engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

amlin423:

Great question, Watson. You truly must have studied well.

IF we are in fact on the RIGHT problem here, and not the WRONG one, then my only guess is that you are at the very marginal point on being able to supply current from your head unit. With the engine off, there is generally less noise floating around, for one thing. Also it's impossible to tell where the circuits in the head unit are stabilized with/without the engine on - your remote output transistor may be drawing more current with the engine on @ higher voltage, and may be partially shorting the internal power supply or the circuit that keeps the head unit itself on. Blah, blah, blah. Only guesses. But a good try would be to dramatically reduce the current that the remote output circuit has to provide, thereby further decoupling the relay from your head unit, and you may possibly say bye-bye to the problem. (Hopefully you have enough transistor left...).

Satellite Radio: Long story. If you want to know more, let me know. Satellite radio is absolutely freakin' awesome, relative to FM and the moron programming that you find all across the country. The audio quality is compressed, and while not quite CD quality, it's great. You get song title and artist downloaded for every song. I highly recommend it at this point, but when FM goes digital, it may not make sense to pay for satellite (???). I don't have XM, I have Sirius. I did some consulting work for Sirius a few weeks back, so I'm partial, for starters; I was going to install XM, but the Sirius guys beat me up so bad (and they are right). XM has their headquarters in DC, while Sirius has HQ in New York, mecca of music, lots of musical talent available. Sirius has no commercials - for now - and is really making an attempt to be about the music, both in terms of audio quality and programming. Sirius has three satellites - two are always above the US, at a high angle, while XM has two satellites (Rock and Roll), at a more acute southern angle. I thought reception would be better with Sirius, but it's probably a toss-up, since XM has more ground repeaters. Sirius also had the ONLY tuner, Clarion, that had RCA outs (i.e. no FM modulator required) AND could be used with a separate controller without having to have a satellite-ready head unit from another manufacturer. This made it attractive for ME, since I kept my Nakamichi head unit.
Since you have Alpine, if you have AiNet, you could go with the Alpine XM tuner and connect right to AiNet without an FM modulator, assuming your head unit is XM-ready.
I can't comment on mobile reception yet, since my GS hasn't left the driveway since I started working on it around Memorial Day. But I get great reception in the driveway! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Sound and Vision mag has done two articles on XM/Sirius this year so far if you're interested. They beat up on Sirius, but it was premature...another long story.

Jerry.

amlin423

Thanks for the answer Jerry,
Let's hope the we're on the right track, I'm going to go ahead and get the SS relay right now.......
I'll provide an update

Thanks again guys....

amlin423

Engin_ear
Ok..got my SS relay....two dumb questions....

How do I wire these things?
What goes into the 1,2,3, and 4 holes.....


What type of connectors do I use to plug into the holes...

TIA

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Amlin423:

If you need the data sheet, it is at http://www.crydom.com/assets/ssrpan/dc60.pdf

OK, you're almost ready to go.
First, there are 4 screws/washers supplied with the relay. They screw into the holes in the relay body. You'll need to get some crimp terminals (lugs) to attach to your wiring to/from the relay to these screws, available at Radio Shack or Home Depot, if you are not already familiar (if you did your whole install, it's hard to imagine that you're not...). I recommend the full closed-ring type, as opposed to the open-end fork type, they will stay put without coming off if a screw happens to loosen from vibration. I would use 16-gauge wire to connect the required signals, and crimp terminals that match that gauge. You'll need a crimp tool if you do not already have one. Be careful if working with live battery voltage.

Now for the signal connections:
(see notation on face of relay, or data sheet)
Pin1: (+) output
Pin2: (-) output
Pin3: (+) input
Pin4: (-) input

Connect Pin 1 to +12V Battery.
Connect Pin 4 to Ground.
Connect Pin 3 to your remote turn-on line from your head unit.
Pin 2 is then the output, it is the new higher-current turn-on lead that you now connect to all of the remote turn-on inputs of your other devices.

