New Pioneer coming, ground RCAs right away?

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

I have a Pioneer AVH-P4300DVD being shipped to me now and after reading the sticky on ground loops and bassin buick's recent thread about his absolute love of pioneers, I'm wondering- should I go ahead and ground the RCAs right when I get it and not wait for noise issues? Are there any possible drawbacks to doing this?

Thanks guys. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

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[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

The PICO fuse only blows with user error. If your not hot swapping RCA's or doing dumb stuff then you wont have an issue with it. I say just install it right the first time and dont waste time grounding the RCA's.

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

Can you explain the pico fuse thing? All I really know is that people hot swap RCAs, said fuse blows, and people complain about it. Does grounding the RCAs somehow solve this problem? what is a pico fuse? Why pioneer and not other companies?

Thanks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Can you explain the pico fuse thing? All I really know is that people hot swap RCAs, said fuse blows, and people complain about it. Does grounding the RCAs somehow solve this problem? what is a pico fuse? Why pioneer and not other companies?
Thanks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

The fuse is something Pioneer just put in there to protect the other equipment. When the Pico fuse blows it causes a ground loop noise and grounding the RCA's prevents this. If you disassemble the HU you can find the Pico fuse on the board and just put a dab of solder over it as well and that clears up the ground noise as well. Every company has a different way of doing things and the Pico is just Pioneers way.

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

Thanks that clears things up- If I'm just sitting around watching TVs or something with nothing to do, grounding the RCAs could be beneficial and would not be detrimental in any way though?

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Not sure but its definitely a waste of time. All you have to do is turn the **** HU off before swapping RCA's. Should be standard practice anyway which is why it comes down to user error.

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

Hehe alrighty thanks man. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[basscort2009 5,000+ posts]

dont do it before the pico fuse blows. i have had issues with doing that right off. i love pioneers for sure and i have grounded the rcas plenty of times. just wait until it bows (pico fuse) then do the ground on the rcas. dont do it if its not nessecary yet. trust me. hope this helps

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

Thank you- thats exactly what I was wondering. I will hold off for now then. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Bassin Buick]

yeah seriously. just leave it alone and never hot swap the RCA's and you should be good. I completely forgot i was running a pioneer (usually run alpine or kenwood) earlier this week and effed it up. LOL.

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

It seems odd to me that pioneer would fuse a circuit that can be completed by grounding the RCAs?? It sounds like substituting a wire for a fuse- or am I completely off? What is the point of the pico fuse if it is bypassed by what should have been already done? (well-grounded RCAs)

 

[l7runner 10+ year member]

the grounding fix does substitute a wire for a fuse. You really should put a fuse in there but no one does.

It can help prevent burning up circuit board traces.

 

[Bassin Buick]

It seems odd to me that pioneer would fuse a circuit that can be completed by grounding the RCAs?? It sounds like substituting a wire for a fuse- or am I completely off?

I feel the same way. The only thing i can think of is it will save a deck and amp if you lose a ground wire in the trunk. Drop amp ground and it will try to pull ground through RCA's which will fry the deck and possibly the amp. So i do see it as somewhat of a safety feature for *********. but people called me a ******* when i hot swapped my RCA's the other day so i guess i can't really talk. LOL.

 

[Bassin Buick]

dbl post

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

So i do see it as somewhat of a safety feature for *********. but people called me a ******* when i hot swapped my RCA's the other day so i guess i can't really talk.

Hehe. So if it does eventually blow, due to my own absent-mindedness or something else, I would ideally prefer to replace the actual fuse for good measure... Does anyone know how tricky this is, if the fuses are hard to come by, or has done this before?