So is there a real issue with the Tazer Mini?

[DanW]

@EZMFE there are a few articles about Uconnect and they state the Uconnect can go into a cycle loop and not shut down and I have had this happen a few times but it was long ago and I had it happen just yesterday and I can tell you and be honest about it that it happened with and with a Tazer installed, currently my Tazer is married and I just have a few vehicle settings changed but am utilizing no live settings so thentazer is unplugged so now I will see what happens long term and go from there.

Mine didn't do what I recognize as a loop, but the Uconnect screen looked backlit when I shut the Jeep off a few weeks ago and I had to do a reset, which without the Tazer, was a pain. The Tazer was not installed at that time. I believe the fact the Uconnect stayed on drained my battery somewhat. I'm just not sure the battery issues or Uconnect issues are Tazer related. This Uconnect has a mind of its own. This thing might be a Transformer or part of Skynet.

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[WranglerMan]

@DanW and a lot of you other guys here are some articles on the Uconnect issues

Here are a few articles

https://autoweek.com/article/technology/fcas-uconnect-fritz

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/15/17017946/fiat-chrysler-rebooting-screen-uconnect-problem

And if you are really bored read my semi scientific testing with the taser married but not installed and then married and installed

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/tazer-ess-battery-testing.20413/


Not sure any of the above will put your minds at ease but it’s just some useful info, currently I just pulled my JL off a tender, not sure how long it took to go to “float” but I put it on at 1100 hrs on the 7th and approx 5-6 hrs later it went to the second charge state and at 2300 hrs it was still there so not sure when it went to float mode but this a.m it was all done, I just checked the main battery voltage about an hour off the tender and it’s reading 12.8+ and that’s about all one can expect from a fully charged battery and when I head out in a short while to run some errands I expect the EVIC displayed voltage to be in the 12.8 range as the batteries are fully charged so the IBS should tell the JL no high charge is needed

 

[EZMFE]

Well I am happy to report that everything is back to normal for my JL. I can't say what happened but when checking it after getting home tonight it was back to the 45 seconds and everything was off. No looping issues at all. Tazer is married, Tire size, TPMS limit, and ESS is all working fine. I guess it just got mad I was messing with it and wanted to give me a scare.

So now after shutting off the vehicle the gearshift light shuts off after about 15 seconds, the dash then shuts off at about 35, and the Tazer blinks green for 5 or so more seconds and shuts off. The Tazer blinks red until the dash shuts off and then changes to green.

Thank you WranglerMan for following up with the comments/links. I had already read your entire battery testing thread, as anyone with a Tazer issue should, but thank you nonetheless. It's contributors like you that go the extra mile when you do not have to that makes this community as popular as it is.

 

[Kevin8086]

Well, I do not need to test with a voltage meter or read forum posts of guys voltage testing and yada yada...

Can tell you when my Tazer JL Mini is installed, it is pretty much, always awake and talking back and forth with Uconnect. You can watch the red lite on the Tazer JL Mini blink continuously for for a couple of minutes and then it stops for a minute or so and then starts blinking again. This goes on 24 hrs a day, non-stop.

The Mini blinking led light uses little power but the Mini talking back and forth with Uconnect depletes the battery. It's Uconnect, that supposedly wakes up the Mini and then the Mini goes back to sleep (or vice versa) and this scenario repeats over and over, 24 hrs. a day.

IF I do not hook up a battery tender to trickle charge the JL, the JL's batteries deplete. For the record, I have the battery and alternator upgrade on my JL.

I ask other Mini user's to watch their Mini's at night through the JL window and see if your Mini does what mine does. Please do so and report back here. Just let the installed Mini, dangle, down so you can see the blinking light in the dark.

In closing, I have no battery depletion with the Mini unmarried and uninstalled. I never run above 13.5. I just did over 3 weeks with no battery tender usage and no above 13.5....

SO, my deduction is there is an issue in the pairing of the Tazer JL Mini and Tazer JL with the Uconnect. Again, no voltage testing daily, etc. are needed for me to know my battery depletes when theTazer JL is in place.

I'm a fanboy of the Tazer JL and Tazer JL Mini but...............

.


.

I had this issue with it staying awake. I removed my short cuts. Unmarried the tazer. I then reinstalled and married it again and have not had a problem since. Everything goes to sleep and no issues. I have the regular screen not the 8.4
Been fine for weeks now.

