antenna relay bad...want to bypass for manual control

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orangecrush

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Mar 10, 2007
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21
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55
I have been trying to trouble shoot why my antenna never moved up or down or anything. No noise came from the antenna motor, so I picked up a used antenna motor to replace mine. When I hooked up the antenna motor nothing changed. I went to the Toyota dealer to check both antennas to see if both were working. They said both antenna motors worked fine.

Second, I took out the antenna motor relay and inspected the circuit board. If you look at the pic, it is fried at one point.

Is there any way to fix that? Another question, is there a way to just bypass this relay and hook up my antenna up/down switch directly to the antenna motor so I can make the antenna go up and down myself?
circuit board1.webp
 
I soldered the fried connections and my relay works again...yay! I still want to figure out how to gain manual control of my antenna...so anyone who knows, speak up!
 
I assume the dash antenna up/down switch runs through the relay too?
 
Exactly what the previous poster just said. I don't want the relay to do anything at all. I just want to put up or down the antenna when I want. No automatic change when I switch from radio to cd and so on. All using the OEM switch.
 
I had an Integra that had a power antenna. I took the radio out and spliced into the antenna feed with a rocker switch. I'm sure this isn't going to be as simple as that, but I'm also curious about this. My gears are starting to strip and I was going to just get a steel whip antenna and get rid of the power garbage. But then, I have a switch I have no use for. If I could get it up and down manually, that would be great.
 
matt 105 said:
well....no.
I dont want another switch, I just want the antenna to stay down until I use the OEM switch to put it up.
Click to expand...
Cut the wire from your head unit to the antenna relay...connect that wire from the relay to a +12 volt source that's on with the key in the ACC position. I'm thinking that should be what you need.

hth

-hanko
 
I've got a similar issue, mine will go up with the manual control but won't go down! I've checked the control box and its fine, its given me the s***s so I'll soon modify the box to give me manual control. When I do I'll document the mods.
 
okay so because my brain feels like it has nothing better to do at 1am than do what it does most of the time at work (electronics), ive knocked up a simple guide on how to override all the smarts in the antenna controller as easily as possible, and taken a couple of photos too.

DISCLAIMER: please note you are playing with electronics, and i will not be held responsible for you screwing something up / setting your car on fire after following this guide. this is intended for people competent with basic electronics, soldering knowledge etc etc etc.

this is the circuit diagram of how the control relay is wired into the rest of the antenna system.
IMG_20140812_011421.webp


This is the box you will find sitting in front of the fan / airbox next to the engine ecu behind the glovebox, quite simple to remove.
IMG_20140812_011459.webp


This is the box disassembled, simply pop off the 2 clips on the front edges and the entire PCB slides straight out. i have already modified this one before taking the photos sorry.
IMG_20140812_011604.webp


as you can see below, ive cut pins 1 (upper) and 9 (lower) on the connector, and straightened them out. pin 1 is grounded when the 'up' button is pressed on the dash, pin 9 is grounded when the 'down' button is pressed. solder the top one to the side of the diode without the stripe in the picture below (closest to the connector). this will ground the coil of the up relay, allowing power to flow to the correct side of the antenna motor to lift the mast up. solder another wire to the bottom one, around to the other side of the relays.
IMG_20140812_011850.webp


and then solder it to the same point on the diode in the below picture:
IMG_20140812_011918.webp


this will allow your antenna to move up and down with the car stereo, as well as having full manual control of it if for some reason it is playing up like mine is (i believe my motor is not allowing the control box to see where its limit switches are, so it would not go down.)

be warned that by doing this, it is effectively jumpering power straight to the antenna motor for as long as you hold down the button, and will not cut power when it reaches the end limit switch. this means if you hold down the button too long, you could start stripping teeth off the gear or mast as it keeps trying to pull or push the mast around. it is not my fault if you (or a child, pet, missus/partner) damages your antenna doing this.

enjoy!
 
oh and for those who want full manual control, this is the easiest way to do it in the same box:
cut pin 14 (left of the 2 centre pins, also the one i have cut in the picture below) and bend out slightly to give a bit of a gap between the cut ends. this stops the wire from the radio reaching any of the controls, so the antenna will not go up / down automatically when the radio is turned on / off.

IMG_20140812_011934.webp


to the OP, i would be weary of how that centre bridge shorted. that is an earth return from the relays that will melt in the event that either a relay burns out and bridges both +ve and -ve terminals before the motor, or if +12v is applied to the up or down wire in the event of the motor burning out or shorting. the way i have done the modification keeps this 'fuse' in place.
 
Dorz said:
oh and for those who want full manual control, this is the easiest way to do it in the same box:
cut pin 14 (left of the 2 centre pins, also the one i have cut in the picture below) and bend out slightly to give a bit of a gap between the cut ends. this stops the wire from the radio reaching any of the controls, so the antenna will not go up / down automatically when the radio is turned on / off.

