Hi, I wonder whether someone might be able to suggest where to start looking for a communication issue with my Nanocom.

It was working perfectly when I used it about three months ago, but I plugged it in last week and nothing is registering. It seems to be making a firm connection in the green data plug, under the glove box, and it is certainly OK at the unit. It is a pretty new unit, I got it twelve months ago, and it just sits in the glovebox of the car. It hasn't been dropped or damaged, but it just doesn't come on when plugged in.

Is there a fuse somewhere that could have popped ? I haven't had any issues, electrically, with the car so I don't know it has suddenly decided to stop working.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Pierre3.

Connector is supplied with power from Fuse 33. If that has blown, the Nano won't start even.

Hi Richard, thanks for the suggestion - I will check it in the morning, and let you know if it is the solution.

Pierre3.

I'd guess that plugging it into another vehicle should see it power on - I'd assume (perhaps wrongly) that the power pickup is the same on the p38 as other vehicles so it should boot up, even if it can't find anything to speak to.

Brian, that is a good point. I kind of disregarded it when I tried it the other day in the Range Rover. I am going to plug it into my laptop because if I remember correctly it should start up so that the demo programme can be used.

Pierre3.

Without trying it I seem to remember you need the seperate power supply to do that with the pc, I don't think it will draw power to boot up on usb but may be wrong there.

Had to do a few things today, and one job was to check the reason why Nanocom is not working. Thanks to Richard for advising to check fuse 33 - it has popped. It is a 5 amp, and powers the data plug and also the back-up alarm siren. I don't quite know why the fuse should pop but I suppose that it may be something to do with the back up siren, where-ever that is.

I will be replacing the fuse tomorrow so I hope that it doesn't pop again, if it does then I obviously have a problem. But where, God only knows !

Pierre3.

Alarm siren lives just towards the front and under the fusebox. On later cars it was battery backed but by now the NiCd battery in it will be well past its sell by date so it may be that it was trying to draw too much current which popped the fuse. By now it has been unplugged on most cars.....

Richard, is it difficult to get the sounder out. I had a quick look with a torch and I can see it located under the fusebox.

What is involved in getting the fusebox moved, to allow access ? I see that there are a couple of lugs held down by bolts, around the side of the fusebox. If I take out these bolts will I be able to just move the fusebox, or do I need to disassemble the whole fusebox completely before being able to move it ?

Pierre3.

Always leave the cable attached to the nano, and then plug to the obd after. If you do it the other way round the live cable will short when connecting to the nano. Most if not all my f33 blows were before I sussed this out, now it's v rare

Romanrob, very many thanks for this really vauable piece of advice. I know, for sure, that I plugged the lead into the OBD first, and then the Nanocom, and found that it wasn't working.

I will replace the fuse and test this information out. It could well save me a real pain, replacing the sounder. Thanks for your advice.

Pierre3.

Fusebox is held in place with 3 small bolts, removing those will allow it to be moved. Most people leave the sounder in place and just pull the plug out of it.

The Nanocom documentation (somewhere) does tell you to connect the cable to the unit first before connecting to the OBD port. I seem to remember seeing it when I first got mine although I could never work out why.

If you notice, the cable towards the OBD in the car is a plastic plug on both ends.
The "Nano side" plug has metal borders, like old PC cables, and the Nano chassis too.

Connect first the "live" OBD and sometimes you can touch in an improper manner plug/Nano chassis when connecting, and you can see a little spark and hop! it goes the 5A fuse. Not always, but after happening to me a couple times I understood better leave the Nano side connected first ...

If you lift the fusebox with the three bolts as Richard indicated, be VERY careful what you do with it and how you lean it while you mess around under it, unless you first take the battery out. It is live down there, I once propped it aside while testing something and it moved to touch something and burned out a bunch of fuses. Dunno what happened, I was messing around inside the car and I heard a crackle of electricity and stuff stopped functioning ....

Hi, thanks for all the useful and informative advice.

Re: leolito - I was going to disconnect the battery first, I wouldn't risk opening the fusebox and messing with it without the battery offline, as it were. I changed the top section of the centre console yesterday and I disconnected the battery then, because I was concerned that unplugging all the switches could short something out by mistake.

Anyhow, to be fair Romanrob was correct in connecting the unit first, and then connecting to the OBD port. I have replaced the fuse and I plugged the Nanocom in three or four times with no issues. So, Happy Days, all I need to do is [a] remember to keep Nanocom permanently connected to the lead, and [b] make sure to have spare fuses in the car [which I really, really should have anyway !!!].

Pierre3.