First time poster, but I am struggling to figure this out.... forgive me in advance for the long post, but I am going to put as much info in here as possible:
Car: 2000 tahoe, onstar, no bose, after market head unit (Pioneer DEH-P3900MP) and Sirius Pioneer Tuner (pnr-sir2).
Issue: Battery keeps dying after 12-24 hours of car sitting, I have determined that there is a 400mA parasitic draw on the RADIO AMP fuse circuit after car has been turned on with radio playing, then turned off.
Current Wiring (done by best buy):
Pioneer Head Unit -> OEM Amp -> OEM Speakers
Pioneer Harness -> Factory Harness -> Blue/white pioneer wire jumped to pink wire from the smaller factory harness, this also feeds the remote amp turn on factory wire (orange).
- I don't care about Onstar
- Radio and Radio Amp are on 2 different Fuses
- I am putting ammeter in serial directly in place of that fuse (with a in line fuse holder) and can see the current when I start the car, then turn it off.
- If I disconnect the amp only, start the car, then turn it off - no draw. Radio comes on fine but no sound obviously. No draw because I have the amp disconnected.
- If I leave the amp connected, turn on car, listen to radio, turn car off, open door, close door (radio stays on unless you open door), I see a 400mA draw no matter how long I wait.
at this point I was sure it was the amp. I am lucky enough to have another Tahoe, so I swapped amps... same issue.. not the amp.
Now I start messing around with more tests..
- Start car, turn on radio, disconnect harness from radio (still see Amp drawing current), turn off car, open/close door... AMP IS STILL ON. 400mA draw. If I disconnect the amp, draw drops to 0. (I assumed disconnecting the harness from the radio would signal the amp to shut off, but it didn't).
Pretty sure it was a short in a wire.. so I start doing more...
- start car, turn off, without radio.. no draw because amp never got signal to turn on.
- With radio in, repeat test, get draw. Now I get ammeter and set it to volts.. start checking all the wires to see which ones have voltage.... There is 1 circuit that has voltage draw of 1.05volts... it happens to be the "amp turn on" circuit. (blue/white harness wire, orange factory wire, and pink wire from the onstar harness which is spliced in)
- The current remains, even if I unplug the radio. The amp never gets the signal to turn off.
So at this point, I have figured out that the amp turns on, and doesnt turnoff, even if you remove the radio. The only way to stop the draw after the radio has been on is to remove the amp (but I have eliminated the amp as the problem).
Now I get a test light...
- I duplicate the draw, and startusing the test light. To my surprise, as soon as I touch the test light to the "bad circuit", the amp turns off.
- If I duplicate the draw problem, then hook up the test light and probe anyplace on that curcuit, the draw drops to 0 and I can hear the amp shut off (speakers kinda quietly pop).
- I test again.. this time, I duplicate the draw, remove the radio, still have draw, touch the test light to the circuit, and amp goes off again.
So now I think the lamp is providing some sort of ground,which signals to shut off the amp... but I keep testing to see if any other wires have a current.. and I find that there are a few wires that if I touch them, the amp will turn off. Those results are:
- Duplicate the draw, remove radio, still have draw... touch any of the following wires with a test light and the amp goes off:
- anyplace on the amp turn on circuit (orage, blue/white, pink on smaller harness(pin 9))
- BARE wire (shield) on smaller factory harness (pin 8)
- Grey wire on smaller factory harness (pin 7)
- 2 more wires on the smaller factory harness (I am at work now and can't find the diagram online, but its the wires on the other side of the plug, position 2 and 3 (if pink is at #9 and orange is #1)
Again, if I touch any of these wires, the amp turns off.
Now I hook the ammeter up to the amp turn on circuit again an set it to volts...
- I duplicate the draw, and see ~1v going across it.
- I touch the test light to ANY of the above mentioned wires, and the amp goes off, but here is the odd part.... the voltage drops to 0 while the test light is in contact, the amp goes off, but as soon as I remove the test light, the voltage goes back to 1v, but the amp stays OFF!
- I test for continuity between the ground and this circuit, nothing.. so I think that eliminates a short to ground.
Now I start thinking the radio is the problem, so I go grab the factory radio...
- I hook up the radio, run the tests, turn off car, open/close the door. The amp goes off as expected... NO DRAW.
- I repeat this test several times... with the factory radio, the amp always goes off.
- I go back and test the Pioneer deck, the amp always stays on until I either disconnect the amp, pull the amp fuse, or touch any of the wires mentioned above with a test light.
Based on that test, I'm pretty sure its the radio that has a problem, but here are my questions... (if you are still reading this):
1. What kind of signal is the "remote turn on". Does it send a distincted "turn on" and another "turn off" signal? Why doesnt removing the radio while the draw is happening kill the signal to the amp? How is power staying on that circuit and what could be providing it?
2. Why does the amp shut off when touching those wires with a test light, but NOT when I use the ammeter? When I have 1 lead clamped to ground, and positive lead touching those wires, shouldn't that also provide a ground that should shut off the amp? Whats the difference between the test lamp and the ammeter in this situation? Is it more resistance that is triggering the amp shut down?
3. Whats up with the 1v of power on that circuit? Short to voltage? how do I find this?
4. If there is a short or wiring problem, why does the factory radio still work and shut off the amp as expected?
5. Why does touching the test lamp to those other wires (not part of the amp turn on circuit) shut down the amp?
Ok.. thats it... PLEASE HELP! I have alot of info on this problem, so I can provide more details if needed. I really don't want to buy a new radio or send it to pioneer for repair if the radio isnt the problem.