View attachment 928319

to the OP, i would be weary of how that centre bridge shorted. that is an earth return from the relays that will melt in the event that either a relay burns out and bridges both +ve and -ve terminals before the motor, or if +12v is applied to the up or down wire in the event of the motor burning out or shorting. the way i have done the modification keeps this 'fuse' in place.
Click to expand...

Have you figured out why your antenna didn't work on the "down" switch?
 
Dorz said:
okay so because my brain feels like it has nothing better to do at 1am than do what it does most of the time at work (electronics), ive knocked up a simple guide on how to override all the smarts in the antenna controller as easily as possible, and taken a couple of photos too.

DISCLAIMER: please note you are playing with electronics, and i will not be held responsible for you screwing something up / setting your car on fire after following this guide. this is intended for people competent with basic electronics, soldering knowledge etc etc etc.

this is the circuit diagram of how the control relay is wired into the rest of the antenna system.
View attachment 928308

This is the box you will find sitting in front of the fan / airbox next to the engine ecu behind the glovebox, quite simple to remove.
View attachment 928309

This is the box disassembled, simply pop off the 2 clips on the front edges and the entire PCB slides straight out. i have already modified this one before taking the photos sorry.
View attachment 928311

as you can see below, ive cut pins 1 (upper) and 9 (lower) on the connector, and straightened them out. pin 1 is grounded when the 'up' button is pressed on the dash, pin 9 is grounded when the 'down' button is pressed. solder the top one to the side of the diode without the stripe in the picture below (closest to the connector). this will ground the coil of the up relay, allowing power to flow to the correct side of the antenna motor to lift the mast up. solder another wire to the bottom one, around to the other side of the relays.
View attachment 928312

and then solder it to the same point on the diode in the below picture:View attachment 928313

this will allow your antenna to move up and down with the car stereo, as well as having full manual control of it if for some reason it is playing up like mine is (i believe my motor is not allowing the control box to see where its limit switches are, so it would not go down.)

be warned that by doing this, it is effectively jumpering power straight to the antenna motor for as long as you hold down the button, and will not cut power when it reaches the end limit switch. this means if you hold down the button too long, you could start stripping teeth off the gear or mast as it keeps trying to pull or push the mast around. it is not my fault if you (or a child, pet, missus/partner) damages your antenna doing this.

enjoy!
Click to expand...

Hi guys,

Writing from South Africa, I also have an issue with my auto-antenna not working at all!
I'm beginning to think its an issue with the Aerial Module / Auto Antenna Control Relay unit (I don't see anything burnt on the circuit board).
Switching the key to ACC and checking the voltage where the wires come into the back of the connector (connected to the relay unit of course), only :

17-Ign Acc (grey) = 12v
1 - manual up down switch UP (blue/yellow) = 12v
9 - manual up down switch DOWN (blue/white) = 12v

...show voltage. Doesn't matter if I switch the radio on or power it off, or push the up or down button, there is no voltage showing on any other wire at the back of the connector?
Checking voltage at pins (wires) 3 and 6 - the up and down to the antenna - blue/white and blue/yellow - there is also no voltage.
Am I correct to deduce that this means there is no power going to the antenna, and thus a relay unit issue?
Should I also be able to measure 12v coming in from the radio unit -- pins 4 and 14?
Am I reading this all correctly?

Thanks to anyone who can help me!!!

Steve
 
Bud_Dude said:
Thank you @Dorz for your research on this! Great work! I implemented your fix with a few mods of my own - See page 2 of thread Loud gear grinding noise after power antenna lowers. for details.
Click to expand...
For anyone skeptical out there, this 100% is the answer for after market stereos/head units that rob 80 owners of the ability to use the up/down button for their antenna. After taking the shot at soldering the board as @Bud_Dude instructed AND realizing I didn’t even have an OEM antenna (so I promptly ordered one), I can say: thanks, Bud! This new OEM antenna is lightening quick on the button push — key or no key. It’ll come in handy the 2 times a year I listen to radio nowadays. But, it works and keeps that OEM button functionally I was seeking. Thank you, Sir!
 
LC97MD said:
For anyone skeptical out there, this 100% is the answer for after market stereos/head units that rob 80 owners of the ability to use the up/down button for their antenna. After taking the shot at soldering the board as @Bud_Dude instructed AND realizing I didn’t even have an OEM antenna (so I promptly ordered one), I can say: thanks, Bud! This new OEM antenna is lightening quick on the button push — key or no key. It’ll come in handy the 2 times a year I listen to radio nowadays. But, it works and keeps that OEM button functionally I was seeking. Thank you, Sir!
Click to expand...
Fantastic!
Glad to hear it all worked out for you Ray!!
 
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