A few days ago I posted a note explaining how the battery and ignition wires came out of the docking sled as I was installing it. Since this happened when I had the sled installed, I didn't know until I docked the Empeg and it wouldn't turn on. It turned out that the loose wire had shorted or done something nasty and my Empeg was completely dead. It has been sent back for repair.

Fast forward to today as I attempted to reinstall my head unit. The head unit was also connected the other day when the Empeg docking sled wires came loose. It didn't occur to me at the time that it might have been damaged also. Well, it turns out that it's dead too!

The head unit cost $300 about 9 months ago. It's a unique head unit in that it's the only one I know of that has lighting to match that of recent vintage VW dashboards. I also don't think it's available anymore (at least not from Crutchfield).

I've got mixed feelings about how responsible I hold Empeg. In the strict sense, they are not responsible for what happens to my vehicle during installation. But the reality is that this wouldn't have happened if the docking sled had it's wires properly crimped/soldered. I'm not the first user to report this problem.

I don't know what to do.

-Dylan

I find it hard to believe the empeg could have fried another head unit; head units (and the empeg itself) are protected against almost everything as car electrics do nasty things (like -100 volt pulses, etc). Your empeg acting totally dead is a symptom of the ground fuse (non-resettable unlike the power fuse) blowing - we just fix this and all will be well.

Check the fuse in the other head unit's wiring harness, in the car fusebox (there's usually a separate feed for the radio), and check the ground wire going to the radio is *really* ground. I can't tell until I look at your empeg, but the loose wire may have put a lot of current through ground/power and blown a fuse somewhere.

Let me know how you get on. I suspect it's something simple like a fuse, but in the worst case we might be able to get our loom manufacturers to accept liability.

Hugo

I find it hard to believe the empeg could have fried another head unit; head units (and the empeg itself) are protected against almost everything as car electrics do nasty things (like -100 volt pulses, etc). Your empeg acting totally dead is a symptom of the ground fuse (non-resettable unlike the power fuse) blowing - we just fix this and all will be well.

Fried was a probably a poor word choice. But if an internal, non-user servicable part is damaged in my head unit then it's effectively dead to me. Unless you think I could be instructed on how to locate and replace a ground fuse. I'm not adverse to opening it up.

Check the fuse in the other head unit's wiring harness, in the car fusebox (there's usually a separate feed for the radio), and check the ground wire going to the radio is *really* ground. I can't tell until I look at your empeg, but the loose wire may have put a lot of current through ground/power and blown a fuse somewhere.

I've checked all of the fuses in the vehicle's fuse box as well as the fuse on the head unit itself. They all appear to be intact. The ground wire is from the vehicle's factory wiring so I'd assume that it is a real ground but I don't know how to confirm that.

What I haven't done is confirm that the battery/ignition wires are still live. I thought I owned a multimeter but couldn't find it yesterday. I'm going to pick up a new one today and test this.

-Dylan

When you get your meter, you can test ground by setting the meter to continuity (usually they'll beep when you touch the probes together) and put one probe on the ground wire and the other on a bit of car-related metal - around the gearstick, door latch, that sort of thing. You should get a beep.

Hugo

Yeah, Dylan, this whole thing sounds suspiciously like a blown fuse.

You can test to make sure the wires are live with one of those 12-volt lightbulb testers, you don't need to scrounge a multimeter. They sell 'em at auto parts stores for a couple of bucks.

Have you checked to make sure the Empeg is also dead when on AC power? The fact that neither head unit lights up makes it sound like there's a fuse blown or some other wiring problem in the lines- unrelated to the radios.

___________
Tony Fabris

I picked up a meter during lunch and tested it. The battery and ignition wires in the car measure around 12V. So no problem there.

The meter doesn't have a continuity setting but I did measure resistance between the ground wire and the chassis. The meter registered something so I'd guess that this means that the circuit was completed.

So all signs point to it being the head unit itself. Probably the same thing happened to it that happened to the empeg.

I'm willing to open up the head unit if it's possible that I could fix it myself. Perhaps it has a non-resettable ground fuse like the empeg. Would someone be willing to give me instructions on what to look for and, if found, how to replace it? I can take some digital pics of the board.

Thanks for any help.

-Dylan

P.S. I did try the empeg off of AC power when I had it and it wouldn't power up.

Edited by Dylan on 9/10/00 07:04 PM.

I suspect your problem is the ground inside your head unit; I've just fixed your empeg unit and this was the problem.

What happened was the loose wire touched the case of the empeg (and your head unit, it looks like) and tried to short +12v through the case to ground.

If you don't want to send it back to the manufacturers, I'm willing to take a look at it - but you'd have to send it here first.

Re: the test meter, on resistance it should measure very near zero if the wire is ok.

Hugo

Hugo, I appreciate the offer and I'll take you up on it. I'll ship it tomorrow.

Can you please hold my empeg and send both of them back together?

Thanks again and no one can fault you guys on customer service!

-Dylan

I'm impressed.

Calvin

And still people blame them of cutting edges ...

Being an (ex)-first line and (ex)-second line support guy (currently third line support, a.k.a. BoFH) I can only stand in awe. I think by now it is clear that the people at empeg are a group of passionate (if that is the term) innovators who deserve every bit of praise they have gotten sofar, and more.

Yes, they do make a profit (I hope ) but really ... These are people that need to make a living too, and if they can do it realising and creating something that has been a personal dream of them and others ...

Cheers,
Hans


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