INFO - 2013-2018 8.4A /AN FW Notes (RA3/VP3-NA & RA4/VP4-NA & UAx)

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Atincup

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I will pull a reading on the battery just to make sure. Battery is fairly new.

Never thought of cycling the key a few times, I will give that a shot tallow. Plus going to be near 60 Thursday I can check and see if definitely temp related.

It doesn't "drop out", it is either comes on when I start the truck and stays on. Or doesn't come on at all.



Mine did this the other day at 2* outside, but came right back after a key cycle.
It seems to me that the 8.4's are just sensitive to extreme cold.

Another thing to check is your battery voltage. 00R/T and someone else? reported an issue with the radio blanking out when it dropped low. Not sure of the cutoff, maybe 11.8v. One of them replaced the battery and had no more issues. How old is your battery?

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00R/T

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Did the upgrade during the summer. Upgraded to 8.4N, Harness and HVAC controls. Worked flawless all summer and fall. Then an issue arrived. First time temp was below freezing and nothing. No radio, no backup camera totally blank. The fan control speed worked fine but couldn't change anything else without the screen. I figured it was a fuse or loose connection but everything checked out. Was busy at work so waited a few days and was going to check again. In the mean time the weather improved and radio just came on. Everything worked great. Fast forward, temperatures are below freezing and again nothing.

I'm frustrated and just ready to disconnect and go back to the 5.1.

Does anyone have any idea what could cause the problem or what I should check?

2mzirkw.jpg



This post sounds like I could have written it. I'm pretty well convinced it's temperature related at this point. I chased a red herring with the battery that ended up being nothing. I've checked the CAN bus, verified all the connections, and checked for fault codes in the radio and other system.

When this happens, I can fix it 99% of the time by pulling off the negative battery terminal for 30 seconds or so. If I don't do that, it's very unlikely it will work even after multiple key cycles. If I do it, it then goes on to work for a day, or a few days, or a week.

One of these days when I have more time I'll pull the fuse instead of the battery. This should tell me if it's the radio itself or something else in the truck that needs reset. I did this once, but it was when the temps were single digits and even a full battery disconnect didn't work. So, it wasn't conclusive.
 

Atincup

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Thanks 00R/T

I will be keeping an eye on this thread to see what you come up with and will be updating my progress also.

This post sounds like I could have written it. I'm pretty well convinced it's temperature related at this point. I chased a red herring with the battery that ended up being nothing. I've checked the CAN bus, verified all the connections, and checked for fault codes in the radio and other system.

When this happens, I can fix it 99% of the time by pulling off the negative battery terminal for 30 seconds or so. If I don't do that, it's very unlikely it will work even after multiple key cycles. If I do it, it then goes on to work for a day, or a few days, or a week.

One of these days when I have more time I'll pull the fuse instead of the battery. This should tell me if it's the radio itself or something else in the truck that needs reset. I did this once, but it was when the temps were single digits and even a full battery disconnect didn't work. So, it wasn't conclusive.
 

R.L.K.

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Kinda related , ( Helicopter ) a few years ago I was troubleshooting a ( Generator not comming on line )
Temps were in the teens .
To make a long story short, I ended up putting the voltage regulator in the freezer and verified internal circuit board would not ohm out correctly , then I left the VR in the heated hanger @ about 70° and it rang out correctly.

Maybe remove the radio and take it in the house for a few hours , plug it in and see if it works . If it does remove it again put it in the freezer for an hour or so quickly go plug it back in and see if it fails again ....
 

12sportmc

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Kinda related , ( Helicopter ) a few years ago I was troubleshooting a ( Generator not comming on line )
Temps were in the teens .
To make a long story short, I ended up putting the voltage regulator in the freezer and verified internal circuit board would not ohm out correctly , then I left the VR in the heated hanger @ about 70° and it rang out correctly.

Maybe remove the radio and take it in the house for a few hours , plug it in and see if it works . If it does remove it again put it in the freezer for an hour or so quickly go plug it back in and see if it fails again ....



I love the freezer trick. Lol. Used it many times to troubleshoot faulty APU clutch Servo's [emoji23][emoji23]


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00R/T

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Kinda related , ( Helicopter ) a few years ago I was troubleshooting a ( Generator not comming on line )
Temps were in the teens .
To make a long story short, I ended up putting the voltage regulator in the freezer and verified internal circuit board would not ohm out correctly , then I left the VR in the heated hanger @ about 70° and it rang out correctly.

Maybe remove the radio and take it in the house for a few hours , plug it in and see if it works . If it does remove it again put it in the freezer for an hour or so quickly go plug it back in and see if it fails again ....



