iSimple Gateway battery drain

[vrsound]

I bought an iSimple Gateway for my 2004 Grand Am. Works great ... except.

After a couple of weeks I noticed that if I don't drive the car for a couple of days the battery is dead. This happened twice before my mechanic traced it to the iSimple Gateway. It seems to drain the battery. I did some tests of my own and found that the iSimple Gateway is not really draining the battery - the Grand Am has a series of power downs when the car is turned off. The iSimple Gateway seems to interrupt the last power down cycle and the cars systems are still powered on and drawing half an amp. If I disconnect the iSimple Gateway the power draw is about 50 milliamps.

Has anyone heard of this? I've contacted tech support at the company and they are investigating. They don't know if there is a solution.

The iSimple Gateway connects to the back or the standard GM radio and sends 12V and the data line to it's little interface box. If I disconnect the interface box the power draw is gone - but so is my radio since the data line has been interrupted.

 

[bluecasket]

i do too

i have the same problem too on my Oldsmobile Alero 2004 (which is basically the same at a grand am 2004). I've disconnected my isimple gateway until I get a chance to contact customer service...I'm hoping a software update will fix this issue.

let's try and keep this thread to date, thanks and good luck!

 

[vrsound]

i have the same problem too on my Oldsmobile Alero 2004 (which is basically the same at a grand am 2004). I've disconnected my isimple gateway until I get a chance to contact customer service...I'm hoping a software update will fix this issue.

let's try and keep this thread to date, thanks and good luck!

This is who I've been talking to:

PAC-Peripheral Support

<PAC-Peripheral@aampofamerica.emailcenterpro.com>

Clifton Brown
Aamp of America
Technical Support
866-931--8021
Monday thru Friday
9:30am to 8:00pm EST.

Clifton put me over to Derek (somebody) in the R&D dept in Florida. They're answer was that they hadn't heard of this issue and it may take a while to track down. Please get in touch with them. The more people that bug them the better.

I've found that I only need to disconnect the 24pin flat cable going into the iSimple box. The car will power down properly once that is unplugged. If the car is going to sit in the garage for more than a day, I unplug the box so I'm not greeted with a dead battery. I have plugged the cable back in while the car is running without an issue but I do try to plug it back in while the car is off.

I have had the box swapped and it made no difference. Clifton also sent me a firmware downgrade to see if there was any change - which there was not.
They are supposed to be getting back to me tomorrow.

Cheers,

Vince