Headunit issues with AE111 carib wagon

[Simon K]

Installed a new headunit at the weekend, an Alpine one. After it was wired up and working fine, we found the dash lights were no longer working and the tail lights were out.

Brake lights work fine but when the headlights are on, thats literally it. No interior dashlights nor tail lights.

After a quick chat with Mr Revhead we've tried a different earth(on the dash)but the lights are still bung and all the fuses are intact and unblown. Tried wiring the green illumination wire from the cars previous audio loom to the illumination wire on the headunit with no luck.

Anyone got any ideas? Kinda at a loose end here.

[Mr.Phreak]

Check your fuses properly, think it's the TAIL fuse in the kick.....but yeah, don't know AE111 Wagons well

[Lloyd]

As above, check all fuses again. New headunit and no lights like that is almost always a fuse.

If you check the illumination wire on the vehicle loom it shows up as an earth when the lights are off so people use it as an earth. When you flick the lights on it stuff power up that wire and shorts to earth through the headunit and blows a fuse.

[johndoe1025]

had that one at work more than once, customers cant figure out wy it keeps blowing fuses. most people dont know that head units earth through the aerial aswell, so dont usually need another chassis earth

[Mr.Phreak]

:lol: had that one at work more than once, customers cant figure out wy it keeps blowing fuses. most people dont know that head units earth through the aerial aswell, so dont usually need another chassis earth

Aerial earths are rubbish

[johndoe1025]

never had a problem with them. my current stereo is wired with a aerial earth, id like to see anyone fault it lol.

[Mr.Phreak]

Coming from the guy who thought the cat light was coming on in a levin because of false readings??

Sad thing is you'll probably still end up being a qualified Auto sparky...

[soopachargen]

i've never measured it but im sure you will get a better earth by running the chassis earth over the aerial earth. if you have a shit earth you are just missing out on some of the power your stereo could have.

[matt dunn]

You'll find that if it screwed in correctly it will earth through the case of the stereo anyway as it should be side mounted, not in the slide in cradle.

[Alex B]

Yeah the green wire is not earth mmmmk. And wtf at not using a proper earth.

[johndoe1025]

Coming from the guy who thought the cat light was coming on in a levin because of false readings??

Sad thing is you'll probably still end up being a qualified Auto sparky...

id never actually investigated that matter properly, i went and asked after i was proven wrong and yeah i was wrong, know now though dont i? im $&#$% 17 bro, give me a break, theres this thing called learning. lucky you dont know what i look like aye, maybe one day ill be working on your car, ill be sure to $&#$% it up for ya. considering the amount of shit ive installed, and the comebacks (0) id say im on a pretty good record atm. your aerial is earthed to the chassis, why not use it. if your gonna be paranoid then yeah use the earth wire too, if its got something i can screw onto i will to, but usually unless theirs a problem, it doesnt really need it

[Alex B]

Measure the resistance on your aerial. Can you guarantee it as a clean earth on every car? Can you explane how my pioneer headunit blew the amp output fuseable links with a poor earth cable but aerial plugged in?

[johndoe1025]

i actually will, because ive never had a problem, so ill see what the facts say. i take it youve solved that problem already, but new pioneers blow fusable links if powers cut from the amp unexpectedly while in use ive heard, and if you had a whine noise, it could very well have been a shitty earth yess, but as ive mentioned, if you got a prob wit it using the aerial then yeah, make an earth.

[johndoe1025]

+ if ya aerial not earthed properly, your gonna get some pretty shitty reception and a lot of interference aint you? cuz aint that what grounding the aerial does? provide shielding? by all means correct me if im wrong but thats how i understood it to be.

[Alex B]

Make sure you put 10A on it when you do it, and measure the voltage drop. Your seriously saying you are not likley to get alternator whine etc by just using your aerial as an earth. The manufactufers just put that wire there for a bit of a laugh??

Im not great but im also not exactly a n00b with the whole audio thing. In my case the headunit blew its fuseable links due to a poor earth situation. I know that because I later found my earthing point was all to shit, showed low resistance, but hey what do you know...shove some current through it and it wasnt all that great.

And No, I wont try to use the aerial as an earth. Proaction is better than reaction

[Simon K]

We got it sorted with a couple of phone calls(including Mr Revhead again). I didn't know about the fuses behind the little drop down lollie stashing thing to the right of the steering column.

Now stop arguing

[bs]

We got it sorted with a couple of phone calls(including Mr Revhead again). I didn't know about the fuses behind the little drop down lollie stashing thing to the right of the steering column.

Now stop arguing

I had to find out the hard way about thoes to

[Mr.Phreak]

We got it sorted with a couple of phone calls(including Mr Revhead again). I didn't know about the fuses behind the little drop down lollie stashing thing to the right of the steering column.

Now stop arguing

Spoilsport

Had an absolutely shit day, venting would've been fun.

[johndoe1025]

We got it sorted with a couple of phone calls(including Mr Revhead again). I didn't know about the fuses behind the little drop down lollie stashing thing to the right of the steering column.

Now stop arguing

Spoilsport

Had an absolutely sh*t day, venting would've been fun.

your not the only one, was just waiting for the nasty reply lol

[Stott69]

now shake hands you to and continue to play nice