I also recommend connecting a diode (1N4004 or 1N4005, Radio Shack) between pins 2 and 4 (between the output and ground), with the negative side (the bar) of the diode on pin 2 (diode symbol: arrow points toward pin 2 of the relay). This prevents the new remote lead output from going too far below ground in the case of an inductive turn-off spike from any connected equipment. Just extra protection for anything you're connecting. (Make sure you don't put the diode in backwards and have it pointing towards pin 4 (ground) or you'll short out the relay output!). You can likely get away without the diode if it's too unclear as to how to hook it up.

Also, for you gear-heads out there, I recommend an LED with an integral resistor (pick your favorite color) between pins 2 and 4 (between output and ground) to provide positive indication of when the system is turned on, and that the relay is working.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need any more help or clarification.

Jerry

amlin423

I've been communicating w/ engin_ear via PM but just thought to share the status...well I got the relay..hooked it up.....and this morning..everything was fine (the usual) ....7:00PM today....getting off work...got to my car...turn on my ignition...turned on my system....damn...the problem's back...
I guess there's nothing else I can do but to replace the "brain"....

Actually...here's a thought...not sure if it's a good idea but I want to see what you all think....Since the remote turn on from the head unit is giving me the problems...I have to find another way to turn on my other stuff....While I can always hook it up to a little toggle switch...I'm afraid if I forget to turn it off...I'll drain out the battery....
What if I took the ignition wire from the car (that's now going into the ignition of the Alpine's harness) , split it...........have one going to the head unit and the other going to the rest of the units.....I'll place a switch in between so the amps and stuff don't just turn on when my car starts...All I have to do is turn on the head unit....then turn on the rest of the system on the other switch......when the car is shut off...everything is turned off....
does that sound alright? or is that completely retarded...

feedback anyone?
thanks

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

It's not necessarily retarded, it just may be a pain in the you-know-what, and may be unnecessary. Maybe you can get some more information by way of experimenting a bit.
If you could temporarily hook up your remote to the amps, etc, to the accessory 12V line (ignition), with nothing connected to the head unit's remote, do you still have the problem?
****What is the exact voltage output of your head unit remote, with and without the relay connected?
Was it hot out or car sitting in sun the other day when the problem re-occurred? Head-unit temp problem? This might not go away regardless of how you wire the remote line(???).
I'm just thinking that if the current to drive the SS relay is still too high, we can think of ways to reduce it further.

amlin423

Over the weekend I found another solution...I'm not sure what your headunit is but on the Alpine..there is the regular remote turn on...and two auxilary remote turn ons... (one for my DVD and the other for Nav I assume) .....Since I'm only using one, I tested the voltage on the other aux remote turn on....that one was consistently 4.5 volts (when ignition is on of course) which is enough to turn on the SS relay...After this ...problem solved......

The remote turn on (not the auxilary ones) voltage will be a steady 13 volts when NOT connected to a relay....once I connect it (either the SS or the EM relay) ...the voltage would drop to zero briefly...pop back up to 13 for a few seconds ....and back down to zero....then back up...and so on ....causing the on and off....

The ONLY problem I have with using the second auxilary remote turn on is that I now have a very nasty whining noise (similar to engine whine) when the system is off (engine on) ....if I turn on the system...it'll go away...so basically..I cannot have the engine on w/out the stereo system on otherwise I'll go crazy from that noise......

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Glad to see you have a solution.
You might want to try a capacitor from the aux remote line to ground, say 22 to 47 uF, to try to filter out the whine if it is being propagated thru that line...

Percy

The cycling on and off sounds pretty wierd. It's almost like it's trying to reset itself or has reached some sort of peak (13v) before completely collapsing.

Have you tried contacting Alpine about this? IME, highly unusual!

Percy

amlin423

hey percy...i agree..it's really weird....i haven't called them yet..i might go down to LA soon and pay torrance a visit (where their service centers are located) ...