h/u randomly turns off then back on

So i noticed a while back my old head unit started randomly turning itself off every once and awhile while it was playing music then turns back on seconds later.

Most of the time when I'm driving around i have the volume up high and that is usually when it starts doing it. so naturally i figure having the volume up high is not helping the situation so i turn it down. but even turning it down doesn't stop itself from randomly turning off. Another thing i tried was turning off my subs so see if they might be part of the problem. nope in some instances it would turn itself off while my subs weren't playing. next take out the h/u and check my wires. everything seems to be in order. at this point i chalk it up to my head unit just going bad. (it was an old pioneer).

But just the other day i got a new h/u( another pioneer) and you guessed it. same problem. so i wonder if the original factory ground wire in the harness may have possibly went bad. ( i once had an experience with my old car where my 12v constant went bad) so i ran a new wire all the way to my bat and engine block ground. but still it acts up. i have no idea what the problem could be at this point so I'm turning to you guys. any suggestions?

I'm checking my speakers today for any grounded spots but i have a feeling this isn't the problem either. couldn't hurt thought. wish me luck.

Is the physical power turning off or just the sound (lights on radio still on)?

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Kenny
Owner / Technician
KKD Garage LLC
Albany, NY 12205

the whole head unit goes off. lights go out on it. music cuts out. only sometimes though it will stay off long enough for it to do that beeping thing that it does when it usually shuts off. most of the time it will just go blank. music cuts out then back on like 1-2 seconds later. I came up with another possible theory though...

Even though i mentioned the h/u earlier turning off when the sub woofers weren't on, that was always after the fact that it had cut off before that when the subs were on, and when it first happens it usualy wants to keep turning on and off until i basically turn the volume all the way down. And when I installed my amp/subs,i bought 1/0 gauge wire and a 200 amp high output alt. I thought i bought enough 1/0 to do the whole job + the big 3, but when i finished the big 3 and running the 1/0 to my amp i was left with none for the ground. so i just took some of the 4 gauge i had left over from my old walmart wiring kit and grounded it to the chassis.

its probably only about 3-3.5 ft long but could this be why the head unit turns off? i would imagine that if the amp ground wasn't good enough, the amp would just shut off, but could this also cause the h/u to turn off as well through the remote wire or something? or could it be my 12v constant or ignition wires? I'm guessing it has to be one of the three right?

On another note, i started to check my factory speakers, and after busting part of my control panel on my driver side door to get to my speaker i discovered that the speaker was connected by a harness. no loose or stray wires whatsoever. and since i was already upset about busting my control panel, i decided to assume the same goes for my other speakers. no grounded speaker wires, at least i find it very very unlikely.

The amp is very unlikely to cause the HU to shut off.  More likely is a bad power or memory wire, a bad wiring harness, or a bad fuse in the HU power.  Check the HU power system using a volt meter.

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Support the12volt.com

so i should check out the yellow wire and the red wire? should they both read 12v?

If you are getting that beeping sound, then it narrows it down to either the red wire or the ground. But just to verify its not the amp, I would disconnect the rca's and the remote wire from the back of the radio and see if it still does it. If the amp is shorting out, its rare, but possible that it is backfeeding to the radio remote wire and drawing too much power... so I would try that first and if it still does it run a new switched power to a fused ignition / accessory source.

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Kenny
Owner / Technician
KKD Garage LLC
Albany, NY 12205

yeah that's a good point b/c it does remember all the settings when it turns back on so that means the memory wire is still good i guess. Is the red wire also supposed to read 12v on the voltmeter? if the red wire is bad i think ill need somebody to walk me through how to replace/fix it. I will check it out tomorrow again and let you know how that goes.

I know it's been awhile but i have finally got around to testing my amp and red ignition wire. the ignition read 12.5v when i d/c it from the h/u and i also disconnected the remote wire and RCA cables to my amp. after about a couple hours of play time the same problem still occurred.

I was thinking about testing my 12v constant wire (yellow) this time the same way i tested the red one. But would it be better to leave the h/u connected to see if there is a voltage drop while they h/u is on and playing? And if the 12v constant / YELLOW wire is the problem (like in my old Chevy Lumina.Same maker as my camaro.)how do you go about replacing that wire? do you just run a wire from the h/u to the fuse box, then to the battery?

