Pioneer FH-X700BT radio loses memory - intermittent

[blkprj80]

My radio will lose the memory settings, stations, time, and other settings, once in a while. I'm not sure what sequence of events causes it to happen, but I think it happens when I leave it in Acc for a bit (fueling) and then restart it.

It forgets all the presets and stuff, and most annoyingly, goes into the flashy disco demo mode. It has done this about 10 times since I bought it back in May.

I installed it using a harness adapter that I wired myself with solder and heat-shrinked splices. So it has the factory harness unmolested. I've never had a solder splice of mine fail, so I highly doubt that could be it.

I didn't wire up any antenna or optional stuff, just the four speakers, and I disconnected the factory amp up front and subwoofer out back. I used power, ground, and battery directly from the factory harness.

I emailed Pioneer and they responded that the battery wire must be wired to battery (it is) and to contact the service center for a repair otherwise.

Has anyone else had this problem with a Pioneer, or any other radio for that matter? From the EWD the battery feeds the dome and clock, and the factory clock retains time just fine. I did find one post on a forum somewhere that had a similar problem, but no solution posted.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[superstan26]

Hi, I'm not familiar with your head unit but usually the radios have both a red, and yellow power wires. Red is for powering the radio while it's on, and yellow is for memory, I'm sure you probably know this.

Other than a bad ground, a bad connection on your yellow memory wire (most likely), a partially compromised fuse (truck side since your radio fuse is likely on the red wire or newer units are usually directly in the back of the unit), or an internal short there isn't a lot that it can be.

The only other thing that I've seen give weird results is having your blue antenna wire, and/or blue remote wires hooked up incorrectly. I may be able to help more with some pics, but I would recommend gentle tugs on all connections to see that they're fine.

Check your colors again especially the blue ones if either are hooked up outs easy to get similar colors crossed.

 

[blkprj80]

Thanks superstan26.

I didn't hook up any antenna or other (amp enable, e.g.) wires. I do know the yellow must be connected to battery, which it is. I used the harness connector for this.

I'm an electronic tech, and I know how to solder quite well (NASA, etc.). It could, however, be a crappy connector, either from the stereo mfgr or the adapter mfgr.

The thing that gets me is that it works nearly all the time like it should.

The circuit is from the battery, through fusible link F6, (FL AM1 1.25B (whatever that means...). It then goes to the 10A dome fuse, and to the radio harness (among others). I had this problem before and after I changed to LED dome lamps.

I guess I could hook up my Fluke DMM and do a min/max looking at the battery wire while opening and closing doors, etc.

It does seem coincidental that it seems to happen more often when my wife is in the truck, like when I run into a store with it in ACC on and come back out and start it. However, the other day it happened when she wasn't in it, so that theory doesn't hold up real well.

I'm going to go wiggle some wires to see what I can get to happen.

Thanks for the help Stan!

 

[superstan26]

I emailed Pioneer and they responded that the battery wire must be wired to battery (it is)

What is your memory wire connected to? Maybe pioneer meant that it (usually yellow) should be wired to battery because it should constantly have 12v, your red wire "battery" on the receiver side can also be wired to battery, but if you do write it that way it'll stay on until you shut it off which isn't a good idea unless you're not forgetful.

Generally your red wire is connected to acc so that when the switch is turned on/off so is the radio (if it were left on, but the memory wire will retain the presets.

 

[superstan26]

What is your memory wire connected to? Maybe pioneer meant that it (usually yellow) should be wired to battery because it should constantly have 12v, your red wire "battery" on the receiver side can also be wired to battery, but if you do write it that way it'll stay on until you shut it off which isn't a good idea unless you're not forgetful.

Generally your red wire is connected to acc so that when the switch is turned on/off so is the radio (if it were left on, but the memory wire will retain the presets.

Sorry you sent your post while I was typing this. Good luck to ya. I'd like to know the results. Dale

 

[RKFZJ80]

I have the same pioneer unit in my 80 & had the same problem shortly after I installed it, I pulled out all the wires and made sure all were making good connections, didn't solder them, used butt-connectors instead, it seemed like my ground wire was maybe not making a good connection, made that nice and tight, been good ever since, since February. For sure check the ground.

 

[blkprj80]

RKFZ80: How did you ground your radio? Through the harness, or a separate wire?



I just did a set of tests to make sure something else wasn't goofy. I was using the min/max feature of the DMM and current probe.

The battery is about 12.5V after running the headlights only for a bit. Sounds good.

The voltage at the battery dips to 10.4 when the starter is cranked. Sounds okay.
I measured a dip to 10.0 volts at the middle dome light, which should be a good representative of the voltage the radio gets. But, during all of this, the radio remembered everything like it should, so...

The starter draws 231.4A when cranking a warm engine briefly. It's the higher wattage starter, but the current sounds about right.

The dome fuse looks "different" than the others. I believe I've read threads where people had problems with "cheap" fuses. I'm still looking for my spare fuses...

 

[RKFZJ80]

RKFZ80: How did you ground your radio? Through the harness, or a separate wire? I just did a set of tests to make sure something else wasn't goofy. I was using the min/max feature of the DMM and current probe. The battery is about 12.5V after running the headlights only for a bit. Sounds good. The voltage at the battery dips to 10.4 when the starter is cranked. Sounds okay. I measured a dip to 10.0 volts at the middle dome light, which should be a good representative of the voltage the radio gets. But, during all of this, the radio remembered everything like it should, so... The starter draws 231.4A when cranking a warm engine briefly. It's the higher wattage starter, but the current sounds about right. The dome fuse looks "different" than the others. I believe I've read threads where people had problems with "cheap" fuses. I'm still looking for my spare fuses...

