Aftermarket headunit has power but wont turn on
11-04-2007, 08:26 PM
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Aftermarket headunit has power but wont turn on So im trying to install a clarion dxz865mp into my gf's camaro. Its a v6, i think its a 99, and it has the monsoon system. I took this out of her cougar so I know it works.
I hooked everything up, connected the wiring harnesses together, turned the key and nothing. So I thought maybe it was a bad ground but before i messed with that, I decided to check to see if it has power. There are two constant power wires coming from the headunit, they both have power while car is off and on. The accessory wire has power when key is on and when car is on.
The only thing im confused about is, the wiring harness i bought has a orange/white wire labeled as Dimmer, and a orange wire labeled has Illumination. THe harness from the headunit doesnt have a solid orange wire, but does have orange/white, so i connected orange/white with orange/white. That wire is not getting power, im assuming thats where my problem is. For the heck of it, I connected the soild orange from the headunit to the orange/white from the harness and still nothing.
If that wire was the problem, would the headunit still power on, but i just couldent see anything on the screen, cause the headunit seems like its dead, but its saying it has power.
Thanks for any help I may get.
Edit: Come to think of it, on the stock headunit, about 85% of the lights were out on it. That wouldnt cause a problem would it? Thats something with the headunit not the wiring right?
I hooked everything up, connected the wiring harnesses together, turned the key and nothing. So I thought maybe it was a bad ground but before i messed with that, I decided to check to see if it has power. There are two constant power wires coming from the headunit, they both have power while car is off and on. The accessory wire has power when key is on and when car is on.
The only thing im confused about is, the wiring harness i bought has a orange/white wire labeled as Dimmer, and a orange wire labeled has Illumination. THe harness from the headunit doesnt have a solid orange wire, but does have orange/white, so i connected orange/white with orange/white. That wire is not getting power, im assuming thats where my problem is. For the heck of it, I connected the soild orange from the headunit to the orange/white from the harness and still nothing.
If that wire was the problem, would the headunit still power on, but i just couldent see anything on the screen, cause the headunit seems like its dead, but its saying it has power.
Thanks for any help I may get.
Edit: Come to think of it, on the stock headunit, about 85% of the lights were out on it. That wouldnt cause a problem would it? Thats something with the headunit not the wiring right?
Last edited by lunatic0987; 11-04-2007 at 08:47 PM.
11-04-2007, 09:10 PM
#2
The wire colors in the adapter harness don't necessarily match one-to-one with the head unit. The adapter harness is just to allow you to patch the head unit wires rather than cutting off the factory connector. Certain colors are commonly used by many manufacturers for the basics like power and ground but there is no industry standard (especially for the other connections) so it's best to use the installation manual to get the correct connections.
The factory has an illumination that has 12V power whenever the headlights or parking lights are on. It is used as a signal for the head unit to switch display to the darker night mode. It also has a dimmer wire that has variable voltage based on the setting of the dimmer switch. It is used to adjust the brightness of the lighting. Most aftermarket HUs will have only one or the other, not both. The instructions will tell you whether to connect the illumination wire or the dimmer wire.
There shouldn't be two constant power wires. There should be one constant power wire for the HU memory and clock, one accessory (ignition) wire to turn the HU on and off, and one illumination or dimmer wire (occasionally both). Those should be the only power inputs necessary. There may be two power outputs - one for an external amp (remote turn on) and one for a power antenna. There is no remote turn on wire in the factory wiring so that wire would not connect to your adapter harness.
EDIT: I just looked in the manual for that model. There are indeed two constant power inputs because one (the one with the 3-amp fuse) is used to pass power to the external accessory bus if you have a changer or other external Clarion accessory. That wire is unnecessary otherwise.
Not knowing what colors you have in your adapter harness, I'll give you the colors in the factory harness and you can see which one connects to it.
The two yellow wires (if you need both) go to the factory orange wire.
The red wire goes to the factory yellow wire.
The orange with white wire goes to the factory brown wire.
The blue wire would go to the factory pink wire in a Firebird but Camaros don't have the power antenna.
The factory has an illumination that has 12V power whenever the headlights or parking lights are on. It is used as a signal for the head unit to switch display to the darker night mode. It also has a dimmer wire that has variable voltage based on the setting of the dimmer switch. It is used to adjust the brightness of the lighting. Most aftermarket HUs will have only one or the other, not both. The instructions will tell you whether to connect the illumination wire or the dimmer wire.
