[PK]

I consider myself pretty good when it comes to this stuff, but there is one thing I am not sure of.

Story first:
Last week I couldn't resist buying a new HU to replace my old Clarion (10 years old now, but still kicks ass). Having just gone through all the crap with making the power antenna work, I was satisfied with the setup.

Now with this new HU, I cant work out the power antenna wiring again. This is because I also run an amp. This is where my problem is.

The old HU used to have two wires - one for amp control, one for antenna control.

Now the new pioneer HU has seemingly combined that into only one wire.

So my issue:
Do I simply join the power antenna and the amp to the one wire? Sounds a little sketchy for me.

Can anyone clarify whether this is what needs to be done?

Cheers all.

PK

[Yiros]

Mmmm. Lets think about each function before you go any further.

Basically the Amp requires a switch wire (to wake up) when ever the HU is on. The Antenna requires a switch wire (to go up) whenever the tuner is on. When the HU is in CD mode, the Antenna should go down.

From my old pioneer head unit, I had two trigger wires, 1 for the amp and 1 for the antenna as per your old clarion.

You could possibly connect both units off the same trigger wire as the load on the HU would be minimal, however you wouldn’t get the functionality of the antenna going up and down with the change of source….

How does the wire from the back of your HU operate? i.e. is there 12 volts on the wire at all times regardless of mode (tuner or CD) or does it step up/down with the change of modes?

If the voltage steps up/down with the change of modes (0 to 12V) then the wire is only a trigger for the antenna. If that is the case, then you may need to wire up your amp to turn on when the ignition is on. 9 times out of 10 you would have your HU on when the car is on… am I right??

I hope this helps. Let me know your answer about how the wire operates and we can take it from there. Do you have a multimeter? If you want, I can give you a hand if you are unsure.

Cheers

Andrew

[PK]

yiros, on Jan 11 2006, 10:50 PM, said:

Mmmm. Lets think about each function before you go any further.

Basically the Amp requires a switch wire (to wake up) when ever the HU is on. The Antenna requires a switch wire (to go up) whenever the tuner is on. When the HU is in CD mode, the Antenna should go down.

From my old pioneer head unit, I had two trigger wires, 1 for the amp and 1 for the antenna as per your old clarion.

You could possibly connect both units off the same trigger wire as the load on the HU would be minimal, however you wouldn’t get the functionality of the antenna going up and down with the change of source….

How does the wire from the back of your HU operate? i.e. is there 12 volts on the wire at all times regardless of mode (tuner or CD) or does it step up/down with the change of modes?

If the voltage steps up/down with the change of modes (0 to 12V) then the wire is only a trigger for the antenna. If that is the case, then you may need to wire up your amp to turn on when the ignition is on. 9 times out of 10 you would have your HU on when the car is on… am I right??

I hope this helps. Let me know your answer about how the wire operates and we can take it from there. Do you have a multimeter? If you want, I can give you a hand if you are unsure.

Cheers

Andrew
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks Andrew.

Yes I have all the necessary gear to do this.

To be honest, I havent actually taken the HU out of the box - I installed almost the exact same HU last weekend in a friend's car - he told me not to worry about the power antenna, so I just connected the amp.

And the owner's manual DEFINITELY specifies that single wire is for power antenna/remote amp control.

I have been thinking about this, and I am almost ready to try playing around with this (dont worry I know what I'm doing). The power antenna has a relay attached to it. I think (please prove me wrong) that it is the relay that detects what function is being used (ie CD or Radio etc) and hence determines whether the antenna is up or not. I may be wrong, but I am tempted to try connecting both together to see whether it will work.

And if it is an amp wire, it should, theoretically, stay at 12V (although I havent tested this) at all times.

Like I said, it is still in the box - I may give it a go tomorrow.

Cheers for the response - I'll let you know how I go.

PK

[Yiros]

PK2811, on Jan 12 2006, 02:16 AM, said:

And the owner's manual DEFINITELY specifies that single wire is for power antenna/remote amp control.

I have been thinking about this, and I am almost ready to try playing around with this (dont worry I know what I'm doing). The power antenna has a relay attached to it. I think (please prove me wrong) that it is the relay that detects what function is being used (ie CD or Radio etc) and hence determines whether the antenna is up or not. I may be wrong, but I am tempted to try connecting both together to see whether it will work.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If it is a common wire then I would say the the antenna will go up when the unit is turned on and will go down when the unit is off and that is it.

The antenna wire is what gives the the relay the signal to go up or down depending on it's state.

[PK]

yiros, on Jan 12 2006, 01:05 PM, said:

If it is a common wire then I would say the the antenna will go up when the unit is turned on and will go down when the unit is off and that is it.

The antenna wire is what gives the the relay the signal to go up or down depending on it's state.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We will see how it goes. Too lazy to try today - maybe tomorrow :rolleyes:

Cheers

PK

[PK]

Just to close this topic off:

I had to install a simple on/off switch to power the antenna (thanks to George's advice).

Not difficult at all and now it works perfectly.

Cheers all for your input.

PK

[bAss]

Glad i could help :).

George