installed sub, now drivers controls dont work...

[STANG KILLA SS]

installed a sub yesterday. went in easy and worked right away. but i noticed after than the little controls over by the driver no longer work :(
its a '11 lsv with the sony headunit and sony driver control unit that looks like a circle with a "+" in it.
it powers up and shows the radio station etc. but NONE of the buttons work.

any ideas? i went back on the back of the headunit to make sure i didnt loosen a plug or something. everything was good there.

i also was playing with the EQ but dont think i messed with anything else in the radio.

i cant figure this one out :(

[ian ashton]

Not sure if that's a 1 wire remote or not, if so it soundslike the control wire (blue with yellow stripe) got disconnected.

[STANG KILLA SS]

well i connected to the blue wire (remote turn on lead) of course to tell the amp when to turn on. maybe i should disconnect the amp blue wire from the headunit blue wire and see if it starts working again? i just "Y"ed on to that wire should have interupted anything. and like i say its still getting power, and showing the stations/track numbers etc, just the buttons no longer work.

its a sony marine remote commander RM-X60M
appears to be a two wire. one headphone lookning jack and one SD or RCA looking jack (just looking at manual diagram)

[STANG KILLA SS]

fixed it.
but one of those deals where ill probly never know what was wrong.

i just unpluged and redid all the plugs for the 3rd time. fixed it.
i have a hunch is was the grey headphone plug though. the other black SD looking connector was just so positive of a fit and tight.
just glad its good to go now:mrgreen:

[STANG KILLA SS]

well i went out to the lake last night, fliped the stereo switch and guess what the drivers controls werent working again ARG!
i was so pissed all night i didnt even ride.
i must have unpluged and repluged and wiggled connections and wires over 20 times out there. i only got them DCs to work twice. the first time it was acting crazy though. buttons were reveresed, and one time the up volume would go up to 8 then start coming back down to 2 then back up to 8 all while only pressing up volume. then i pulled audrey and they quit working again. redid everything 10 times or so and got them working again. then a bit later they quit again. SO frustrating.
im not 100% on this yet but i think the only time i got them working temporarily is when i also disconnected the blue remote turn on lead from the amp to eliminate it from possibility.
any ideas?
im gonna keep doing testing but with it being random, and not knowing whats fixing and breaking it, its hard to diagnose and fix.
VERY pissed. :(

[newty]

Thats got to be frustrating.
Is it a one wire connection,or is it a din plug and wires. Did you look to see if there is 2 blue remote turn-on leads off the deck? One may be an antenna lead and the other an amp turn-on. I know I had problems with a Clarion deck and remote because I had them hooked to the antenna lead instead of the amp lead. Didn't (at the time) realize there was a difference. That may be the problem and it be something that was done from the factory and not something you did. The remote may be fine to power off the antenna but the amps need to be off the amp turn-on lead.
At least thats a place to start. Hope this helps. You have a deck and remote model #. That may aid in the search for the problem.

[STANG KILLA SS]

the drivers controls, its a two wire. one is a larger black SD looking plug. the other is a grey headphone jack.

i used the same blue wire the factory used to run to the factory amp. i just "Y"ed off of it before the factory amp.

the drivers controls is sony marine remote commander RM-X60M
i dont have the HU model number with me here.

[pickle311]

If it's running both amps and the remote off of the blue wire, the head unit doesn't supply enough current to run all of them. That circuit in the radio is designed as a low current circuit and doesn't supply much output. Its just a signal wire that will allow your amp to change the state of a transistor and power on. It's really not enough current there to power up the display on that remote and control the operation of it. I've run into scenarios like this before and even seen the same issue kill the remote signal circuit in a head unit.
The correct way to fix it is to install a 12v, 10 to 15 amp relay in the circuit. That way the remote signal is used to switch the relay on and allows it to move all of the current draw to the power that supplies the head unit.

The way to prove if I'm correct or not is to disconnect the blue wire from your amp and see if the remote starts working again or not.

[STANG KILLA SS]

cool. i ran into something like that in my highschool days. i tried to wire a neon light to the amp using the ground and the blue remote lead to turn it on when the amp came on. it was too much draw if i remember right and wouldnt work all the time.

im not real familiar with relays.
pickle how do you think the factory wired the stereo if i ordered the two amp package?

it is NOT running the remote off the blue wire. unless its done internally inside the radio. the blue wire does not go to the drivers controls. and im getting power to the DCs. its just the buttons that arent working. the display is lit up and working.

[kaneboats]

A relay is a fantastic little piece of equipment. They are simple to use and simple to learn. You can learn all you need to know in about 5 min. Here's a series of videos about 90 sec. each that explain in very simple terms.

This video explains quite simply why you need one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_IJVK0TSUQ&feature=related

This video shows how a relay works and why:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz4X5umfNkQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

This video shows how to wire and compares the draw with and without it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkG22KgciwY&feature=autoplay&list=ULgCtJlzCfkFs&index=2&playnext=1

This video is a very simple illustration of internal operation of a relay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Os4WFUALA

[STANG KILLA SS]

yeah ive been reading about them, im VERY electrically inclined. but never dealt with relays.

what makes no scense is why im even talking about all this. the blue RTL is not going to the DCs at all. it has its own two wires coming from the head unit. i assume one is power and the other is signal.

the only possible corrilation is if the blue RTL is split internally on the circuitboard inside the HU and goes to the DCs threw one of its dedicated wires. then the blue RTL would already be split and possibly maxed out amprage wise with the factory amp and DCs. and the second amp and 3rd amprage draw put it over the top with too much draw.

