First, thanks to those who responded to my other query. I ended up getting the Sony CDX F5700, just cause I got a good deal and it does what I need.

Anyways, I already had a vehicle-specific harness from a previous deck, so I wired up the Sony harness to it, plug the deck in, reset it per instructions, install the faceplate and... nada, no lights, no nothing. Check that I've got power and ground in the right places in the Sony plug, that's OK. Fuse is good in the deck. Took the deck back to FS and exchanged it thinking it's DOA, same problem.

The only other thing I can think of is to change where I've connected the ground. I've split the power off to feed a Sony XM radio but I can't think of how that should affect things (the radio is off while I'm trying this anyways). The XM radio works but maybe it's less sensitive to an iffy ground than the deck. I suppose I could disconnect the XM radio on the off chance it's affecting things but that would be a pain as I'd have to unsolder a couple connections.

Any other ideas?

[ May 04, 2004, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: Joe Dwarf ]

 

So this is the correct harness for your car?
Check for power (constant and accesory) and if those and your ground are fine.......ummmm...

If they aren't, double check the fuse in the panel.

 

Yeah, I bought it from Future Shop. I just wired the Sony harness to it, double checking to make sure that I was connecting it right - turns out they both use the same colour scheme for the wiring, must be some sort of industry standard these days. The same harness worked for the previous deck I had in there, so I'm pretty confident the harness is right. Might be a connection or two that isn't crimped right, I'll test them all end to end tonight.
OK, I only checked the main (acc) power before. I'll make sure they're both there. Because I had the accessory power I'm sure the panel fuse is OK. Tested the deck fuse and it was fine.

Could I have gotten two dud decks in a row? Seems unlikely.

[ May 04, 2004, 04:03 PM: Message edited by: Joe Dwarf ]

 

It was the constant power, thanks for the help. Works fine now.