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Followup To
Question -
I recently installed a second radio and CD player (Alpine) in my 1999 Dodge Camper van. I wired the new system to the existing speakers, but had to make a best quess as to polarity of the speaker wires. (The factory installed wires were not marked in any manner.) On the Alpine, there are two positve wires for power. One is to a keyed source and the second is direct to the battery. I want to be able to listen while camped so I wired both power leads to the dual auxilary batteries. (don't have to worry about running the starter battery down). I added 4 passenger headphone jacks to the mix with switches to divert the feed from the speakers to the headphones. It was working fine for approximately 14 hours on a 700 mile trip. I parked the van in the garage for one month and when I pulled the van out for another trip I found that the front speakers don't work with the factory installed radio, and none of the speakers work with the new Alpine. The same is true for the headphones. They don't work with the Alpine, and only work with the factory installed radio.
I am afraid I have damaged both radios and/or speakers by:
1.) cross feeding from one radio into the other.
2.) mixing up the polarity of the speaker wires.
3.) or wiring the Alpine to a continuous source of power. (If the radio is off I wouldn't think it would make a difference).
Answer -
Bruce,
it is a good possibility that the alpine unit may be damaged but the factory unit seems to function so you might want to test some of the speakers if you know which leds work on the factory stereo run a set of bridge wires to the dead front speakers to see if they work .. if not then you might need to replace them .. here is a webpage that has pretty decent information on the wire color codes but if it doesnt have what you need i would stop by your local auto parts store and buy a haynes repair manual about 12-15 bucks VERY USEFUL .. also check your fuse block pull each and every fuse out one at a time and check ALL fuses not just the radio related ones .. hope this helps you out if you need anything else let me know
www.streetdreams.com/wires/
thanks
Dear Cody, Thank you for your prompt reply. It really helps give me a place to start troubleshooting. In order to avoid damaging a new unit, it would be helpful to know which of the three possible errors I made contibuted to the failure. i.e. Does getting the polarity wrong cause damage to a unit or speakers, or does it just cause a problem with the sound? Does it damage a unit if another unit is feeding sound through the speaker wires and back into a second unit? Did wiring both power leads to the auxilary batteries cause the Alpine to burn out? (The alpine does light up.) Thanks for any advice, I am not techno savvy. Bruce
AnswerBruce,
reversing the speaker wires usually doenst have any major affect even in amplified systems , now wiring 2 units into one central system even under the hands of the most experienced can become a pain so just the possible feedback between the units could have been a problem .. but if i had to take a guess at it i would say a surge from the battery is what got the unit .. as a precation i would make sure i had inline fuses in every battery led to your audio components
thanks
