Alpine HeadUnit Test (HELP!!!) please

[jaybee]

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.....

[S11EPS]

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!

[jaybee]

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...!!!

[kells]

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

[Heyho]

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?

[kells]

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

[jaybee]

if you don't use the earth will it not work....?

[kells]

if you don't use the earth will it not work....?

na i very much doubt it would

[jaybee]

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.. :embarassed:

help....?

[kells]

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