I doubt its the yellow since you are not losing the radio memory (presets, etc) Try testing the red wire while it is under load (radio turned on) to see if it loses power when the radio cuts out. Connect your DMM red lead to the red wire and use the radio ground for your black lead. This will also test the ground for the radio. But make sure to leave everything connected so you can see what is happening when the radio is cutting out.

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Kenny
Owner / Technician
KKD Garage LLC
Albany, NY 12205

I did do that for awhile with the volume up pretty high. i actually test both the red and the yellow for a bit but the the radio never cut out.during the test while it was playing both wires responded the same way. they both start at 12.5v and there is the slightest bit of movement on the meter(mines analog)it couldn't have dropped more than .2 .3v so I'm guessing that is no big deal.

The thing is though, the radio can work fine for a week then one day it just happens. Then sometimes it will happen all day. One thing i also noticed recently is that sometimes, not all the time after it has been turning itself off and on, when i go to shut off my car the radio will shut off instead of staying on until my door is opened. this is more reason for me to believe that the yellow wire might be the problem. but yet it still gets power for memory cuz i have never had to re do my settings unless i d/c the power myself. I guess ill just have to sit there till it happens...

I'm about to make a video though so you can see what I'm dealing with. I also have good reason to believe i did something wrong with my Big 3 and new alt upgrade. i have all 1/0 ga (except amp ground 4ga) and a 200 amp alt hooked up but i still get voltage drops as low at 10.5 at the worst. i been waiting for a buddy to lend me some 0ga for amp ground just ran out of 1/0 at the end is all.

its your HU pull it out reconnect all the wires it could just be a loose wire on the harness

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1993 sdv
Alpine 4x6 6x9 5 1/4 swr-10d4
alpine v60
12.5 VGA flip down
Nettop pc w/10" touch screen
78nova
5-re audio 5x7 ,10" sub &
Xtx-500.5
"Take the faceplate off get the jumperpack"

no man I'm telling you thats not the case. i had the same problem with my other h/u when i got my car. not to mention i have checked my connections a million times already.

Its funny. I had this problem with a car I purchased from a friend. He never looked into the issue. Whil going through the fuse box I found some fuses to not be numbered.(more than likely cheap) I replaced the radio fuse with a new one even though it looked ok. I haven't had any issues since.  As of mpre recently the same idea with my lighter. Its stopped functioning normal and we DMM'd it only for it to show normal numbers. Yet it wouldn't charge a phone or bluetooth headset. I checked the fuses and guess what? Another cheapy. Replaced it and good ever since.  Be sure to double check your fuses. They are easily replaceable.

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The One&Only!

Well i think you might be on to something, but now i'm even more confused...

So i went through and i checked the fuses, (radio + radio ACCY) and they look good like you said, so i replaced them anyway. while i was doing that i noticed something was very wrong. there was a 15 amp fuse in the radio ACCY, but i see on the chart they say its supposed to be a 25 amp fuse. So i'm relived, thinking that had to be the problem so i shoot over to auto zone and get myself some 25 amp fuses.

they looked sort of cheap but they were the only ones they had. I pop in the new fuse and i notice the volume levels compared to before are slightly louder and slightly better sq. but after about 5 min of driving it shuts off again, and again, and again. After that happened i decide to turn around and head back home...

But when i pull into my driveway and turn my car off not only did the radio shut off before my door was opened, but i go to roll up my windows and they don't work! since this never happened before i switched the 25 amp fuse with the 15 again. turn the key to ACCY and they roll up fine, radio turns on...

The only thing that comes to my mind is, for who knows how long that fuse has been in there maybe it cause some resistance at the fuse box connection and over time maybe it burned or melted the wire connection to the fuse box? I'm not sure how to go about pulling it out or getting behind it to check it out though.

At this point I'm considering taking it to some sort of professional, but I'm not sure who i should take it to. A car audio shop? best buy? a mechanic? who do you think would be able to help me with this problem?