Newbie question here that I can't find an answer to.

What do I need hooked up in order to bench test my aftermarket head unit? I got a JVC KD-ADV38 and I just wanted to make sure it worked on the bench before delving into the car.

I tried today just hooking it up to a 12V battery with the power and ground wires only, but the unit would not start up. The buttons would flash red for a bit and the fan come on, but it wouldn't "boot up."

What else do I need hooked up in order to get it working? Do I need an antenna attached? Or is there another wire that needs to be connected? I don't think I have a dud unit, since it did light up, but I don't want to take apart my car to find out. I don't have all the components yet for the install, I just wanted to verify the head unit works first.

Thanks in advance. First time playing with an aftermarket radio.

 

Most headunits at the LEAST need power, ground, acc, and the antenna plugged in.

 

NFR is right.

Accessory or ingition power is also important, it's the wire that lets the car know the key is in the ignition. The power and ground without the yellow just make sure the radio doesn't lose it's settings

SO: Hook up the Power (Red) and Accessory (Yellow) to the postive battery terminal, and the Ground (Black) to the negative terminal.

You can test if the unit works this way, but you should also have a speaker on hand to test each of the speaker channels just in case. A home speaker of any sort will suffice.

For the speaker wire diagrams, have a look at the bottom of the deck. Often there is a legend indicating the colors and description of each channel.