One of the first things I did to my 2017 F56S, which I bought in 2021, was to install the official factory-accessory cellphone cradle device -- the Mini Click and Drive. Automotive electrical is no stranger to me, but the MINI is really REALLY picky about having its electrical fiddled with, so I did what any smart "tech" would do -- I followed the BMW/MINI installation instructions to the letter, period. Connect literally 2 wires from the accessory feed to 2 other specific wires in the passenger footwell, using comes-with-kit splices.

Not a fan of splices but hey, BMW made the car, it's their kit, it's their splices, you get the idea.

Back then I was also unfamiliar with the car's electrical particulars (other than to disturb as little as possible), and had no wiring diagrams. So again, BMW made the car, it's their kit, you get the idea. Follow their instructions.

Following the kit's wiring instructions, supplied by BMW/MINI and intended to be followed by dealer service, resulted in four major problems.

1. The BDC constantly detecting a short circuit "somewhere" due to parasitic draw.
2. That parasitic draw in turn causing both battery drain and big-time undercharging (which may or may not have killed the battery that came on the car, but definitely was on its way to trying to kill its replacement).
3. That same general power drain causing various systems, modules, and things to fail to talk to each other *sometimes* and *in various combinations* at engine start:
   • BDC
   • EPS (Electric Power Steering)
   • DME
   • CAS (climate control, AUC sensor)
   • Automatic transmission
4. Due to those comm fails, system failures ranging from malfunction of the auto start/stop system to power steering assist being completely deactivated at any given engine start.
   • Yes, you read that right, power steering assist completely deactivated upon engine start -- *sometimes.*

How did I finally figure this out?

• The Click & Drive's vehicle cable contains only 2 wires, which supply +12v and GND to a kit-supplied 12v accessory outlet (it's a really long cable).
• Into the outlet is plugged a BMW USB-A charger, part number 65412458284, that comes with the kit. The charger and accessory outlet are lashed together via zip-tie in a plastic cradle, but you can snip the zip-tie and unplug the charger.
• With the charger plugged into its kit-outlet (regardless of whether anything was in turn plugged into the charger itself via the upstream Click and Drive), the car complained of short circuit and I had all the electrical weird/trouble described.
• After figuring out what had been electrically tapped (keep reading) as per the wiring installation instructions, I said "oh heck no" and unplugged the charger, but left the kit-outlet still wired to the car.
• The short circuit complaint disappeared immediately and has not come back since.

I have been running with that kit-supplied USB charger unplugged for 17 days as of this post. Each and every electrical problem described is gone. Battery charging is not just OK, it's exceptional. No deactivation of power steering assist, not even once.

The major takeaway of the "short version" is that if you follow the BMW instructions, you can end up with what I wound up with. The fact that I have resolved this by unplugging the kit's own USB charger from the kit's own installed-per-BMW-instruction accessory outlet -- and to be clear again, the issues were present even if nothing at all was plugged into that charger -- says to me that the issue was not a phone or phone accessory.

Here's the technical "how" and why the kit's wiring instructions are bad.

After figuring out how to find and read relevant BMW wiring diagrams, I figured out what the 2 wires for that kit outlet were connected to.

• The +12v wire, supplying the outlet with power, is tapped into a +12v wire that runs from the front power distribution box to the BDC itself. Yes, that is correct, it literally taps a physical power feed to the BDC itself.
  • This is not a good idea, on general principle.
  • The power feed in question is terminal KL 15N_1 aka KL15N1.
  • For anyone wanting to cross-check, the kit instruction is to tap the wire on pin 20 of connector A258*B3.
• The GND wire, supplying the outlet with a ground path, is tapped into a wire whose endpoints are the BDC at one end, and the refrigerant pressure sensor (climate control) at the other. Yes, that is correct, it literally taps a ground path in the *middle* of a BDC-controlled circuit.
  • This is just weird, and probably also not a good idea given that the +12v side of the outlet is a power feed to the BDC itself.
  • For anyone wanting to cross-check, the kit instruction is to tap the wire on pin 24 of connector A258*B3.

So someone at BMW/MINI decided it was a good idea, in designing the install instructions for this to wire a USB accessory outlet, into which the driver can plug in who-knows-what-so-long-as-it-is-USB-A, in parallel with one of the car's most critical computers on the +12v side -- and then on the ground side, into the *middle* of a circuit controlled by that same critical computer. Bad idea. There should be a sign on it that says "one day, something here is going to make the car mad." And in my case, the USB charger that came with the kit is (apparently) the thing that ultimately made the car mad -- whether because it failed on its own (in some non-obvious way; when installed, it still "works" from a user POV), or because of the USB-powered phone cradle I very reasonably jacked into it.