 

[WranglerMan]

I encourage everyone that’s having issues to do the same as @Kevin8086 did and also make sure to do a FULL REBBOT after any and all changes regardless of what you changed, I currently have my Tazer married back and made some vehicle changes then unplugged it, it’s not that I don’t trust it it’s just that I currently don’t need to utilize any of the live features as I have found another way to control the ESS system

 

[Rhinebeck01]

@Kevin8086

When you say "I removed my short cuts", please, explain exactly what that means.. exactly what you did.

If I remember correctly you run a Mini, right?

I have Mini and 8.4 .

 

[WranglerMan]

@Kevin8086

When you say "I removed my short cuts", please, explain exactly what that means.. exactly what you did.

If I remember correctly you run a Mini, right?

I have Mini and 8.4 .

He might be talking about dragging down apps to the shortcut bar at the bottom of the Uconnect screen

 

[butcho]

and also make sure to do a FULL REBOOT after any and all changes regardless of what you changed

Found out the hard way that a full reboot also includes shutting off your vehicle, opening and closing the driver side door, then letting the computer go to sleep.

 

[JohnJG]

Tazer has firmware updates which address amperage draw and sleep mode.
Current version is 11.0.8
https://zautomotive.com/tazer-jl-updates/
I just installed the mini yesterday so I can't say if it solved anything. Hopefully, it will help ya'll.

 

[gotsolder]

Newbie here. First post ever! Great group of people here! I do not own a Tazer - I'm researching the idea.

I've got a lot of experience with tracing down circuits that kill your battery. It is really frustrating. Reading the voltage is not the recommended way to determine whether a "parasitic draw" exists. Yes, it's the easiest. Yes, it's an indicator that you LOST battery power, but it is NOT an indicator that you are losing battery power RIGHT NOW.

Think about a simple circuit like a flashlight. If the AA batteries shows 1.5 volts, its good to go for the camping trip - brand new. If it shows 1.2 volts - it works fine, but you might want to bring along more batteries. Neither 1.5V nor 1.2V indicate the flashlight is on or off...And that's what we want to know. Is the mini causing a parasitic draw?

When you turn off and walk away from your vehicle, it is in an awake state for a period of time - maybe 5-15 minutes depending on the manufacturer. Then it goes into a sleep state leaving only vital sensors and memory chips on. The only way to detect this is to put a multi-meter in AMPERAGE mode in series (not parallel) with the battery. ie, remove the ground wire on the battery and connect it to the amp-meter, then the other amp-meter's terminal to the ground post on the battery.

NOTE: NEVER TRY TO START the vehicle in this state - you could potentially blow apart your meter.

So what you will see is the amperage will read about 350-500 mA with the vehicle off, lights off, etc. Open the door and you will see the amperage increase due to the cabin lights. When the vehicle goes to sleep, the amperage will typically drop significantly to 30-50 mA. If the mini has a bug and keeps the vehicles ECU from going to sleep, it will continue to draw 350-500mA all night or weekend long and your battery will certainly take a huge hit.

That was one scenario. Another scenario (again, example only) is you determine without the mini that the draw is 50mA after the vehicle goes to sleep. Good to have a baseline. When you have the mini married, the car also goes to sleep (drops from 500mA to 115 mA). That means the mini is drawing an additional 65mA (115-50). Not good.

Final scenario - unlikely: brand new battery and you use your jeep VERY frequently - you may not detect a low battery for years because your alternator is constantly recharging it.

If you take a look at John G's link above mine, the mini release notes indicate "Lowered sleep current from 38mA to 7mA." ahhh ha...starts to make sense! 31mA is not enough to kill a battery, but it shows they are working proactively to fix the issue. Good job.

BTW: A little LED blinking is not enough to cause a significant draw. Alarm systems have blinking lights all the time.

So I hope my post was not too long and made sense. My only question is: Has this issue been 100% resolved by all the mini owners after they upgraded their mini firmware?

 

[Dom]

Well, I do not need to test with a voltage meter or read forum posts of guys voltage testing and yada yada...

Can tell you when my Tazer JL Mini is installed, it is pretty much, always awake and talking back and forth with Uconnect. You can watch the red lite on the Tazer JL Mini blink continuously for for a couple of minutes and then it stops for a minute or so and then starts blinking again. This goes on 24 hrs a day, non-stop.

