GolfGTIforum.co.uk
General => Car audio => Topic started by: jaybee on 30 October 2007, 09:40
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Okay so,
My sister has emigrated and I have fingered her headunit (which was in the attic) it's an Alpine kdc 716s, which was failry expensive but had all sorts of probs with its motorized faceplate according to reviews I've read, what I need is a way to check if it's working without pulling out my own hu.
Is it possible to just hook it up to a battery....????
I'm only considering this as it is possible to wire an ipod to the back, which I can't with the standard sony hu.....
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Yup, it's perfectly possibly to hook straight up to a battery for testing purposes.
Look at the loom - halfway between the molex connector (headunit end) and the iso connector there are (should be?) bullet collectors in the red and yellow leads - these are intended for the purpose of swapping the permanent and switched live locations, as they differ from manufacturer to manufacturer.
Separate at the bullet connectors, which will give you two number leads from the head unit which you can attach to the positive terminal of the battery.
You also need to earth the unit - connect a wire to the negative terminal of the battery and attach the to the spade connector of the earth (black) wire within the ISO plug.
Those three connections will allow you to power the unit up and check operation of the faceplate.
Be careful connecting things directly to the battery - using a wire with an in-line fuse to connect to the red and yellow wires would be preferable/safer than simply droppy them on that positive terminal of the battery. Also, avoid setting the headunit down onto the battery itself - that metal cage/headunit in such close proximity to the bare battery terminals is a disater waiting to happen!
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Thanks for that...... Will give that a go this evening
Is that yourself on the carousel..... If so nice ride....
You get thrashed round there by local boys in track prepped golf's... Regardless of what you're driving.....
Unless you're Walter Rohrl... Then you could be reversing and beating everyone...!!!
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be carefull hooking up direct to the battery.they can blow very easy!!...would only take 5 mins to try it in the dash instead
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be carefull hooking up direct to the battery.they can blow very easy!!...would only take 5 mins to try it in the dash instead
What do you mean?
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what i mean is you can easily f**k up a head unit by doing this trick....... it only takes a few moments to do it propperly and pull the head unit out of the dash and try it in the correct way
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if you don't use the earth will it not work....????
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if you don't use the earth will it not work....????
na i very much doubt it would
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FUBAR..!!!
Okay so I've gotten carried away with myself...
A little knowledge, going not a very long way...
Got the whole Black cable not just earth but completing the circuit bit, whipped out the Sony, gerry-rigged the alpine up, hey presto moving faceplate and after a couple of wiggles and shunts (what exactly these did I have no idea!!) the whole thing comes to life and sounds much better than my own!
Joy and Rapture!!!
So it's out with the sony cage.. iN with the Alpine, make all the connections solid, hook her up....
Not a peep.....
Loads of wiggle-ing but still the only thing going is the faceplate, no action otherwise, loads more wiggling and the odd rattle, no joy....
So I give up and put the sony stuff all back in, while reconnecting it short yellow and red, and blow radio fuse (22)
Steal fuse from other car, now the sony units cd mechanism makes it's usual whirr upon first conncection, but that's it, no clock no raidio no cd, fuse in back of hu is perfect....
Try reconnecting Alpine, now even the faceplate isn't working, is there another fuse somewhere other than 22
What have I done.. :sick: :sick: :cry: :embarassed:
help....?
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fuse on back of HU
fuse in fuse box
and fuse by battery sometimes
its worth having the Alpine repaired if its only minor faults with it, as they are about a million times better than sony head units :cool:
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also have u tried to connect the yellow and red wires up differently, the ones at the back of the HU with the bullet connectors?
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yeah, I have the red going to yellow and vice versa... the power is getting to the unit... it just seems as if the switching power isn't working, when I took it out after i first got the car to see if there was a line-in in it to connect my ipod the red cable into the yellow double bullet slipped out and it did the same thing... The battery power was there, and when you unplugged it and plugged it back in the cd mech whirred but the unit would not power up...
Now it is all connected and it won't power up....
The fuse by the battery, is that just for the radio, as everything else is working.....
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yeah i have a fuse by the battery just for the stereo but i do have a amp and that cable runs to it..
so do both stereos not work at all in the car now then ???
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Nope... :sick:
No response at all from the alpine, the faceplate is stuck in the half open position and just the cd mechanism whirring on the sony... which is why I am confused...
I'll try wiring it straight to the battery tomorrow and see if that helps sort out where the problem lies
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Okay so...
Tried one (alpine) up against the battery and the faceplate mechanism worked okay, but no life from the front panel, on closer inspection the little flat plastic(very thin) electronic connection between the main unit and the faceplate is split so I think maybe the unit is f?@$ked, however in the absence of a dvm it's a tool! Connected it up inside and no response from the faceplate mechanism.
The sony hu will eject and load cd's but will not power up, so would I be right to say that the switched power is failing to get to it...????
Which is the one in pin L (yellow at connector/red into sony hu)....
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May I suggest that you invest in one of these?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6-12-VOLT-CIRCUIT-TESTER-TEST-LAMP-WITH-SNAP-ON-CLIP_W0QQitemZ120170609493QQihZ002QQcategoryZ30921QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem?refid=store
It really simplifies things, and removes all of the guesswork.
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Sounds like a plan, do you need to have the stereo hooked up, or do you need to take it out of the circuit....
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It doesn't matter - easier with the stereo out, it will at least tell you if you have power where you need it.
Earth the clamp to the chassis, then just touch the tip of the probe on the bare wire you want to test. Then attach the clamp to live, and test your earth wire. Start with the basics.
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Thanks for that, dvm en route....
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Be a little careful using a multi-meter, as they will indicate a voltage present, but they will apply no load at all to the feed you are testing. It's often more reliable to use a light, as even a 10w bulb will load the circuit a little, and will be easier to use.
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so just rig up a festoon bulb with tails.....????
I reckon having spoken to a mech that I've blown the amp circuit in the hu... He reckons there are two circuits in the hu... one which does the cd drive/eject mechanism and the other which is amp and lights etc.... He reckons that the previous owner had left so many mid air junctions in the wiring, just wrapped in insulator tape,that when I pulled out or pushed back in the hu it contacted the switched and battery leads which was enough to blow the radio fuse and also burn the hu amp circuit, but left the cd drive circuit intact.....
Ah well....!!
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Apart from sending 12v up the speaker wires, I don't see how you could destroy a headunit in that way.
As for testing, a bulb with a couple of wires is as good as a testlight, just not as convenient to use. Good luck.