Again, still working on getting the remaining error code, which is "8040B8: Driver KL30BKL15N: continuous deactivation due to short circuits to ground", dealt with. It sounds ominous and conventional wisdom is that you have to replace the module (in this case the BDC), but all my electrical is working so far as I can tell, and there may be a solution by using Tool32. I intend to document my progress & final results (when I have them) in this thread.

The smart thing to do if one is going to wire in this kit is probably to connect it in electrical parallel to the existing front accessory adapter. One can rest assured, in theory at least, that since BMW put that front accessory adapter there and it came *with* the car off the assembly line, the car's computer systems are coded in a way that expects to handle the eccentricities of owner-plugged-in USB devices.

Been frustrating and also expensive to go through all this -- but lucky for me, also a really good learning experience that I can share with others.

I do sort of wonder if someone in the "BMW Cool Accessory Stuff Team" decided not to talk to the "BMW People Who Designed The Vehicle Electrical Team" tho and screwed this all up over office politics

Hope this helps someone. And big thanks to everyone who helped me figure pieces of this out.

 

Glad you figured it out.

Regarding using the front power outlet.

I tapped a standard female outlet with pigtail to the wires feeding back of it. The Garmin GPS I use has a male cigarette lighter adapter.
I couldn’t cut the adapter as the cord was also the traffic antenna.

But I regress, you’ll have no problems using that port. But does it come from the DME?
it has a 45 second power off delay.

 

Thanks — and also thanks for your multiple assists as I worked through this.

So as it happens, the phone and phone cradle are so close — horizontally and vertically — to that off-the-assembly-line front power outlet that using it is sensible unless one really really REALLY wants to hide the cable. And in that case, one could do what you did — splice the kit’s female accessory adapter in to the wiring for the factory accessory adapter and call it good. Ultimately I may just skip trying to hide the cable and call it a done deal. Have not decided yet.

Not sure about the DME question. I tried to puzzle out, via the wiring diagrams, how that factory accessory adapter is wired in and I didn't get far. I know the answer is in the diagrams, I just sort of got lost in the maze. There's a whole lotta stuff in there

 

Quick update, BMW/MINI finally figured out what I figured out (or variant on same), the upshot of which is that the Click & Drive's power feed has to be decoupled from 15N_1 and instead connected to something else +12V instead -- and that if you don't, it will make the EPS (and other things) plenty mad.

The TSB is on the NHTSA website. Here's a link to it. Screen shot below from same.

NHTSA ID Number 10250379, doc ID SIM 61 01 24 (aka M610124), dated 1 February 2024, "CLICK AND DRIVE ACCESSORY AFFECTS ELECTRONIC POWER STEERING (EPS) FUNCTIONALITY".

As a bonus, for folks stuck with the 2013-vintage install instructions, this TSB includes the most current (November 2023) instructions on how to install the Click and Drive, including corrected electrical.

 

Thank you - Thank you - Thank you!!! After a year of dealing with this issue unplugging the click-n-drive solved it.

The one odd thing is that since my phone was connected via car play, I was the only one with the problem. Anyone else who drove my car did not experience the issue, even though the click system was still plugged in. Regardless i am leaving it unplugged and all good so far.

Many thanks!

 

Glad to help!

The likely reason why it doesn't happen when someone else is driving the car: when there is no phone plugged into the Click and Drive, the only thing in the circuit is a cigarette lighter-style USB charger (which is sitting in the circuit -- physically -- between the Click and Drive sitting behind your instrument cluster and the rest of the car's wiring).

Think of the Click and Drive as a giant extension cord. You don't plug anything into the extension cord, the extension cord has no effect. Plug something into the extension cord, and you get the effects of whatever you plugged in pulling power.

This analogy isn't perfect because the USB charger itself, being an electrical component, can do "electrical things." On my car, since I did the install myself, I went back to the install and unplugged that charger (thus bringing all power draw to absolutely zero). All problems vanished immediately. But you get the idea.

Here's the charger that is in the middle of that circuit, in case you didn't know.

Hopefully with the help of the TSB, your shop can get your Click and Drive usable (such that it no longer screws up the rest of the car)!