Thanks in advance for your time!
Car: 2000 tahoe, onstar, no bose, after market head unit (Pioneer DEH-P3900MP) and Sirius Pioneer Tuner (pnr-sir2).
Issue: Battery keeps dying after 12-24 hours of car sitting, I have determined that there is a 400mA parasitic draw on the RADIO AMP fuse circuit after car has been turned on with radio playing, then turned off.
Current Wiring (done by best buy):
Pioneer Head Unit -> OEM Amp -> OEM Speakers
Pioneer Harness -> Factory Harness -> Blue/white pioneer wire jumped to pink wire from the smaller factory harness, this also feeds the remote amp turn on factory wire (orange).
- I don't care about Onstar
- Radio and Radio Amp are on 2 different Fuses
- I am putting ammeter in serial directly in place of that fuse (with a in line fuse holder) and can see the current when I start the car, then turn it off.
- If I disconnect the amp only, start the car, then turn it off - no draw. Radio comes on fine but no sound obviously. No draw because I have the amp disconnected.
- If I leave the amp connected, turn on car, listen to radio, turn car off, open door, close door (radio stays on unless you open door), I see a 400mA draw no matter how long I wait.
at this point I was sure it was the amp. I am lucky enough to have another Tahoe, so I swapped amps... same issue.. not the amp.
Now I start messing around with more tests..
- Start car, turn on radio, disconnect harness from radio (still see Amp drawing current), turn off car, open/close door... AMP IS STILL ON. 400mA draw. If I disconnect the amp, draw drops to 0. (I assumed disconnecting the harness from the radio would signal the amp to shut off, but it didn't).
Pretty sure it was a short in a wire.. so I start doing more...
- start car, turn off, without radio.. no draw because amp never got signal to turn on.
- With radio in, repeat test, get draw. Now I get ammeter and set it to volts.. start checking all the wires to see which ones have voltage.... There is 1 circuit that has voltage draw of 1.05volts... it happens to be the "amp turn on" circuit. (blue/white harness wire, orange factory wire, and pink wire from the onstar harness which is spliced in)
- The current remains, even if I unplug the radio. The amp never gets the signal to turn off.
So at this point, I have figured out that the amp turns on, and doesnt turnoff, even if you remove the radio. The only way to stop the draw after the radio has been on is to remove the amp (but I have eliminated the amp as the problem).
Now I get a test light...
- I duplicate the draw, and startusing the test light. To my surprise, as soon as I touch the test light to the "bad circuit", the amp turns off.
- If I duplicate the draw problem, then hook up the test light and probe anyplace on that curcuit, the draw drops to 0 and I can hear the amp shut off (speakers kinda quietly pop).
- I test again.. this time, I duplicate the draw, remove the radio, still have draw, touch the test light to the circuit, and amp goes off again.
So now I think the lamp is providing some sort of ground,which signals to shut off the amp... but I keep testing to see if any other wires have a current.. and I find that there are a few wires that if I touch them, the amp will turn off. Those results are:
- Duplicate the draw, remove radio, still have draw... touch any of the following wires with a test light and the amp goes off:
- anyplace on the amp turn on circuit (orage, blue/white, pink on smaller harness(pin 9))
- BARE wire (shield) on smaller factory harness (pin 8)
- Grey wire on smaller factory harness (pin 7)
- 2 more wires on the smaller factory harness (I am at work now and can't find the diagram online, but its the wires on the other side of the plug, position 2 and 3 (if pink is at #9 and orange is #1)
Again, if I touch any of these wires, the amp turns off.
Now I hook the ammeter up to the amp turn on circuit again an set it to volts...
- I duplicate the draw, and see ~1v going across it.
- I touch the test light to ANY of the above mentioned wires, and the amp goes off, but here is the odd part.... the voltage drops to 0 while the test light is in contact, the amp goes off, but as soon as I remove the test light, the voltage goes back to 1v, but the amp stays OFF!
- I test for continuity between the ground and this circuit, nothing.. so I think that eliminates a short to ground.
Now I start thinking the radio is the problem, so I go grab the factory radio...
- I hook up the radio, run the tests, turn off car, open/close the door. The amp goes off as expected... NO DRAW.
- I repeat this test several times... with the factory radio, the amp always goes off.
- I go back and test the Pioneer deck, the amp always stays on until I either disconnect the amp, pull the amp fuse, or touch any of the wires mentioned above with a test light.
Based on that test, I'm pretty sure its the radio that has a problem, but here are my questions... (if you are still reading this):
1. What kind of signal is the "remote turn on". Does it send a distincted "turn on" and another "turn off" signal? Why doesnt removing the radio while the draw is happening kill the signal to the amp? How is power staying on that circuit and what could be providing it?
2. Why does the amp shut off when touching those wires with a test light, but NOT when I use the ammeter? When I have 1 lead clamped to ground, and positive lead touching those wires, shouldn't that also provide a ground that should shut off the amp? Whats the difference between the test lamp and the ammeter in this situation? Is it more resistance that is triggering the amp shut down?
3. Whats up with the 1v of power on that circuit? Short to voltage? how do I find this?
4. If there is a short or wiring problem, why does the factory radio still work and shut off the amp as expected?
5. Why does touching the test lamp to those other wires (not part of the amp turn on circuit) shut down the amp?
Ok.. thats it... PLEASE HELP! I have alot of info on this problem, so I can provide more details if needed. I really don't want to buy a new radio or send it to pioneer for repair if the radio isnt the problem.
Thanks in advance for your time!
