Question about how to make sure the radio works
 

Hey guys,

I got a double din radio used and I want to make sure it works. I called crutchfield and they told me that all I have to do is put the red and yellow wire on the positive battery terminal and the black wire on the negative terminal and the radio should turn on...is this true? I tried it and it blew the radio fuse immediately. Thanks for the help.

oh dear. Unles you know well what you are looking for, thats not a real bench test man. Go to a local shop.. they always have a board in the install bay that has pos, neg, a speaker and some rcas on it. They will charge you 10 bucks for a real bench test and tell you yes or no, and if no, what was wrong.

otherwise, in your scenario, if they deck powers up, thats good enuff ? I mean, i enjoy the lights in my dash too, but id like to make sure it plays music too.. right? :)
If youre blowing fuses on a headunit, that means somethings shorting out... if an internal fuse was out, it would be an open circuit, not a short.

Best bring it in man. Seriously.

ive done that before directly connecting the head unit to the battery cus i had forgotten to take the cd out before i removed it. nothing bad happened

He's blowing the fuse.
And doesn't know if the audio works.
Needs bench test.

Yes, that is true.

If you run this test, and you have any problem; please post back to this thread so we can help with a definitive solution.

--Spike

Yeah, I'm really just trying to make sure it turns on and functions. I bought it off ebay from a guy with 99.99% positive feedback and over 70,000 positive reviews.

I already did the test(red/yellow to positive, black to negative) and it blew the fuse. Maybe I'm not supposed to put the black directly on the negative terminal? Should I instead be using the chassis or does that not matter? When I sent it back to the guy, and he sent me a replacement that does the same thing(blows the radio fuse). That's why I immediately thought that maybe the crutchfield guy is wrong about being able to connect directly to the battery.

Sorry, I'm desperate and trying to give as much detail as possible. Would it be worthwhile to just go to a radio shop? Thanks for everything so far.

Test it by connecting to a 12v battery that is no in your car.

I use a voltage transformer device from Radio Shack, but a 12v battery provides the identical power source for testing devices.

--Spike

If you are blowing a fuse, it's probablythat you do not have the power connected properly, or that your H/U uses an adapter for it's connection to a 12v power source.

--Spike

Are u sure ur connecting positive to positive and negative to negative... Look for the plus n minus sign on the battery.... Thats a dead giveaway!

My .02

Spike: no adaptor as far as I know. I have a kenwood dnx6160 which just uses a regular harness with all of the wires coming out of it. I have the metra kit for when I stick it in the car.

350zion: I can't tell if your being a douche or you are serious so I'll just ignore.

Could the problem lie with the car battery? When I was coming to work I noticed my battery gauge is pegged at 14 volts. Is that normal? I can try connecting it to my wife's car tonight to see if it makes a difference. Thanks.

I don't care to be a dyck with anyone on here. I was serious! Wat part of my comment sounded like I was being funny with u?

U said u connected it n blew a fuse.. u sound like a guy who really knows nothing at all about Wat he's dealing with n the help was given to u immediately to take it to a professional...

U stated u didn't kno if u should connect it to a chassis ground or directly to the battery... In all my years of effing around building cars n car stereo I wont say I'm an expert but if I'm unsure of Wat the hell I'm doing n someone offers up i legitimate idea I'm not gonna blow him off....

Get some professional help before u break something! Thats sarcasm....

:lurk:

When testing equipment, it’s best to connect the device to a battery that is not in your car. I’m not sure if that is what you are doing.

A battery delivering 14v isn’t unusual and should be OK. There might be something shorting your connections at the battery. Try connecting to a battery that is not in a car if you haven’t already done this.

--Spike

to be honest, if it is wired to that battery correctly and still has to ahve a buttom pushed for it to turn itself on, and it still blows a fuse, your radio you bought has a problem, plain and simple.

There is a relay of sorts on a very small scale inside that thing that turns it on, and i bet you its bad.. or you have a power chip causing a short, or you have a cold solder that has decided to short something.. who knows...and its also going to be something small and soldered to a circuit board. ie, you aint fixing it yourself.
Call the manufacturer and ask what their flat rate repair cost is and send it to them.
At least when its over, you have a warrantied unit from them and everything will be totally fixed.

Or no one can listen to me.. :)

either way. Just telling you what needs to be done.

Ive seen it happen once... no wait...( times three... add the four, .. carry the two.....)yeah.
Ive actualy seen it happen hundreds upon hundreds of times.
Simple stuff. Youre not screwed or anything, i know Alpine charges like 90 bucks including return shipping to total run thru the entire unit.. if its a simple fix, they clean it and send it back to you at a lesser charge. Not sure about your manufacturer tho.

weird thing is OP said he got a replacement and did the same thing and had the same result so idk 2 bad decks in a row is not very common ??

bmccann101 thanks for the detailed and long reply…

…but I think you have missed an important point that eddogz mentions:

Yes. He has experienced the same problem on two different devices.

So… your help may not be helpful.

--Spike

These are all really helpful suggestions..I have the radio in my trunk, I will take it to an audio place after work and have them test it. I will report back the findings. :)

There's always the chance he sent it back to the guy he bought it from and the guy he bought it from found the blown fuse, assumed that was the problem, and sent it back!

There should be no problems hooking the radio up directly to the battery. The power that ultimately powers the radio comes from the battery any way - it really is no different.

Strip a 1/2" off the yellow wire insulation, strip a 1/2" off the red wire insulation, twist them together and hold them to the positive battery terminal. Strip a 1/2" off the black wire insulation and hold it to the negative battery terminal (or chassis, again the same thing as the negative battery terminal is connected directly the to chassis making it electrically common).

If doing this blows a fuse, as mentioned above by bcmcann101 the radio is bad - plain and simple. The radio has no way to know if it is connected directly to the battery or to the "correct" wires inside the car - it is all 12vdc!

Took it to a local audio shop, they confirmed that there is a problem since it blows at the shop too. I called up the ebay shop and he said that it was working fine when they checked it and offered to refund the money. I'm a little confused as to how he had it working. The only variable would be the actual wiring harness since when I returned it I didn't send back the harness, only the radio. Is there any way in the world that the issue would be the wiring harness from the radio? I told him to send me the wiring harness that he used to test it before I send back the whole thing for a refund. Thoughts?

Kevin Pierson was correct. He's a smart guy.

--Spike