It was a surprise not to find any information on this, because it should affect most aftermarket HU+amp installations.



As you know, we have an antenna amplifier in the trunk. It's powered by stock HU when needed and does it directly without any relays according to wiring diagrams.

I'm replacing the stock HU with a Pioneer one, which maximum remote wire current is 300mA. I want to hook up not only the amp power on signal there, but also the antenna booster, will it be ok? Or should I put it behind a relay (if it can exceed 300mA)?

Additionaly, I think it would be perfectly OK to splice this wire near the booster and use a short wire from there to the amp? Or am I missing something?

 

I don't know the answer, but the current draw should be pretty low - radio signals received
through the antenna are pretty low power!
I would wire it with an inline fuse < 300mA (which is a good idea anyway to protect against
accidental shorts blowing the circuit). It would be easy to insert it between the headunit's
harness and the adapter harness, and then if you tapped power at the antenna for your anp,
the whole circuit would be protected.

 

Had to bump this topic. I have had poor radio reception after an after market install.

Just had a new HU installed with HD radio, but the radio could only pull 1 station. OEM radio worked just fine before.

I opened up the trunk and found the antenna wire disconnected.

Either installer disconnected and forgot, or it loosened up, HD radio works excellent now.

This is the only post i could find that made it easy for me to know what to look for.
Thanks guys!

 

Old topic but I just installed a Joying headunit and I'm getting mediocre radio reception. I tested the output from the headunit and it is 10.5 volts. Shouldn't it be 12V, and could this be causing my poor reception?