, but I've not yet read anyone saying that it worked, I'm interested to hear opinions on this
 
N2STY said:
There quite good but if you use the cigarette lighter option it will not charge if the cigarette lighter is on the ignition live it needs a permanent live to work
Click to expand...
They have two connector types, the second being an ODB2 connector. I did not realise this had constant power and could take in power as well as give.
 
Striker said:
It's well documented that the MK1 can be reset using the 10mm spanner trick

Has anyone been successful with it on the MK2? I've seen it suggested as a fix a number of times, but I've not yet read anyone saying that it worked, I'm interested to hear opinions on this
Click to expand...
There are a few post on here where that has solved issue on the MK2. This was even done by a few AA visits.
 
slmorgan42 said:
They have two connector types, the second being an ODB2 connector. I did not realise this had constant power and could take in power as well a
Click to expand...
The odb2 plug is a good option as long as the voltage made by the solar is higher than the battery it will charge
 
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