got a new radio deck! too much power?

[94cylcamry]

I got a new Pioneer CD/radio/deck thing for the car, spent most of the day installing it, it worked for about two minutes then lost radio. Turns out I got a bad HD receiver, yay for Crutchfield customer support, which is sending me out a new one Monday.

Anyway. Now that I have this higher powered stereo system in the car, it doesn't...run as well. It doesn't idle as well. It idles lower than it normally would, just low enough to be considered slightly rough.

So am I asking too much out of my car? I never really thought to look at power requirements, I just kind of assumed you could stick a new deck in and bam, nicer sound. But my car seems to be protesting, like I'm asking for too much power from the alternator.

Is this normal? Should I look for a crossed wire or something?

Thanks.

EDIT: It kind of worries me because I think right away of MPG. When I was thinking of redoing the interior with LED's, I was reading how all of the power saved would translate into less friction on the engine from the alternator and ultimately a(probably extremely miniscule) increase in MPG. So yeah...

[martyf]

stupid question, but do you have the wires done correctly? ( i dont mean to make you out to be silly or anything) but the symptoms you are speaking of are very strange, however, i would start by checking all of your earth wires. it might also pay to have your alternator checked out (worn brushes?) has anything else been done to the car aswell as the stereo install? did you disconnect the battery when you installed the stereo? if so you may ned to reteach the ecu

[Spitfire]

hmm deff shouldnt be doing that. and it cant be just the radio unless somthing wasnt wired right. I have a highpowered deck as well as 250w 12" subs and 500w 4ch amp and some other stuff that draws power and my car still runs perfectly soo idk what it could be

[cruisn76]

Looks like a grounding problem. Trace the black ground wire and find out if it is loose.

Depending on the how you wired, make sure you rap electrical tape nicely around the twist or get caps so that no other wires are touching it.

[94cylcamry]

Ok...maybe I did mess up on wiring. Here's what I did, feel free to call me an idiot, this was my first time.

All of the wiring I did, I did with insulated crimpers.

Umm. The way it is, the radio requires a +12v line, and the HD receiver requires a +12v line. Of course, they both also require a ground. The car by itself only offers one +12v line and one chassis ground. So...I wired the HD reciever and the radio to the same +12v line, and both of them to the same ground. Picture a "Y", one +12v line feeding two connections, and two connections going to one ground.

Something is telling me that wasn't the smartest thing to do. What do you think? But I don't know where else I would get the +12v for the HD receiver...

EDIT: And I err........didn't....well...unplug the battery during this...

[toyomoho]

You only used the wires from the radio harness and did not tap into anything else?

Are you sure you got the wiring correct? Toyota does NOT use standard wiring colors. For wiring colors visit the www.installdr.com website. What color wires did you tap off for power and ground?

There is nothing wrong with splitting off the power wires.

What kind of output watts does the radio have?

Check the cars idle with these items on and off. If it gets better with the items off you have a concern.

[94cylcamry]

Well I ordered from Crutchfield, and they included two harnesses meant to plug directly into the two factory connections. CF also included wiring schematics and things, and then all I had to do was crimp the generic cable that came with the radio to the two provided connections, and then I plugged those into the factory connectors. I didn't actually have to touch or crimp any of the factory wires. I just trust the Craigslist connectors were correct. I guess it all sort of depends on that.

I'll check the idle with and without the things turned on.

As for output...it's a ~$200 Pioneer, not one of the extremely cheap ones...umm...it says peak output 50 watts, 14 watts RMS. Does that help?

Should I have to disconnect the battery to "reteach" the ECU as suggested above?

[cruisn76]

Originally Posted by 94cylcamry

Ok...maybe I did mess up on wiring. Here's what I did, feel free to call me an idiot, this was my first time.

All of the wiring I did, I did with insulated crimpers.

Umm. The way it is, the radio requires a +12v line, and the HD receiver requires a +12v line. Of course, they both also require a ground. The car by itself only offers one +12v line and one chassis ground. So...I wired the HD reciever and the radio to the same +12v line, and both of them to the same ground. Picture a "Y", one +12v line feeding two connections, and two connections going to one ground.