[pickle311]

cool. i ran into something like that in my highschool days. i tried to wire a neon light to the amp using the ground and the blue remote lead to turn it on when the amp came on. it was too much draw if i remember right and wouldnt work all the time.

im not real familiar with relays.
pickle how do you think the factory wired the stereo if i ordered the two amp package?

it is NOT running the remote off the blue wire. unless its done internally inside the radio. the blue wire does not go to the drivers controls. and im getting power to the DCs. its just the buttons that arent working. the display is lit up and working.


It could be powering though an internal circuit that's connected to the remote wire, no real way of knowing though. Even if it's not, I still suggest a relay. I use them on all of my installs just so I don't have to worry about the remote circuit and I tend to use a lot of amps. I can assure you that the factory didn't use a relay, they just ran a remote wire to each amp from the head unit, or jumped from one amp to the other. Either way, all of the amps are pulling from that single source.

I also want to make sure I'm understand the driver controls correctly. It's a 2 wire system, one is like a mini headphone jack and the other BUS plug. The mini headphone jack should be carrying the power for the remote and the BUS plug is going to carry the input/output signal. If it's lit up that tells you that it has power. So it looks like everything is powered on but you have no control. That leaves 1 of 3 things that could be happening.

1. The Bus plug is loose at the head unit or remote
2. Everything is plugged in correctly and tight, but there's not enough current from the power source to fully power the remote. It lights us, but just not enough power to allow communications between it and the head unit. This is a likely scenario and could possibly be fixed with a relay as we already mentioned.
3. Faulty remote. Only way to prove this is to replace it with a new one or a known good remote.

What it comes down to is you check all connections at the radio and remote to ensure they are good. Disconnect the remote wire from all of your amps and see if you then regain control from the remote. If no, the remote is bad, if yes then a relay will cure your disease.

[newty]

The blue wire (or the lead wire to the remote) may also be your illumination power. Does the remote work with that wire disconnected? That would may help track down the problem. If it does then maybe run that lead wire to the switched power to the deck or to your light switch in the dash. That way its only illuminated when the lights are on in the boat. You really don't get any benefit from having the remote illinated during the day anyway.

[pickle311]

Illumination wire is Orange, sometimes it gets tied to the remote wire so the buttons illuminate anytime the radio is on.

[STANG KILLA SS]

newty: the blue wire does NOT go to the drivers controls remote.
pickle: ive pretty much iliminated the loose connection scenario. ive un-did and re-did connections over 20 times now. only other possibility would be a bad crimp or partially broken wire somewhere. where the redoing is making it just make or not make contact.

ive got lots of scenarios to test now.

im going to start by just removing the blue wire to the new amp. although i tried that many times at the lake and it did not seem to make a difference. controls still did not work.

ill keep ya posted

many thanks so far!

[rdlangston13]

This is what warranties are for lol

[STANG KILLA SS]

i hate stealerships.
did all my own 20hour service etc. i cant afford to miss any riding. and i like to do all my own work.
plus driving 2 hours to the dealership each way with these gas prices etc.

lol i told the salesman when i drove off the lot that would be the last time he would probly ever see me :D

[STANG KILLA SS]

so i get home with all these tests i want to run, i flip on the stereo test and the DCs work just fine :confused:
i just cant figure this out. its SO random. i let it run for a bit to see if it got hot or something and quit working but it worked perfect. turned the switch on and off several times, always with perfect working results.
the blue wire to the second (sub) amp was hooked up at the time.
i made sure not to touch ANYTHING. were going out to the lake thursday to ride, ill be anxious to see what happens....:rolleyes:

[you da man]

so i get home with all these tests i want to run, i flip on the stereo test and the DCs work just fine :confused:
i just cant figure this out. its SO random. i let it run for a bit to see if it got hot or something and quit working but it worked perfect. turned the switch on and off several times, always with perfect working results.
the blue wire to the second (sub) amp was hooked up at the time.
i made sure not to touch ANYTHING. were going out to the lake thursday to ride, ill be anxious to see what happens....:rolleyes:

We'll be out there around 2pm. I'll be sure to do plenty of power turns

[pickle311]

I would put money on a faulty remote or faulty BUS cable

[STANG KILLA SS]

well we went out tonight and the DCs worked flawless the entire night. i dont know whats up. guess ill just roll with it until it acts up again.

[newty]

Good to hear. Hope it keeps it up.

[viking]

maybe she just needed to get WET...............sometimes that stops all irrational behavior if even just momentarily :D

[STANG KILLA SS]

well we went out again monday afternoon.
worked perfect when we got there, and half the afternoon.

then we were sitting there changing riders. i think the engine was off, but the stereo was on, and i went to change stations or volume or something and it was no longer working. ARG!
wtf quit half way threw!
i opened the glovebox lid and the HU appeared to be in "demo mode" ie instead of displaying the station like usual. it was scrolling threw its features, ie number of preouts, watts per channel. etc. like they do at best buy or when you first install them. showing off there features. i thought that was really strange.

back to square one. :(