Expert: Cleggsan - 6/22/2009

Question
Hello Mr.Cleggsan. I have a problem. I basically turned my radio on 2 days ago and it did not turn on. I checked my fuse panel inside the car. all the fuses are fine. Also checked the one under the hood, those are fine as well. I went to a service center near where i live and they said it could be a fuse inside the radio. What do you think happened? I have an Alpine CDA-9813 head unit if that helps. It is not too old, max couple years.

Answer
Well, it could be any number of things.

You could have lost the remote ON connection that goes between the ignition and the ON switch of the Alpine.

The Alpine unit could be defective internally.

The ground connection for the Alpine could have gone open circuit.

The unit may have a bad internal fuse, yes, but if so that is a symptom of something else that caused it to blow.

If you are using an external power amp in the car it could be the problem is there, not the head unit.

I suggest you take it into a car install/repair facility where they work on these type problems every day.  Do not take it to a car dealer as they are not electronic specialists  (well not usually, only about one out of a hundred car dealers have a radio specialist on staff).

Hope this helps.
C