MP3 Head Unit/Electrical Problem

R0B75

R0B75

R0B75

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Joined
15 Aug 2003
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Burton-upon-Trent
I have a JVC MP3 head unit. I got it new for £65 and the model is a GD-401.

The unit itself is decent for the price and does what I need it to except for one thing. When I take the key out of the Ignition it instantly forgets it's settings, Radio presets, bass, treble etc etc. Whilst not a major issue, it's a little annoying.

I gather this probably isn't an issue with the Head Unit itself but more of a voltage/electrical problem, but I really want to know if there is an easy fix, or is it a job for an ICE specialist or auto electrics place??

To be honest I think the previous head unit (sony cassette, ugh) had the same problem before I took it out.
 
You need to change the permanent live so the unit has got power when the car is off, the unit should have some wires that plug into the ISO plug in the car, should have a yellow and a red one with a bullet style connector, swap them round and bingo, it will remember your settings ;)
 
There's two ways of setting up the headunit. Swtiched current or permanent.

As per the image below, you should have a red and yellow wire on the wiring harness on the headunit. with yellow to yellow, red to red, you have a permanent current, but if your car electrics fully shut off after rmoving the key the headunit will lose its settings.

headunit3.jpg


Usually, if your car has an accessory position on the ignition, you need to setup a switched current setup. It depends on what your car slupplies on the connector on the car itself which means checking out the manual for both the headunit and the car.

If you get it wrong you could blow some fuses in the car or blow the headunit.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I will have a look to see if the HU came with any extra wires when I get home. You makemit sound like a simple fix but I still don't understand what it all means.
 
RoB- said:
Thanks for the replies.

I will have a look to see if the HU came with any extra wires when I get home. You makemit sound like a simple fix but I still don't understand what it all means.
Click to expand...

Will be simple one you get the unit infront of you ;)
 
I've just had a word with a friend who has the same HU in his car. He said his came with extra wires but he didn't need them and his remembers the settings. Looks like I'll be having a fiddle when I get home assuming mine came with the same wires.

He has a problem with his electircs though too. He has a Vauxhall Corsa which has a tempreture and time readout on the dashboard. This has never worked since he bought the car. Is this also something simple to fix??
 
If its got an aftermarket unit someone might have messed the connections up, depends which model it is, once you fit an aftermarket unit you will loose the radio station name etc on the vauxhall screen, but the time and temp readings should remian, sounds like someone has knocked a wire to me.
 
It's a 97 P Corsa CDX 16v and it came with an aftermarket Head Unit, which he swapped for the same as I have. The temp/time readout never worked before putting the new HU in. I think this would be a job for an auto elecetrics place but he'd like to know if it can be fixed easily, I suppose unless you know exactly what you're doing, it's not an easy job.
 
hope you dont mind me intefering on your thread - but my head unit loses its settings whenever the key is taken out, does anyone know whats going on? i can take a picture of the wiring at the back of the HU if that helps, car is a pug 206 and head unit is a JVC SC-601
 
I have discovered the extra wires that came with my head unit are like this.

ISO connector > Loads of bare wires. I can't be more specific than that since I need to really take a pic later to show you. I don't know what colour wires there are on this but I do remeber that there are no yellow wires on the cars own ISO connector.

Any thoughts??
 
Don't matter your not touching the cars wires, you are touching the bit between the cars ISO Block and the plug that connects into the back of the HU, you should have a red and yellow wire that have bullet connectors on, you need to swap them round.
 
The cars ISO block connects directly to my head unit though? I don't have anything that has bullet connectors. Atleast I don't think so. :confused:

See, I knew tis would confuse me!
 
Just looked at the instructions for your unit, your right the ISO plug goes right into the black, aka my old sony (pants design tbh), just by the side of the ISO plug (back of unit) you should have a Red 15A fuse, according to the instructions this has two possitions, think the default is bottom two pins, think you need to move it to the top two pins.

If anyone wants to confirm -->

http://www.jvc.co.uk/files/installation_manual/get0195-005a.pdf


Mark
 
If I understand correctly, I move the fuse from the one poistion to the other and then plug the ISO connector back in as normal? This will allow it to keep it's settings? And no messing with red/yellow wires?
 
RoB- said:
If I understand correctly, I move the fuse from the one poistion to the other and then plug the ISO connector back in as normal? This will allow it to keep it's settings? And no messing with red/yellow wires?
Click to expand...

Indeedy, turn the car off, you don't have to unplug the ISO but you can if you want, move the fuse to the other position then problem solved (With some Luck ;) )
 
That almost sounds too easy, I'm not about to blow my car up am I lol?

I'll try it when I get back home and report back.
 
Perhaps i should post a disclaimer :p

Should be fine and if its not you know thats not how to fix the problem :D

If anything is wrong it will pop the fuse on the back of the HU and perhaps the cars corresponding audio fuse.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Perhaps i should post a disclaimer :p

Should be fine and if its not you know thats not how to fix the problem :D

If anything is wrong it will pop the fuse on the back of the HU and perhaps the cars corresponding audio fuse.
Click to expand...

You're not filling me with confidence here! :p

Ok, so the fuse on the back of the headunit is easy to replace, what about the audio fuse, what is it and where is it?
 
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