i'm looking for some history or opinions.

i've recently upgraded my car audio components in my 99 protege se, and i've had nothing but problems.

the main thing that seems to be causing a controversy between the installer and myself, is the panasonic cq-df801u deck. i love the look (face it, it's damn pretty) but i'm wondering if anyone else with this deck experiences unbalanced sound. ex at lower volume levels, the bass overpowers the mids/highs

the biggie problem, is the deck is overheating. if played for an hour or more at a time, the graphics loose detail because the face becomes very bright. shortly after that, the cd function cannot be used, the cd cannot be ejected, and the deck will cease to funtion. i'm on the 2nd deck, and both have had the same problems.

i'm wondering if anyone could say if this is a manufactorer glitch, or a crap install ??

p.s. if there's any question of the installers competency, i blew fuses like the dickens everytime i charged my cell through the car lighter until they rewired to a larger fuse...?

 

Wow!!!

I'm no expert but it seems to me that there is a probem with the installer. Two units with the exact same problem is not likely.

It looks like the installer used the cigarette lighter circuitry to feed something to the unit. That explains the blowing fuses. I would get another unit and take it somewhere else to install it

 

In reality, the cigarette lighter and the accesory wire in the radio harness share the same fuse on the car. If your panasonic head unit its a high power unit and your phone charger its a rapid charger there could be and added draw on the factory fuse, therefore blowing it. Sometimes radio manufacturers will have a problem with a model that can be shown in multiple units. Without looking at your car install and at the radio it is very difficult to pin point a problem. But from your description it looks to be a power supply problem inside the head unit. We have run to those problem in some Eclipse units. The whole batch we had had the problem and we had to replace every single unit we had sold. If your store is very customer service oriented, they will upgrade you to a different Panasonic to single out the problem to a particular model. Just my thought. Good luck.

 

I'll intersperse some comments....

it is a good looking unit

are you still using the stock speakers in the car? I am going out on a limb here and am going to say that the stock units are not likely a very sensitve speaker (are they even separates?). That said, when it comes to low amount of signal level into the voice coil the speaker does not deflect sufficiently to produce the mids and highs, only to produce the more powerful bass signal and the rest is lost in the murk. Once you get the volume up a little higher then you are able to put sufficent power into the speaker that most of the sound begins to come out of it. A set of component speakers (or at least a decent three way design) will go a long ways towards helping that out.

that really sounds like a design flaw in the unit. There may not be enough air circulating around the head unit to keep it cool in the car, but manufacturers really should (and I would imagine do) account for that fact with a car stereo install.

as mentioned in a Mac Daddy's previous reply there is a chance that this is "normal" under certain conditions. If the cig. lighter and the radio are on the same circuit (and I think that they are in my P5) then you might just be exceeding the limit with that unit (as I see that it can deliver 60Wx4 peak).

Now, taking an absolute worst case scenario (and I realize that this is very rarely the case):

60W x 4 channels means that you have 240W of peak power. Assuming the car is on, then the voltage should be about 13.6V. That said we can use the equation i=P/V to get a peak current draw of 17.6A. That is already more than the quick blow 15A fuse that the car has in it for this circuit.

Yes, it is a bit extreme... you will rarely pull that much power out of the amps, but by the time that you add in all the other power, say for the cool display with bright backlight, etc, and then add to that a cell phone quick charger (which can draw 2A) it might add up to just enough to pop the fuse when you are hitting some of those good bass notes (when a good song you like come on and you have the tunes cranked).

I would also point out that the larger fuse may have solved the problem, and that it is very likely that the wiring can handle the added load... but, if something goes very wrong just make sure that you get the right size fuse back in there if you are still under warranty as I would hazzard a guess that they will not like to see the larger fuse in that spot...

Something to think about... sorry about the longish post... not at work today and I was bored.

 

you also want to check the ground, or run another ground from the radio chassis if needed. I have a Panasonic DF800U (the 1st version, you have the 2nd) and it's been flawless for a year and a half, although i installed it Great deck, i love it.

i would try to talk to the shop and have the lead installer take a look at it. Not sure what gen pro you have, but if its a P5, then he would have had to tap and test the wires, as there is no available harness yet. it not, and he used a wiring harness, double check the pins inside the harness, sometimes they aren't perfectly straight and don't slide in properly causing them to bend and short out to another pin causing strange symtoms to arise.

Once all is fixed and proper again and you don't plan on getting and amp, you can custom run a hose from an air duct routed to the radio to cool it but remove it in the winter if you use the heater....

 

wow
thankyou to everyone who responded...
you guys are more impressive than the boneheads i payed $$ to install all this jazz.


anyways, this is the breakdown:

panasonic cq-df801u
boston 6.5's & 6x9's
orion xtr375 amp
2 10" orion xtreme subs
clifford concept100

so yes, both decks that have been installed are overheating the exact same way..

and if anyone here appreciates irony...the alarm was yanked acouple days ago because it doesn't function in the cold!

i now think all products should come with a "temperature guide"..

i'm ready to give up. its not easy being ignorant...

 

A quick question... The guys that installed the head unit, did they also install the above mentioned amp? A long time ago my buddy had a head unit and small amp installed in his Chevy Blazer... the installed mounted the amp upsidedown behind the dash and powered it off the same power lead as the head unit. Since it was a small amp it was able to run from that power lead but it sure did get hot down there with no air flow for it.

If your amp is by any chance on the same power lead that would very possibly pop that fuse! Just a thought.

I would imagine most folks that install these professionally would do it right, but there is that chance for a "rogue agent"

 

that guy who installed the amp in your freinds chevy should be fired u shouldnt install an amp no matter how small with less than an 8 guage wire that was ridiculous, and as for the problem with the deck it might be the deck the whole line could have a problem so ask them if u can try a different one just to see at least u would know if it is the installer or the manufactuer. just my opinion but i could be right.

 

hmm...

the amp is mounted on a board in the trunk, attached to the backseat.

and the fuse-blowing has stopped. that was an initial problem i encountered in the beginning. basically i was using that as a reference to the compentency of the installers...

the problem now is the deck overheating, and i'm wondering if anyone has had a similar problem and how they resolved it?

and for the people that missed it the first time, i'm on deck #2, same model and the problem is still happening...
which is why i'm thinking install.

 

Definitely shoot the installer for changing you to a larger fuse. Whether or not the wiring can "handle it" is not the issue - when the correct size fuse keeps blowing, replacing it with a larger one is a temporary (and dangerous) solution to a permanent problem.

This guy is doing something wrong. Go somewhere else. And any installer (even a TOTAL amatuer like me) should know better than to swap in a higher-than-recommended rated fuse.