[Lewis Thomson (OP)]

Alaster encountered this problem in his car when travelling from Cape Town to the UK and wondered if there was a scientific explanation for this problem.

"The electricals in my car stopped working after it was transported via shipping container from Cape Town to the UK. I think there was a fault in the scanner in Cape Town. My question is, how does a container scanner work? Can it damage the electrical components within cars?"

What do you think? Discuss in the comments below...

[Bored chemist]

It is much more likely that a connector came undone during shipping.

[alancalverd]

Container scanners are film- and human-safe. At least the ones I worked on were. And since plenty of vehicles are transported in containers, it is reasonable to assume that their electronic systems are unaffected.

[SeanB]

6 weeks journey, and if the vehicle was transported with the battery connected, it is very likely that it went into deep discharge during that time, and that during the dropping voltage stage your ECU can have software faults from low voltage, which can damage the hardware by either overwriting memory, or by turning on things, and burning out items that normally are pulsed, like injectors.

Normally when you put a used vehicle into a container, or RORO ship, for transport you leave the window open, and disconnect the battery, so that you can get into the vehicle, as normally the transporters simply place all the documentation, along with the keys, in a bag attached to the front seat using the seat belt. New vehicle with the battery disconnected, as a new battery will survive 6 weeks of transport, but might not be able to start the vehicle after this. So all they do is reach into the vehicle on the car carrier, open the bonnet, and reconnect the battery negative terminal, and then get in and start it.

If the battery just went dead, remove, turn on headlights and leave door open for 10 minutes, to drain any charge in the electrical system and SRS system, and connect the new battery, positive first, then negative, and the electrical system should restart, though some modern vehicles, BMW in particular, but any with stop start systems, will need a dealer scan tool to recalibrate the battery, as they track battery capacity for stop start, so that it does not get too low with the engine non operational.

Electric vehicles as well the 12V battery is needed to power the high voltage relays, that turn on the main electrical system, a dead battery will make the vehicle dead till replaced, and the ECU and BCM are told to relearn the 12V battery state again.

[alancalverd]

Which is why most light aircraft still use magneto ignition and analog instruments!

[Lewis Thomson (OP)]

Update: The answer to this question will be delayed a week due to content scheduling and be released 22.06.20.

[alancalverd]

I rather think that people who make, sell, buy and ship stuff, and people who design cargo scanners, answered the question many years ago: no.

[Lewis Thomson (OP)]

The answer to this question is now available on our website and you can find the finished product through this link.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/can-cargo-x-ray-scanners-damage-electronics