Issues with Kenwood Head Unit, 2009 Civic LX

[inspector3711]

This is my first post here so howdy.

My troubles started last Saturday. I had a Seattle area car audio store install a new system in my 2009 Civic LX as a reward to myself for a long project that ended at work.

I had them install an alpine amp, alpine component speakers, and a new Kenwood KDC-X797 head unit. After quite a wait, they drove the car around front. I hopped in and turned the key on and the Kenwood had no power.

The installer took it back into the shop and checked the wiring, plugged it back in and it started working. It worked great until I got home, turned it off and back on... No power again.

I should mention that my wife got the same install in her 2007 Civic LX and has had no problems.

Sunday I called and they told me they would swap it out. I drove 15 miles in traffic only to find they had none in stock. They checked their system and a shipment was due in Tuesday. The salesman I spoke with did find out that if we reset the deck it would come back on.

After work Tuesday i headed for the store. They swapped the unit out and found that the second one did the same thing. They tried a third one and got the same result. After a two hour wait the installer drove the car around front. He spoke with me and told me that once the factory antenna was unplugged from the deck the problem seemed to go away.

His thought was that there may be a short in the antenna module in my car. I'm no electrical wizard, but I had a hard time understanding how the antenna could cause the head unit to lose power. Frustrated again, i drove home with my new HD radio cutting in and out due to a lack of antenna.

In any case, the unit seemed fine until Wednesday morning when it was dead again. I reset it and it's been fine since then. In fact, for some reason I'm getting a fairly good HD signal now with very little cut out.

They are talking with me now about possibly giving me a price break on an aftermarket antenna install. This kind of irritates me because I kind of feel like since I paid $1200 per car already, I should have a system that works properly. It sounds great, I just wish I didn't have to keep resetting the menus!

My stock stereo worked fine so i have trouble with their theory. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Click to read more...

 

[CrossoverOre 10+ year member]

its an amplified ant in there so theoretically it could have something to do with that but the installers should have been able to decifer a fix for that. I would contact them back and have them dig into it more because it should be covered under warranty. I would suggest wiring the power for the ant adapter through a relay and see if that helps. but at the same time if they havnt been able to figure it out already I dont have high hopes that they will be able to in the future. If you are ever down in oregon I could help you out. Crossover Car Stereo. 503-861-0326.

 

[PocketRocket]

I doubt its the amplify antenna. I think there's just a short in the radio power plug, unless your using a 4 channel amp and somethings hooked up wrong. Normal Kenwood excelon radios just go into and say protect across the screen, but these new 7 series radios seem to just shut off at times instead of always going into protect.

The reason why I think its the plug (couple years ago Kenwood had a big problem) is I'm seeing the problem again. When they shut off you usually have to reset them to kick them back on

 

[DARKHART 10+ year member]

I know early this year late last year the Excelon flagship 9 series units had issues just like you're describing but this is the first time I've heard about it on any of the 2013 decks. As Crossover suggested have them wire that ant with a relay from a completely separate power source and see if the problem continues...Also another way to rule out whether or not it's in the deck is to have them swap it out with the one in your wife's car seeing as how they are identical, if it does it in her car then you know for certain it's in the deck, if not then it requires further troubleshooting...

 

[inspector3711]

I never did get back to this thread so here's an update. They wired the head unit directly to the battery and it still had the same problem. Eventually they decided to try a display model from 2012 and there was no problem with it. They knocked of 75 bucks and now I'm a happy camper.

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

glad they worked it out for you, happy bumpin.

 

[inspector3711]

Yeah I just have to get time to do the install. The company that installed my system hinted that by installing my own sub I will void the warranty that they provide. I call BS.. Odds are I won't have trouble anyway.

Getting older I find that I don't like tinkering with cars much anymore. I'll enlist the help of my neighbor... He is a big import car buff and in fact he works in marketing for one of the the areas top tuners (Rich Tuned). I know he likes to help out with a tune from time to time. I didn't know it until after the fact, but they do occasional sound system installs too. Probably could have gotten a deal since I know him and the owner Rich.

Anyway, he's out of town this weekend so it looks like the next weekend will be the earliest he can help out. I'm waiting for a 4 gauge power wire to show up. In the mean time, tonight I'll use some 8 gauge wire to solder up the connectors to configure the woofer for 2 ohm operation.

I've considered mounting the Soundstream amp on top of the sub enclosure but I do worry about vibration. I work for a major aircraft manufacturer in their test division. We do several types of vibration testing and I've seen first hand the kind of damage it can do to mechanical and electrical systems. Any input?

 

[Ttambo]

I have the same system installed in my '02 civic ex, and have run into the same problem. As an electrical engineer, I'm pretty darn sure everything is wired correctly. The things I've found, though, are that the unit only enters the suspended state if you don't turn on the car a certain way, and that if you reset the battery (pull the negative terminal, then put it back) everything resets and is happy (probably the same as the reset button). I'm getting kind of tired of waiting the exact amount of time between having acc on, and turning the engine on though. Did any more details arise about the situation with your system?