I ran everything through the factory wiring, it just happened that the ground wasn't making good contact. Maybe try a different ground, there should be plenty of metal back there. I have never looked at my voltage drop at startup, not sure what normal would be. As far as I know all of my fuses are factory. Do cheap fuses make a difference? Good luck tracking this down.

 

[pion]

Mine does the same from time to time, but oonly if I don't turn it off before restarting the engine. Otherwise is I leave it on and turn it off by turning off the engine then it goes into the dreaded demo mode upon starting the engine more often than not.

Whereas this never happens if I power the pioneer down before turning engine off. If I do forget to turn the HU off turning ignition kwy to accessory is fine. Then I can turn it off HU start the car with no problem.

What a pain! because obviously I sometimes forget.

 

[pbeyersdorf]

I've had the exact same problem. For a while I assumed there was some sort of factory reset that I was inadvertently activating by a pressing a button while power cycling the unit a since I first had this happen when I was changing the source while simultaneously starting the car. However I've had it happen a couple of times since then, and like the original poster, it seems to occur when I have the key at "Acc" for a little while and then turn on the car. I haven't pulled it out to check the wiring - I had assumed it was wired ok since it works as it should for weeks on end, but maybe I'll do that next as these once-a-month power resets have me going bonkers.

 

[stonemasoncruiser]

Mine has done the same thing three times now. I'm starting to think manufacturer flaw, time for a web search to see how common this is.

 

[blkprj80]

Interested to see what you find Stonemason.
Mine has gone nutso a few times recently. I am pretty sure I can replicate it with key sequence of lock, acc for 1 minute, then lock. Trouble is, once I get the radio reset, I don't want to test my theory.
I was thinking the other day I need to get out the test equipment and take a look at it. If I find anything I'll let you know.
If you run across anything new on the interweb, let me know.

 

[tomasz]

My radio will lose the memory settings, stations, time, and other settings, once in a while. I'm not sure what sequence of events causes it to happen, but I think it happens when I leave it in Acc for a bit (fueling) and then restart it.

It forgets all the presets and stuff, and most annoyingly, goes into the flashy disco demo mode. It has done this about 10 times since I bought it back in May.

I installed it using a harness adapter that I wired myself with solder and heat-shrinked splices. So it has the factory harness unmolested. I've never had a solder splice of mine fail, so I highly doubt that could be it.

I didn't wire up any antenna or optional stuff, just the four speakers, and I disconnected the factory amp up front and subwoofer out back. I used power, ground, and battery directly from the factory harness.

I emailed Pioneer and they responded that the battery wire must be wired to battery (it is) and to contact the service center for a repair otherwise.

Has anyone else had this problem with a Pioneer, or any other radio for that matter? From the EWD the battery feeds the dome and clock, and the factory clock retains time just fine. I did find one post on a forum somewhere that had a similar problem, but no solution posted.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Hi did u find out what problem is with that radio? I have exactly problem and i dont know whats wrong it.

 

[tomasz]

Interested to see what you find Stonemason.
Mine has gone nutso a few times recently. I am pretty sure I can replicate it with key sequence of lock, acc for 1 minute, then lock. Trouble is, once I get the radio reset, I don't want to test my theory.
I was thinking the other day I need to get out the test equipment and take a look at it. If I find anything I'll let you know.
If you run across anything new on the interweb, let me know.

Hi did u find out whats wrong is with radii. I have same problem

 

[TXLX100]

I have the same radio in a different application, no issues with that. It does cutout on Bluetooth audio when I'm pushing buttons on the phone, but great other than that.

 

[blkprj80]

I hooked up an oscilloscope to the power and battery wires, using the metal frame in the radio cavity as the ground reference. Many cycles of key on, acc, off, acc, on, ad nauseum, and no radio failure. Although I saw a few odd voltage fluctuations, nothing failed.

I then disconnected the radio power connector, and I found I could do that fast enough the radio retained memory within a second or two. After a longer (10 sec) time disconnected, it would lose memory. That sounds normal.

Since I couldn't get it to fail "normally", I tried what I thought might help. I soldered a 1N4001 diode in line on the Batt feed wire. (Hacked into the harness) My expectations are low, but it has been okay for two weeks now. Then again, it has run for two months without fail before, and has also died twice in the same day for no apparent reason, Ha!

For tomasz, make sure your battery connection is always +12V even if the key is off.

 

[tomasz]

I hooked up an oscilloscope to the power and battery wires, using the metal frame in the radio cavity as the ground reference. Many cycles of key on, acc, off, acc, on, ad nauseum, and no radio failure. Although I saw a few odd voltage fluctuations, nothing failed.

I then disconnected the radio power connector, and I found I could do that fast enough the radio retained memory within a second or two. After a longer (10 sec) time disconnected, it would lose memory. That sounds normal.

Since I couldn't get it to fail "normally", I tried what I thought might help. I soldered a 1N4001 diode in line on the Batt feed wire. (Hacked into the harness) My expectations are low, but it has been okay for two weeks now. Then again, it has run for two months without fail before, and has also died twice in the same day for no apparent reason, Ha!

For tomasz, make sure your battery connection is always +12V even if the key is off.

So you.sorted that problem? I will check conections again and i let you know. Hope find the problem

 

[tomasz]

I have the same radio in a different application, no issues with that. It does cutout on Bluetooth audio when I'm pushing buttons on the phone, but great other than that.

What do you mean the same radio fh x 700bt but diferent aplication?

 

[tomasz]

Mine has done the same thing three times now. I'm starting to think manufacturer flaw, time for a web search to see how common this is.

Hi did you find out the problem with radio i have the same problem

 

[TXLX100]

What do you mean the same radio fh x 700bt but diferent aplication?

Different car, not a Land cruiser 80.