I thought about that. There's two problems though. First, it seems like the radio doesn't need to warm up. Even if it's still cold, reconnecting power will wake it up. The second issue as that these radios won't power up without a CAN bus signal telling it the ignition is on, so I'd have to come up with a simulator for that.
 

R.L.K.

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I thought about that. There's two problems though. First, it seems like the radio doesn't need to warm up. Even if it's still cold, reconnecting power will wake it up. The second issue as that these radios won't power up without a CAN bus signal telling it the ignition is on, so I'd have to come up with a simulator for that.
Hmm ?
 

Jared4.7

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Anybody have a copy of 15.26.1???? I think I may just try 15.17.5 and avoid 16.16.13.
 
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Jared4.7

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Mpgrimm2

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Ah crap. Got my wires crossed and didnt look in the right spot. Thats listed for a 14 radio, my bad. Guess Im putting 15.17.15 on my new radio.

ETA: I think I may have meant to ask about 15.06.1 actually.
Yep I don't have anything that early to host.

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Jared4.7

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Yep I don't have anything that early to host.

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I'll have to do some digging on my computer. I might just have that firmware. Not 100% sure but I might.

I just slapped a 68238619AA in my truck last night. Can't remember what version it's running need to look again. Navrepair didn't have a link on the site to do an unlock code. I shot them an email asking about the service and they asked for the serial and part number. Had an email back in about 20 minutes with an unlock code! Many thanks to those guys!
 
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Atincup

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Somehow we hit 68* yesterday here in MD.

So I started the truck, no radio. Cycled the key 3 times, started, no radio.

Disconnects negative battery cable for 30 seconds, hooked back up, started, and BOOM, radio, have, back up everything turned on.

*on a note that might help with deducing the problem, after a month of no radio, once it turned on today all memories and even clock were correct. Seems though the screen never came on this past month, it remained powered.

Thanks to all.
 

00R/T

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Somehow we hit 68* yesterday here in MD.

So I started the truck, no radio. Cycled the key 3 times, started, no radio.

Disconnects negative battery cable for 30 seconds, hooked back up, started, and BOOM, radio, have, back up everything turned on.

*on a note that might help with deducing the problem, after a month of no radio, once it turned on today all memories and even clock were correct. Seems though the screen never came on this past month, it remained powered.

Thanks to all.


That stuff is saved in non-volatile memory. You can have the radio disconnected forever and it will retain most of the stuff. The only thing I've noticed it reverts is the EQ. The clock sets itself automatically so that's why it was correct.
 
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Mpgrimm2

Mpgrimm2

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I'll have to do some digging on my computer. I might just have that firmware. Not 100% sure but I might.

I just slapped a 68238619AA in my truck last night. Can't remember what version it's running need to look again. Navrepair didn't have a link on the site to do an unlock code. I shot them an email asking about the service and they asked for the serial and part number. Had an email back in about 20 minutes with an unlock code! Many thanks to those guys!
Did this radio work at all other than the dated software on it (before you returned it)?

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Jared4.7

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Did this radio work at all other than the dated software on it (before you returned it)?

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Yes but it will not update. I want the blue theme back and this radio doesn't have it.
 

Yoyodyne

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Hello all. New member here. I'm getting parts together for a RA4 swap into my RA1 2014 express. I came across a unit on ebay, a Canadian model from a 2014 Cherokee, the part number is 68211965AF. Should I take a chance that this radio would work ? I have read through this thread, and haven't seen anyone with this part number as confirmed to work.
 

R.L.K.

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Hello all. New member here. I'm getting parts together for a RA4 swap into my RA1 2014 express. I came across a unit on ebay, a Canadian model from a 2014 Cherokee, the part number is 68211965AF. Should I take a chance that this radio would work ? I have read through this thread, and haven't seen anyone with this part number as confirmed to work.


I'd say it's worth a shot , make sure you can return it just in case .

Make sure you get the Vin# & antithetical code .

I had a Canadian RA4 8.4NA ( confirmed from a Ram ) with Nav and everything worked great for me to include U.S. Maps for navigation.

Good luck to ya Sir ! And welcome to the forum.

Read lots post lots and always help others when you can !
 

Yoyodyne

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I'll message the seller about the VIN. Is the firmware the between the CA and NA radios the same for the year ? Any problems with the CA radios and the USB port in the console? I'll switch to the SD card media hub if I have to.
 

R.L.K.

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I'll message the seller about the VIN. Is the firmware the between the CA and NA radios the same for the year ? Any problems with the CA radios and the USB port in the console? I'll switch to the SD card media hub if I have to.
Not certin , but I think the software updates are different. This is why you need the Vin it came out of . You enter the vin # to determine if your radio is available for an update .

As far as the USB goes , I played music stored in my phone with the Canadian RA4 8.4NA from the Ram , I would think it would work with yours as well .

Hope this helps !
 
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