The Mini blinking led light uses little power but the Mini talking back and forth with Uconnect depletes the battery. It's Uconnect, that supposedly wakes up the Mini and then the Mini goes back to sleep (or vice versa) and this scenario repeats over and over, 24 hrs. a day.

IF I do not hook up a battery tender to trickle charge the JL, the JL's batteries deplete. For the record, I have the battery and alternator upgrade on my JL.

I ask other Mini user's to watch their Mini's at night through the JL window and see if your Mini does what mine does. Please do so and report back here. Just let the installed Mini, dangle, down so you can see the blinking light in the dark.

In closing, I have no battery depletion with the Mini unmarried and uninstalled. I never run above 13.5. I just did over 3 weeks with no battery tender usage and no above 13.5....

SO, my deduction is there is an issue in the pairing of the Tazer JL Mini and Tazer JL with the Uconnect. Again, no voltage testing daily, etc. are needed for me to know my battery depletes when theTazer JL is in place.

I'm a fanboy of the Tazer JL and Tazer JL Mini but...............

.


.

I’ve been contemplating On buying this Mini Tazer but only to stop the hyper flash in my 2019 JL Sahara. I just had a full led conversion everything went well until it came to the fender led signal lights. Yup hyper flash. But that’s not my only problem now after this conversion my Telematic system no longer works? I’m unable to start or open my Wrangler yes we done all the troubleshooting on the phone. When I press the SOS button I get the operator she or he can give me my location but when I’m done it doesn’t hang up it keeps ringing and ringing even after I get out and lock my Jeep. I have to disconnect the battery for at least 5 minutes. The only reason I would like to try and use this “Tazer JL” is to stop this hyper flash and maybe that will also fix this telematic issue. I’m wondering can stop the hyper flash and remove the Tazer without having to worry about a dead battery. Or am I looking for more problems? Thank You

 

[Dom]

I’ve been contemplating On buying this Mini Tazer but only to stop the hyper flash in my 2019 JL Sahara. I just had a full led conversion everything went well until it came to the fender led signal lights. Yup hyper flash. But that’s not my only problem now after this conversion my Telematic system no longer works? I’m unable to start or open my Wrangler yes we done all the troubleshooting on the phone. When I press the SOS button I get the operator she or he can give me my location but when I’m done it doesn’t hang up it keeps ringing and ringing even after I get out and lock my Jeep. I have to disconnect the battery for at least 5 minutes. The only reason I would like to try and use this “Tazer JL” is to stop this hyper flash and maybe that will also fix this telematic issue. I’m wondering can stop the hyper flash and remove the Tazer without having to worry about a dead battery. Or am I looking for more problems? Thank You

Unable to start an open using my iPhone application Uconnect

 

[SPRINKLES]

I'm also on the fence w/ getting a Tazer Mini. The things I'd want to use it for are:
1) Re-calibrating the speedo for larger tires
2) Reverse cam constantly on (helps w/ a trailer)
3) Not sure what else, but w/ all it does, I'm sure I'd find something else to utilize.

However, it seems many have glitchy problems associated w/ the Tazer Minis.

Can you re-calibrate the speedo and then unplug it or does it have to stay connected/on?

 

[DanW]

I'm also on the fence w/ getting a Tazer Mini. The things I'd want to use it for are:
1) Re-calibrating the speedo for larger tires
2) Reverse cam constantly on (helps w/ a trailer)
3) Not sure what else, but w/ all it does, I'm sure I'd find something else to utilize.

However, it seems many have glitchy problems associated w/ the Tazer Minis.

Can you re-calibrate the speedo and then unplug it or does it have to stay connected/on?

Honestly, I haven't found the Tazer to be any more glitchy that the Uconnect is on its own. In fact, the few glitches I would attribute to the Tazer were more related to either the ESS randomly activating (no big deal and not very often) and the back-up cam activation with turn signal. I turned that feature off and so now I can't think of any other glitches. The big advantage of the Tazer, beyond the obvious, is the ability to quickly and easily reboot the Uconnect when it displays its own silly behavior that it does without the Tazer, such as lower music volume or a couple of Android Auto bugs. I highly recommend it.

 

[Bluezlgnd]

Has anyone tried to update to the latest firmware? The software on my computer does not want to recognize the USB connected Dongle. I tried this on 3 different computers, all with the same issue. Figured I'd check here to see if anyone had tried to update their firmware issue and had the same issue. I don't want to send it in for repair if it's not needed.
Thanks

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