Hey, just wanted to see if you guys have ever seen this problem. I have a Pioneer 880PRS headunit and the wired DCI with modifry harness hooked up to it. All connections are soldered and shrink wrapped, so I don't think it could be an issue of loose wiring between the Pioneer harness and the modifry harness.

Randomly while driving the system will cut out and come back on. When I say cut out and come back on I mean it literally cuts off for half a second, beeps and then displays the source it is reading from. Sometimes it even goes to the clock display (wtf?). I used to have the DCI plugged in, but this only made the problem even worse. When the car was first started with the DCI not plugged in, the HU would take a few minutes to even come on. Currently the DCI is unplugged, as is the 3.5mm wired remote lead.

The battery is a few years old (original battery from an '05), and I think it may the the root cause of the issue, because when I use accessories like power mirrors, the HU cuts out as well. I've basically got a EE degree, but I'm not the most well versed in the operating voltages of a car audio system, so some insight here could help from you guys who have a little more working knowledge of a car audio system (i.e. turn on voltages, etc...) could help out.

I've never had to jump the car, and I've actually never had any issue starting it ever. As you all with the 880PRS know there's a voltage reading "entertainment" mode, and that read's ~14V while the engine is running, and I havn't seen it drop. I don't know what the actual lag time between samplings are, so there is a change there could be a voltage drop and I can't catch it before the unit restarts.

I don't have an especially crazy set up (JL 150x2 Wrms amp, CDT EU-620, and a Sirius tuner), so there's no subwoofer hitting and causing crazy current draw from the battery.

I'm guessing the issue is just an old battery that can't maintain the turn-on voltage for the head-unit; I just want a second opinion on the matter. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Your battery should not be maintaining power at all, that is what your alternator is for. Is this a headunit that requires a dedicated power line like some Alpines do? Sounds like it could also be a grounding issue. May want to check your grounds.

 

I was always under the assumption that the battery helped ride out the voltage drops when power from the alternator wasn't above 12V. The Head unit does not require a separate power hook up, and the internal amp is turned off. The headunit just does decoding, audio processing, and pre-amp. For grounding there's the normal harness group hook up, and a spade groud to a bolt near the HU.

 

I'd check both those grounds and make sure your your power wire is good, there are no excessive kinks or even cuts in them. How long has the HU been installed? Just wondering if there could be some issues in the harness or outside of the headunit itself.

 

i had the same problem with my stock hu...also was throwing eps codes from time to time. i didnt really get into troubleshooting, but i did clean my battery ground terminal where it meets the firewall and made sure the terminals on the battery were clean and corrosion free. seems to have solved both problems. good luck.

 

I have the same radio (which is awesome btw)

Check the inline fuse on the red power wire and the one under the dash. Sounds like you have a partially blown fuse somewhere.

 

Check the sirius tuner. I have a similar problem with my pioneer and when I called they said the random shut off is usually caused by the ipbus add ons.