What is this thing??

[ThomasBellamy]

Any ideas? It was rolling around loose when I bought the motor.

[Speedtouch]

It should have a 7-digit part number on, e.g., 1 356 368, which you can look up in Real OEM or on Google, but it looks like the OBC gong (beeps to warn of freezing conditions, or if you have a speed limit set, etc.) that sits under the driver's side lower dash panel to me.

[Gavla]

OBC Gong

[ThomasBellamy]

would the obc stop working if this was unplugged?

[ThomasBellamy]

the obc on the dash doesn't work, haven't read through the wiki on it yet so..

[Speedtouch]

No, the OBC will still work without the gong - it is just a small amplifier circuit, connected to a loudspeaker, which when triggered by an output from the OBC, will sound it's 'gong'.

See the Zone Wiki guides for more info about the OBC:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/OBC

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ction_Book

[ThomasBellamy]

thanks for clearing that up speedtouch, I have lots of reading to do!

[darkchild]

the obc on the dash doesn't work, haven't read through the wiki on it yet so..

Is it definitely not working or has the bulb pack died?

[ThomasBellamy]

the obc on the dash doesn't work, haven't read through the wiki on it yet so..

Is it definitely not working or has the bulb pack died?

I have no clue! I press buttons on it and nothing seems to happen.

If I plug the gong back in, can I press some buttons to get it to make some noise? At least that way I can determine if it's working or not right?

Then grab some bulbs as per the wiki and solder them in ?

[darkchild]

the obc on the dash doesn't work, haven't read through the wiki on it yet so..

Is it definitely not working or has the bulb pack died?

I have no clue! I press buttons on it and nothing seems to happen.

If I plug the gong back in, can I press some buttons to get it to make some noise? At least that way I can determine if it's working or not right?

Then grab some bulbs as per the wiki and solder them in ?

You can normally make out very faint digits on the OBC when the bulb pack has gone, especially with the car lights on.

Soldering in new bulbs is a no brainer - the bulb pack from BMW is about £75 now

[ThomasBellamy]

ok thanks, I'll do some trouble shooting tonight and see if I can't get this sorted over the weekend when my trendy new butane powered soldering iron kit comes in the post. A trip to Maplins is on the cards!

[Speedtouch]

The only way to make the gong sound with an OBC where you can't see the screen would be to plug it all in, and bring the external temperature sensor tucked up behind the front bumper on the nearside down to around 3 degrees Celcius or below using freezer spray or similar, as that is what the OBC instruction manual says it sounds the gong at.

[harry_p]

or just unplug the temperature sensor as it'll suddenly think its -37.5 degrees (or something silly)

[ThomasBellamy]

Plugged in the gong, was about to remove the ambient temp sensor to test when I noticed some very faint numbers on the obc display that changed when i pressed different buttons.

So it looks like it just needs some new bulbs!