There shouldn't be two constant power wires. There should be one constant power wire for the HU memory and clock, one accessory (ignition) wire to turn the HU on and off, and one illumination or dimmer wire (occasionally both). Those should be the only power inputs necessary. There may be two power outputs - one for an external amp (remote turn on) and one for a power antenna. There is no remote turn on wire in the factory wiring so that wire would not connect to your adapter harness.
EDIT: I just looked in the manual for that model. There are indeed two constant power inputs because one (the one with the 3-amp fuse) is used to pass power to the external accessory bus if you have a changer or other external Clarion accessory. That wire is unnecessary otherwise.
Not knowing what colors you have in your adapter harness, I'll give you the colors in the factory harness and you can see which one connects to it.
The two yellow wires (if you need both) go to the factory orange wire.
The red wire goes to the factory yellow wire.
The orange with white wire goes to the factory brown wire.
The blue wire would go to the factory pink wire in a Firebird but Camaros don't have the power antenna.
Last edited by WhiteBird00; 11-04-2007 at 09:23 PM.
11-04-2007, 09:25 PM
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There are two yellow wires coming from the headunit, both have an inline fuse. A thicker gauge one and another that is the same gauge as the other wires. The thicker one has a 15a fuse and is the Memory backup lead. The thinner one has a 3a fuse and is called the Bus Power Lead. Both of those have power with the ignition off. I got that info from the installation guide.
Here is the online manual if anyone wants to take a look.
Installation guide
The orange/white wire from the headunit is for illumination according to the manual. And the one from the harness is for the Dimmer. So those two dont match up. The solid orange from the harness is for ilumination, but i did try to connect the orange/white to orange and it still had the same problem.
So to summarize that real quick, the harness from my headunit has a orange/white wire that is used for illumination. The harness i bought has a orange/white for the Dimmer, and an orange for illumination, I tried to use each one of those and still had the same problem.
Here is the online manual if anyone wants to take a look.
Installation guide
The orange/white wire from the headunit is for illumination according to the manual. And the one from the harness is for the Dimmer. So those two dont match up. The solid orange from the harness is for ilumination, but i did try to connect the orange/white to orange and it still had the same problem.
So to summarize that real quick, the harness from my headunit has a orange/white wire that is used for illumination. The harness i bought has a orange/white for the Dimmer, and an orange for illumination, I tried to use each one of those and still had the same problem.
11-04-2007, 09:33 PM
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My adapter harness has:
Yellow: Constant 12v
Red: Ignition 12v
Blue: Power antenna (Not using)
Orange: Illumination
Orange/white: Dimmer
Then the speaker wires and remote amp turn on
I currently have both the power wires from the headunit to the same yellow constant wire on the adapter, I didnt know where else to put the extra power wire. So instead of having two wires together, there are three. Is that a problem? Would having the one power wire I dont need connected there cause my problem?
Yellow: Constant 12v
Red: Ignition 12v
Blue: Power antenna (Not using)
Orange: Illumination
Orange/white: Dimmer
Then the speaker wires and remote amp turn on
I currently have both the power wires from the headunit to the same yellow constant wire on the adapter, I didnt know where else to put the extra power wire. So instead of having two wires together, there are three. Is that a problem? Would having the one power wire I dont need connected there cause my problem?
11-05-2007, 03:50 PM
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I tried yet again to figure this thing out and yet there is no luck. All the wires from the adapter harness are matched up with the correct wires to the factory harness. This thing is really fustrating me, its about to go to best buy.
The illumination wire still has no power, but im assuming thats cause it wont turn on. But it should, cause all the nessecary power wires have power
The illumination wire still has no power, but im assuming thats cause it wont turn on. But it should, cause all the nessecary power wires have power
11-06-2007, 06:50 PM
#7
My issue with my clarion is there was no sound coming from it. But that was because the remote turn on lead was not connected. The wrong blue wire was connected. Did you figure it out?
Adapter Harness: Headunit
Yellow: Constant 12v Yellow (Memory back up)
Red: Ignition 12v Red
Blue: Power antenna (Not using) -------------
Orange Orange/white
This should be it. If I missed something maybe someone can chime in.
Adapter Harness: Headunit
Yellow: Constant 12v Yellow (Memory back up)
Red: Ignition 12v Red
Blue: Power antenna (Not using) -------------
Orange Orange/white
This should be it. If I missed something maybe someone can chime in.
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11-06-2007, 08:53 PM
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I have no freakin idea whats wrong with it. The harness coming out of my headunit has a blue/white wire, im pretty sure thats for the remote turn on. But where do i connect it, the adapter harness has nothing for that, only blue wire it has is for power antenna.
