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  #1  
Old 11-06-2022, 07:20 PM
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Radio Fix: no power to navi

The power indicator light would not turn on when the volume control knob was pressed. No radio or display function.



Fuse was not the problem.



Ran down the problem to be at a coax type connector in the rear battery compartment. If I wiggled it the radio would come on. Tried to ziptie the connector to create some side tension, but that soon stopped working.



Used a pair of small needle nose pliers to squeeze the female side of the coax connector enough to provide a press fit with the inner prong on the radio. Had to squeeze the white teflon shielding around it to accomplish this being careful not to crush the inside too much. Otherwise you'll never get the connector to fit again.



Location of connector






Male side located on the radio for reference







Pinch the white teflon just enough to get some tension on the inner wire shown above that inserts inside this connector.



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Old 11-06-2022, 09:02 PM
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Thanks for sharing your solution! Pics help too
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Old 11-06-2022, 10:46 PM
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Originally Posted by haigha View Post
Thanks for sharing your solution! Pics help too
My pleasure!



This was one of those illusive issues that I thought was going to be complicated yet it was an easy fix. Just an inconvenience to get to it with the spare in the way.
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Old 11-06-2022, 11:28 PM
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I can't see how that aerial connector could have anything to do with radio turning on. Was this only a happy coincidence?
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Old 11-07-2022, 03:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Clavurion View Post
I can't see how that aerial connector could have anything to do with radio turning on. Was this only a happy coincidence?
I was wondering the same thing...

I checked the wiring diagrams to be sure there is no DC component on that connection but it appears to be a simple RF connection.
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Old 11-07-2022, 07:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Clavurion View Post
I can't see how that aerial connector could have anything to do with radio turning on. Was this only a happy coincidence?
The way these things are wired, anything is possible. I was just having an issue similar. Radio worked sporadically, more often not! Process of elimination, it was the Nav CD unit that was bad! Explain that connection to no radio to me....
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Old 11-07-2022, 08:23 PM
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Originally Posted by CapeX5 View Post
... Explain that connection to no radio to me....
Easy... these components "talk" to each other over a data bus. To turn on the radio, you push a button on the dash unit (MID or Nav) unit, which sends a datagram over the data bus to the radio, instructing it to power up.

If one of the devices connected to the bus has "gone mad" and is spewing garbage onto the bus, then inter-component communication fails....
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Old 11-07-2022, 10:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Clavurion View Post
I can't see how that aerial connector could have anything to do with radio turning on. Was this only a happy coincidence?
Could it have been grounding out the radio?

edit:
Not the signal but the unit in a way that kept it from initializing...
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Old 11-07-2022, 10:50 PM
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Originally Posted by EODguy View Post
Could it have been grounding out the radio?

edit:
Not the signal but the unit in a way that kept it from initializing...
Valid thought... but that would infer a different issue (missing earth on radio module).
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Old 11-08-2022, 03:53 AM
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It is an odd issue that's for sure. Definitely not what I was expecting. The way I discovered it was by wiggling wires at the radio to see if any would have effect getting power to the Navi unit. I thought maybe there was a break in a wire at the radio. Just wiggling the connector caused the radio to go on.



This was repeatable and isolated to the inner wire not making contact with the connector as mentioned in the fix above.



I'm just glad it worked and so is the wife. It's her car, I'm just the fixer.
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