Stereo Install - no worky!
 

Well I took it upon myself to install my new Kenwood DDX-7015. Well I connected everything exactly as the diagrams say and the unit will not even turn on. I took everything apart and did again just to make sure all the connections were right. Still no power. So I think it is one of three things:

1. The head unit is bad - sucks but is under warranty
2. The wire harness I bought is bad - only $16
3. The connection for the brake sensor is not properly installed - I don't know if the unit won't power up without this connection or not
3.a: I am a complete dumbass and can't install a stereo.

Any thoughts?

Hit the switched power (red) and the constant power (yellow, should be fused) with a test light after the harness splice to see whether you're getting 12v to both connections when the car is on.

I figured on doing this Monday to see if the harness is OK.

Thanks.

Drive to Reno Fernley and back - no tunes!

I've done MANY car stereo units in the past.. and trust me.. i've had just about every problem in the book.. doing amps for subs, amps for door speakers, head units, dvd players, ps2's, etc..

It sounds like you might have blown the fuse that controls the stereo.. either that, or you have somehow blown one of the resistors in the deck itself.. that is usually done by having the power wire from the car (if you have the wiring harness connected) to a bare speaker wire from the deck. You can check to see if that's the case by smelling the fan area on the back of your head unit. burnt smell = toasted deck.. Anyway if tha'ts the case, nothing can be done.. if not, check your fuse boxes and see if the fuses are all OK. If they are all OK, make sure you disconnect your battery before doing any work with the wiring harness.. you probably did that.. anyway, what i usually do is, connect the wiring harness to the head unit (when it's NOT connected to the car) with only the power (red), ground (black) and illumination (i think yellow). THEN click the connect your wiring harness to the car.. these pieces are plastic and snap together. Reconnect the negative battery cable, press the power button, and the deck should fire up! When i first started doing these installs, i remember thinking i installed the deck wrong like 4 times but i didn't hold the SRC button down to turn ON the deck.. what a stupid mistake.. but hey, thats what caused me 3 hours of work!

Anyway if the deck turns on, then shut off the car, unhook the wiring harness, and connect the speaker wire..

hope this helps and you dont have to go through the huge heart ache i went through on my bro's WRX =)

eh, call me or come by my work... if you want my number PM me, if not just swing by, the goodguys. im off on thurs and fri, if you want to do it then, just let me know and ill bring some of my specialty crapola home.

if youre lucky you can help me with my downpipe install. i have only done like 6-7 of them ;P

What they said... FUSES first, and if that's not it, then plug into into 12v with nothing else and see if it fires.

Thanks for all the help. I just got back from RFR last night. I checked all the fuses and they are fine. I think it may have been how I connected the parking brake detection. It has a power wire, a ground, and a green wire to the parking brake. I grounded the parking brake wire, but did not connect the secondary power and ground. I think the deck won't fire up unless all of these are connected as a safety feature. If that doesn't do it, then something is wrong with the deck.

Everything works fine now. It was the safety feature for the parking brake. Works great. Thanks for all the input.

did you use the location for the parking break groud in the location they show? so the DVD wont work unless the parking break is up?

glad things are working :)

sweeet! :)

No I just grounded it. Easier to install. That way I can watch gone with the wind at the next track day!

sweet man glad its up and running. I've been real busy with family this weekend so I'm sorry I couldn't jump in there sooner....:)

No worries Mike. I still have the speakers to install on another day.

hehe yah me too........