But you said there was just no sound, so it actually was powering up, whereas mine is dead, Although i did notice a very faint buzzing coming from the speakers when it was connected but thats about it.
Like i said before, all the power wires have power, that should be enough to atleast get this damn thing to power on. Right?
But you said there was just no sound, so it actually was powering up, whereas mine is dead, Although i did notice a very faint buzzing coming from the speakers when it was connected but thats about it.
Like i said before, all the power wires have power, that should be enough to atleast get this damn thing to power on. Right?
11-06-2007, 09:03 PM
#9
take it to a shop if you cant figure this out. The 3 wires that need to be connected to power the radio are a constant, accessory, and a ground. Try hooking up the ground and put the accessory and constant on the radio to a constant on the car........ should power up, if not check fuses.
11-07-2007, 12:08 AM
#10
I have no freakin idea whats wrong with it. The harness coming out of my headunit has a blue/white wire, im pretty sure thats for the remote turn on. But where do i connect it, the adapter harness has nothing for that, only blue wire it has is for power antenna.
But you said there was just no sound, so it actually was powering up, whereas mine is dead, Although i did notice a very faint buzzing coming from the speakers when it was connected but thats about it.
Like i said before, all the power wires have power, that should be enough to atleast get this damn thing to power on. Right?
But you said there was just no sound, so it actually was powering up, whereas mine is dead, Although i did notice a very faint buzzing coming from the speakers when it was connected but thats about it.
Like i said before, all the power wires have power, that should be enough to atleast get this damn thing to power on. Right?
Last edited by The Guz; 11-07-2007 at 12:26 AM.
11-07-2007, 07:42 AM
#11
The remote turn-on lead is not necessary unless you are using an external amp that needs it. It is a power output for signaling an amp that the head unit is on and has no effect on whether the head unit itself will power up. The factory Monsoon amp doesn't use a remote turn-on (it turns on when it senses audio signal on the input side) so you can leave the wire disconnected.
Checking for a fuse either on the back of the new head unit or inline in its power wire would be a good idea. You could have power getting to the harness connector but not getting to the HU.
Checking for a fuse either on the back of the new head unit or inline in its power wire would be a good idea. You could have power getting to the harness connector but not getting to the HU.
11-07-2007, 01:22 PM
#12
The remote turn-on lead is not necessary unless you are using an external amp that needs it. It is a power output for signaling an amp that the head unit is on and has no effect on whether the head unit itself will power up. The factory Monsoon amp doesn't use a remote turn-on (it turns on when it senses audio signal on the input side) so you can leave the wire disconnected.
Checking for a fuse either on the back of the new head unit or inline in its power wire would be a good idea. You could have power getting to the harness connector but not getting to the HU.
Checking for a fuse either on the back of the new head unit or inline in its power wire would be a good idea. You could have power getting to the harness connector but not getting to the HU.
11-08-2007, 08:49 PM
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damn it illumination wires aint got nothing to do with the head unit turning on, why didn't anyone mention that to him? when you check for power at the back of the radio are you probing with a multimeter or a test light? you need a multimeter, pull the damn radio out and bench test it on the battery if neccesary. confirm that it is the wiring and not the radio itself first. tackle one problem at a time, you assume it works but dont assume, know. you know you got two constants and one ignition, there is only one other thing to check, ground. stop checking the power wires we already know you got power there, check the ground and check the radio.
11-09-2007, 06:19 PM
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Alright...thanks for all your responses..they are much appreciated. I was testing power with a mulitmeter, i was checking power at the vehichles harness, before the inline fuse to the headunit, and after then inline fuse, all those places had power. Pretty much the power wires had power everywhere.
Now onto the next subject, how do I check my ground? I thought the ground was good because i had power everywhere else, am i wrong? If so, that seems like my problem. Where is the best spot for a ground in there?
Now onto the next subject, how do I check my ground? I thought the ground was good because i had power everywhere else, am i wrong? If so, that seems like my problem. Where is the best spot for a ground in there?
11-09-2007, 08:04 PM
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hook your ground wire going to your radio to the black lead of your multimeter and your red lead to a 12+, if it shows 12+ then it is pulling a ground through that wire, so you should be ok. or, with your deck hooked up, plug your red lead from your multimeter to a known 12+ source and touch the black lead to the metal on the outside of the cd player, if the meter shows 12+ then your ground is good. the chassis of the cd player is tied to its ground circuits.
11-09-2007, 09:12 PM
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I had the ground connected to the factory black wire. Ill try to do this one more time then im going to give up. So it seems my ground was good, and all the power wires had power.