Something is telling me that wasn't the smartest thing to do. What do you think? But I don't know where else I would get the +12v for the HD receiver...

EDIT: And I err........didn't....well...unplug the battery during this...

You can get 12v straight from the battery but not suggested. It doesn't make a difference if you have both connected to +12v, but make sure you run different grounds for each unit (don't Y connect it). Also get a 18-16 gauge wire for the ground. I ran two Alpine decks a couple months back and did the same setup.

[cruisn76]

Originally Posted by 94cylcamry

Well I ordered from Crutchfield, and they included two harnesses meant to plug directly into the two factory connections. CF also included wiring schematics and things, and then all I had to do was crimp the generic cable that came with the radio to the two provided connections, and then I plugged those into the factory connectors. I didn't actually have to touch or crimp any of the factory wires. I just trust the Craigslist connectors were correct. I guess it all sort of depends on that.

I'll check the idle with and without the things turned on.

As for output...it's a ~$200 Pioneer, not one of the extremely cheap ones...umm...it says peak output 50 watts, 14 watts RMS. Does that help?

Should I have to disconnect the battery to "reteach" the ECU as suggested above?

Disconnect the negative (black) post.

[94cylcamry]

Would running a different ground make that much of a difference? I'll definitely try it.

And I SHOULD disconnect the battery? Can anyone confirm that that's absolutely necessary? It'd be nice to skip resetting the clock, having the car run like poop for a week or two, etc.

Thanks!

[martyf]

Originally Posted by 94cylcamry

Would running a different ground make that much of a difference? I'll definitely try it.

And I SHOULD disconnect the battery? Can anyone confirm that that's absolutely necessary? It'd be nice to skip resetting the clock, having the car run like poop for a week or two, etc.

Thanks!

when installing anything electrical, it is best to disconnect the battery, that way you have less chance of blowing things up.
would you rather have to reset the clock or risk blowing something up inside your car, like your brand new stereo.
resetting the ecu is easy, your car doesnt have to drive like poop for a week or two, if you reteach your ecu properly.
reteaching your ecu is covered in your service manual, and should take less than half an hour at the most

[cruisn76]

Originally Posted by martyf

when installing anything electrical, it is best to disconnect the battery, that way you have less chance of blowing things up.
would you rather have to reset the clock or risk blowing something up inside your car, like your brand new stereo.
resetting the ecu is easy, your car doesnt have to drive like poop for a week or two, if you reteach your ecu properly.
reteaching your ecu is covered in your service manual, and should take less than half an hour at the most

Definitely true. All though you have fuses to protect you, sometimes those surges go beyond the fuses and will damage HU, harness, etc... Also take caution when working on the front end of your car. It is good practice to remove the negative terminal

[94cylcamry]

The owner's manual? I'll check. Half an hour sounds nice.

Ok, so it would have been good to disconnect it when installing the radio. Would it be beneficial to disconnect it now, though, after it's been installed? If so, I'll go at it tomorrow.

Thanks.

[96paseo]

I noticed you live in Pensy. Is this the first time you've had rough idle problems with the car? It's been pretty cold recently, that's why i'm asking. If you crossed a wire (i.e grounded the +12 power wire somewhere) you should have blown a fuse. It sounds like coincidence to me. Since you worked on it most of the day, the engine had time to cool down completely. After you completed the install, you started up your car and the idle was rough. At that time you weren't getting fast idle and the engine was cold? Is all this correct? I'm just trying to hash out all the details of your situation. You would need to put a large(more than your radio fuse could handle) amperage load on your alternator to draw your idle down, especially when the engine is cold. Definately double check your wiring with the battery negative terminal disconnected. Also, check your fuses down at the kick panel. Make sure none are blown. As far as reteach-ing the ECU, since you didn't remove the negative terminal, you won't need to just yet. If you do remove the negative in the future, the ECU will reteach itself in 2-3 full heat up and cool down cycles. I suspect your idle problem may be IAC or ECT sensor related but re-evaluating your wiring should take priority right now.

[touringcamry]

What are these craigslist connectors you found?