headunit loses power

[mechanic021]

I have A 1997 dodge ram with a pioneer head unit in it. Here lately the radio has begun to shut itself off then back on on its own like it is losing power. I exchanged the radio to make sure it wasant a defect unit and that isnt the problem. When it does this it is also losing its presets so If im correct in my thinking here it would have to be losing both power sources to shut itself off and lose presets right? so maybe i have a bad ground wire? I dunno what else to check. all the wiring looks to be good I might run a new ground and see if that helps. By the way an amp wouldnt cause anything like this to happen would it?

 

[pj8847]

Sounds like either a ground ( like you said ) or it could be the constant + ( memory ) line as well, as a power loss on this line would in fact cause the radio to shut off and fail to retain it's memory.

It could be an inline fuse ( if the radio has one on that line ) could be a fuse in the fuse box on it's way out ( try and see what is on the same circuit, and if it fails to operate when the radio shuts down ) or, as stated, a loose connection.

Since you said it was a pioneer unit, it may have a small black plastic housing on the memory line, which looks like an inline fuse holder, but smaller, I have had to bypass that on several HU's before because they would either shut off, or not turn on making it appear the HU was shot. You can test that with a meter if you have one, I believe (if i'm remembering correctly) that it's only a diode in the plastic inline housing, you could even connect above it to rule it out 100%.

I'm trying to cover all bases as far as the HU, but it does in fact sound like a loose ground, or constant +/memory lead.

 

[st_anger5532]

first think to do since its easy just try re grounding it and checking fueses, then if that dont work do like pj8847 said and bypass the small black think(if there is one.) now that i have stated the obvious, i used pioneer head units but i always had the same prob as you. 3 of the head units got fried. and 1 just sucked. im found that if you want a cheap head unit thats still good get a JVC. i love JVC when im on a tight budget.