radio parasitic drain & now Locked

[Johnb21]

Looking for some support on a 3.47a drain from my radio (6 disc Bose) in a 2005 Tahoe LT. When I pull the 15amp fuse the draw goes away. When I put the fuse back in the radio says "locked". I have searched on the web and have tried all the sync buttons presses I could find to reset and nothing works. Prior to the "locked" the radio/cd bose worked just fine.
So I have 2 issues, big parasitic draw and now a Locked radio.

Anyone know what might be creating such a large draw? Again, I haven't found much support on the net on how to diagnose or fix the circuit....Anyone know what is connected to the 15amp radio circuit?

Much Appreciated!!
John

 

[Mr. 960]

the locked part is strange. I should not do that seems to loose connection with the BCM. Hope someone else can chime in.

 

[about20ninj45]

Looking for some support on a 3.47a drain from my radio (6 disc Bose) in a 2005 Tahoe LT. When I pull the 15amp fuse the draw goes away. When I put the fuse back in the radio says "locked". I have searched on the web and have tried all the sync buttons presses I could find to reset and nothing works. Prior to the "locked" the radio/cd bose worked just fine.
So I have 2 issues, big parasitic draw and now a Locked radio.

Anyone know what might be creating such a large draw? Again, I haven't found much support on the net on how to diagnose or fix the circuit....Anyone know what is connected to the 15amp radio circuit?

Much Appreciated!!
John

The parasitic loss caused you to lose standby voltage, which results in memory loss ( not all the time, but aome time). IIRC battery voltage must stay between 12-14 volts, any drop or spike in voltage disturbs the radios memory and the radio forgets some of the programming ( in this case it lost your vehicles stored vin ) so the radio goes into "lock/theft mode". The best thing you could do is attach an amp clamp to each individual wire coming from the head unit ( since you already figured out it was the radio/cdx making the draw) and trace that wire down to its source. After you have taken care of the problem, you can have your radio flashed at the dealerships for roughly 60 bucks. Until then, the radio may not work.

Another troubleshooting step you can try is removing the cdx (cd changer) harness from the cd player, to see if thats whats causing your draw.

If you have money to spend, it may be best to just install aftermarket.


Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[Johnb21]

The parasitic loss caused you to lose standby voltage, which results in memory loss ( not all the time, but aome time). IIRC battery voltage must stay between 12-14 volts, any drop or spike in voltage disturbs the radios memory and the radio forgets some of the programming ( in this case it lost your vehicles stored vin ) so the radio goes into "lock/theft mode". The best thing you could do is attach an amp clamp to each individual wire coming from the head unit ( since you already figured out it was the radio/cdx making the draw) and trace that wire down to its source. After you have taken care of the problem, you can have your radio flashed at the dealerships for roughly 60 bucks. Until then, the radio may not work.

Another troubleshooting step you can try is removing the cdx (cd changer) harness from the cd player, to see if thats whats causing your draw.

If you have money to spend, it may be best to just install aftermarket.


Good luck, and keep us posted!

Questions regarding how to test the harness...
- Do I leave the positive terminal connected to the battery and remove the negative?
- Then connect the multimeter black probe to a ground under the dashboard and puncture each harness wire with the red probe to test for amperage draw?

The radio was working just fine with the large draw occurring. Could the radio still be the culprit? I will also pull the cd/x harness to see if rectifies the problem.

Does anyone know if there are other components on the Radio 15A circuit, other than the radio itself? Anyone have a schematic for the radio circuit?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Johnb21]

Oh, now I get it...A clamp meter!

Would a Sears Craftsman unit be appropriate? I don't have access to pick up any other brands (ie Fluke) today.
Thanks.

---------- Post added at 12:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:39 AM ----------

The parasitic loss caused you to lose standby voltage, which results in memory loss ( not all the time, but aome time). IIRC battery voltage must stay between 12-14 volts, any drop or spike in voltage disturbs the radios memory and the radio forgets some of the programming ( in this case it lost your vehicles stored vin ) so the radio goes into "lock/theft mode". The best thing you could do is attach an amp clamp to each individual wire coming from the head unit ( since you already figured out it was the radio/cdx making the draw) and trace that wire down to its source. After you have taken care of the problem, you can have your radio flashed at the dealerships for roughly 60 bucks. Until then, the radio may not work.

Another troubleshooting step you can try is removing the cdx (cd changer) harness from the cd player, to see if thats whats causing your draw.

If you have money to spend, it may be best to just install aftermarket.


Good luck, and keep us posted!

Even if I choose to go aftermarket that utilizes the existing Bose amp/speakers....so harnesses to plug and play, might I not still have the parasitic issue?

 

[about20ninj45]

Oh, now I get it...A clamp meter!

Would a Sears Craftsman unit be appropriate? I don't have access to pick up any other brands (ie Fluke) today.
Thanks.

---------- Post added at 12:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:39 AM ----------



Even if I choose to go aftermarket that utilizes the existing Bose amp/speakers....so harnesses to plug and play, might I not still have the parasitic issue?

Yes. .any amp clamp would work. .just make sure it works correctly.

Going aftermarket as is new headunit and amp to replace the factory one...


Leave the negative and power connected so you can use the amp clamp to find the draw. Other components are amplifier, speakers, headunit, and body control module. You should be able to find the radio schematics online

---------- Post added at 06:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 PM ----------

Questions regarding how to test the harness...
-
- Then connect the multimeter black probe to a ground under the dashboard and puncture each harness wire with the red probe to test for amperage draw?


Thanks again everyone!

Yes

 

[HoS]

Edit; my bad

 

[Mr. 960]

So if you remove the radio and store it, this won't happen? It is the spike in voltage or slow discharge resulting in a long term drop in voltage that may cause the radio to lock up?

The parasitic loss caused you to lose standby voltage, which results in memory loss ( not all the time, but aome time). IIRC battery voltage must stay between 12-14 volts, any drop or spike in voltage disturbs the radios memory and the radio forgets some of the programming ( in this case it lost your vehicles stored vin ) so the radio goes into "lock/theft mode". The best thing you could do is attach an amp clamp to each individual wire coming from the head unit ( since you already figured out it was the radio/cdx making the draw) and trace that wire down to its source. After you have taken care of the problem, you can have your radio flashed at the dealerships for roughly 60 bucks. Until then, the radio may not work.

Another troubleshooting step you can try is removing the cdx (cd changer) harness from the cd player, to see if thats whats causing your draw.

If you have money to spend, it may be best to just install aftermarket.


Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[about20ninj45]

So if you remove the radio and store it, this won't happen? It is the spike in voltage or slow discharge resulting in a long term drop in voltage that may cause the radio to lock up?

Caused by both... unsure what you mean by storing

 

[Johnb21]

is it possible to used the amp clamp on the negative battery lead to detec the total parasitic loss?

I found that my radio was drawing .50amps, and the Info fuse (onstar and rear entertainment) was drawing .30 amps. Total system draw was 1.5 amps.
I thought it was 3.47, but maybe I didn't give it enough time to settle after I cycled the key, OR maybe somehow it just improved since when I first checked.
What would be a normal draw for a 2005 LT? Thanks,