Hi everyone, this is my story...

I have a 2008 Dodge\Mercedes Sprinter van. I decided to change the deck and purchased an Alpine 9887 from crutchfield. I have changed a deck before in my previous van several times, i would consider my self somewhat "noobish" still though. Anyways i have everything hooked up properly regarding the harness.

I do have the speaker wires connected properly, the illumination wire and ground.

I did some testing and i do have everything hooked up properly on the harness, i tested the vans connector, located the constant 12V and it lines up with the harness adapter leading into the new headunit. The wire i used for switched power also matches with what is shown on the crutchfield manual (red and yellow are reversed in my case) Also tested this and everything is good based on crutchfields papers and wiring diagrams for the van. Here is the weird part to me, the switched (ACC) usually it sits around ~9.5V, when this voltage is present i can use the headunit.

When a door is opened\closed, if they key is inserted into the ignition, if you turn on the hazard button etc... the voltage drops to ~3-4V and the headunit turns off, i then started the van it still reads ~3-4V.

My questions are, this is supposed to be a switched 12V, why is it always powered, why is it not 12V only a max of 9, and why when i open a door or the other things i mentioned, does the voltage drop a 1\3?

Since this wire is only ~3-4V i am assuming the headunit will not run because it would need at least 9-12V according to my measurements.

 

Crutchfield C/S has been excellent when I've called them in the past. Start there.

 

You will need a special harness like the METRA AXXESS XSVI-6502 Chrysler Interface.

 

You nee to find your own Switched 12V, you have it hooked it to a data wire. Hopefully you didn't damage one of the computers in the van. The easiest place to find switched 12V in that van is the brake switch, wince the brakes only come on with ignition.