Any stereo gurus on here?

mrblaine

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Trying to help a guy with a double din Alpine HU in a TJ with a remote amp. It worked fine, power connections to the amp popped out, power wire shorted and popped a 40 amp fuse. Since the incident (maybe) the HU will only turn on for 45 seconds at a time, there is an update notice on the screen, then it shuts down for a few seconds and comes back on. Rinse and repeat endlessly. Owner is far away and not tech savvy.

Worse the unit was installed without a park signal so you can get into the programming mode since it is locked out without the park signal. Do we know what signal it needs? Or is there a signal wire that should have been hooked up to ground in park or similar?

Is the unit fubar and needs repair due to the popped fuse incident or do we have a programming issue?
 
It sounds like it's boot looping. The short may have wiped an EEPROM containing the OS.

Is there a USB slot anywhere on the unit where a thumb drive can be inserted? Sometimes these units can have updates and OS delivered via USB from Alpine's support page.

Can you provide a model# of the HU?
 
What model Alpine? I've done numerous Alpine installs, and everyone utilized a 15 amp fuse in the battery lead (yellow wire), if he had a 40 amp fuse.....
It's probably toast.
 
I think that was the amp fuse.

If the B+ wire feeding the amp popped out and shorted....It should have nothing to do with the radio then.
I was assuming the amp signal circuit from the HU (blue/white wire) shorted and popped the radio fuse.

You also need to have the park brake circuit hooked up to access a lot of settings and options.
Alpine in its infinite wisdom decided they need to install driver safety features to protect us.
I have a bypass installed on mine. They can be had off of ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nk...pe=e&msclkid=dd876bea1717155d64ac097d9d1b437f
 
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Trying to help a guy with a double din Alpine HU in a TJ with a remote amp. It worked fine, power connections to the amp popped out, power wire shorted and popped a 40 amp fuse. Since the incident (maybe) the HU will only turn on for 45 seconds at a time, there is an update notice on the screen, then it shuts down for a few seconds and comes back on. Rinse and repeat endlessly. Owner is far away and not tech savvy.

Worse the unit was installed without a park signal so you can get into the programming mode since it is locked out without the park signal. Do we know what signal it needs? Or is there a signal wire that should have been hooked up to ground in park or similar?

Is the unit fubar and needs repair due to the popped fuse incident or do we have a programming issue?

I had an android phone in the past that went to what is called as "boot loop" mode. Essentially it will just keep rebooting till the battery dies - and this was a known problem with this phone model as it was used and got older. Some people reported being able to return the unit to factory settings and the issue disappeared, but for a good % of the people (incl me), the phone was just done. You may have something like that happening here, but will be good to check if you can do a factory reset by getting into the boot menu at all.

@skrelnik do you have any idea as to what could be happening?
 
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Can’t tell you why the radio would possibly be messed up after the amp power pulled out of the amp and fried the amp’s own 40 amp fuse, but for the park signal that is usually just splicing the radio’s parking brake wire (“parking switch sense” or similar is what it’s usually labeled) on the radio to the vehicle parking brake ground (grounds the dash bulb when you pull the handle).

Alpines want to make sure people don’t bypass them via simply grounding the parking brake wire, so you’re supposed to pull the brake, release, and pull it again within a certain time frame. You can also get modules on Amazon that will handle that sequence for you but for this exercise just ground it to the parking brake and operate the brake in the sequence it wants to see.
 
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i just messed with a new double din alpine last weekend. hooking up the parking brake wire to the dimmer wire on the jeep harness solved the issue of getting into settings. hook them up and turn the headlights on and off 2x...gives the signal the radio wants to see and unlocks the grayed out icons. this isnt a joke. bypasses did not work for me. as far as the other issue i got nothing..

grounding the parking brake wire does nothing on alpines. works for other makes.
 
Here is the manual for that unit.
https://pdf.crutchfieldonline.com/ImageBank/v20190805183000/Manuals/500/500INEW987.PDF

You do need to have the park brake wired to access settings. I've never had one not function due to it requiring an update.
The firmware and map updates are done using a flash drive, they are not "over air" updates.
Perhaps there is more to the story about what happened. When a screen turns on/off it's usually an internal issue.
 
You also need to have the park brake circuit hooked up to access a lot of settings and options.
Alpine in its infinite wisdom decided they need to install driver safety features to protect us.
I have a bypass installed on mine. They can be had off of ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=alpine brake bypass&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-34002-13078-0&mkcid=2&keyword=alpine brake bypass&crlp=_5047&MT_ID=&geo_id=&rlsatarget=kwd-77584467353122:loc-190&adpos=&device=c&mktype=&loc=98296&poi=&abcId=&cmpgn=395411299&sitelnk=&adgroupid=1241348835108383&network=o&matchtype=e&msclkid=dd876bea1717155d64ac097d9d1b437f

Parking brake bypass works good. They are no longer available thru Amazon.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which Jeep Wrangler TJ Forum may be compensated.
Here is the manual for that unit.
https://pdf.crutchfieldonline.com/ImageBank/v20190805183000/Manuals/500/500INEW987.PDF

You do need to have the park brake wired to access settings. I've never had one not function due to it requiring an update.
The firmware and map updates are done using a flash drive, they are not "over air" updates.
Perhaps there is more to the story about what happened. When a screen turns on/off it's usually an internal issue.

There may be more but not at his end. The shop that did the install is not good at wiring. The reason the amp quit working is they used a red screw terminal on a 14 gauge audio power wire which usually has thicker insulation. They trimmed the wire diameter down with the strippers to force it in the terminal and then crimped it. That was never going to work.
Given that type of work, all bets are off and we are just trying to see if a new unit is needed or what.

1654117582544.png
 
There may be more but not at his end. The shop that did the install is not good at wiring. The reason the amp quit working is they used a red screw terminal on a 14 gauge audio power wire which usually has thicker insulation. They trimmed the wire diameter down with the strippers to force it in the terminal and then crimped it. That was never going to work.
Given that type of work, all bets are off and we are just trying to see if a new unit is needed or what.

View attachment 334263

wow...just another example of why I work on my own shit instead of paying other people to fuck it up...at least when I fuck up, its free and I generally learn something.
 
There may be more but not at his end. The shop that did the install is not good at wiring. The reason the amp quit working is they used a red screw terminal on a 14 gauge audio power wire which usually has thicker insulation. They trimmed the wire diameter down with the strippers to force it in the terminal and then crimped it. That was never going to work.
Given that type of work, all bets are off and we are just trying to see if a new unit is needed or what.

View attachment 334263

That is some shitty work. Is that wiring passing through that hole without a grommet?
 
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There may be more but not at his end. The shop that did the install is not good at wiring. The reason the amp quit working is they used a red screw terminal on a 14 gauge audio power wire which usually has thicker insulation. They trimmed the wire diameter down with the strippers to force it in the terminal and then crimped it. That was never going to work.
Given that type of work, all bets are off and we are just trying to see if a new unit is needed or what.

View attachment 334263

That is just absolutely terrible for a "professional" shop. I have seen better from even hack electricians back home in India. You are right .. all bets are off.
 
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Reactions: Irun
Did you ever get this sorted out?

I'm not familiar with the new Alpine. But back when I worked at a professional stereo shop the older Alpines needed to first see a positive signal on the foot brake wire, then see a negative signal on the parking brake wire, then the foot brake wire signal turned off. Basically when you come to a stop with your foot on the brake, and then shift into park, or pull the hand brake and release the foot brake. We used to make a bypass using the valet button of a Viper car alarm, and a mini toggle switch. Press the button, throw the switch, let off the button, and the screen was bypassed and you could watch DVD's while driving etc...

Separate issue. Some older head units would cycle on and off like you mention if one of the speaker wires is shorted to ground. Basically it was turning on, sensing an issue, then going into protect mode. It would do this until what ever issue was causing it to protect itself was found. Usually easily found using a multi meter to the wiring harness with it disconnected from the head unit. Alternately you could just hook up the power, ground, and accessory wires with everything else disconnected and see if it still cycles.
 
Did you ever get this sorted out?

I'm not familiar with the new Alpine. But back when I worked at a professional stereo shop the older Alpines needed to first see a positive signal on the foot brake wire, then see a negative signal on the parking brake wire, then the foot brake wire signal turned off. Basically when you come to a stop with your foot on the brake, and then shift into park, or pull the hand brake and release the foot brake. We used to make a bypass using the valet button of a Viper car alarm, and a mini toggle switch. Press the button, throw the switch, let off the button, and the screen was bypassed and you could watch DVD's while driving etc...

Separate issue. Some older head units would cycle on and off like you mention if one of the speaker wires is shorted to ground. Basically it was turning on, sensing an issue, then going into protect mode. It would do this until what ever issue was causing it to protect itself was found. Usually easily found using a multi meter to the wiring harness with it disconnected from the head unit. Alternately you could just hook up the power, ground, and accessory wires with everything else disconnected and see if it still cycles.

Last I heard he was looking for a stereo shop in Vegas to sort it.