8.4 AN Radio No power

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OK so, this may or may not be related to the update. All was well for me until a few days ago when the radio screen stayed blank after turning on the truck. About 5 minutes into the drive the radio turned on and operated as normal.

A few days later, the same thing happened except now the radio has remained inop (it worked again briefly for a 20 minute drive today). I have switched the in-line fuse in the engine bay, left the battery disconnected for a couple of hours and physically removed the radio and plugged it back in all to no avail.

Some things I noticed while the radio is inop 1. The premium cluster does not display the time 2. The premium cluster didn't show the compass direction but that has come back 3. I have a LockPick connected but it doesn't work with it removed either, oddly the LockPick is passing power on the accessory power to my dashcam but I cannot see its Wi-Fi connection leading me to believe the radio and LockPick are not receiving power. At other times, the LockPick is not passing power to the dashcam. It appears (maybe) that if the Compass direction is not working, the accessory power to my dashcam may also not be working. I can adjust the HVAC with the hard buttons (blower speed, temperature, defrost) but the A/C button will not lite up when this issue occurs.

I really have yet to find a pattern but I believe the issue is that the truck is not supplying power to the radio when this issue occurs and don't think that it's the radio itself at fault (though I could be wrong). I will say that the radio is not working most of the time but when it does it works perfectly.

Any ideas? Is there more than one radio fuse? I know someone had a similar problem but I can't remember if it was for this update as these threads get pretty long.

Thanks in advance...

Sub'd. Not sure if it will be of any help, but I have some schematics in the following thread (not all 13+ years yet) ...

http://www.ramforum.com/showthread.php?p=1313236

... Why does Tapatalk pull in that deleted picture? Ugh.

M² Mods - From my non Flammable S7!

Mpgrimm2 said:

Sub'd. Not sure if it will be of any help, but I have some schematics in the following thread (not all 13+ years yet) ...

http://www.ramforum.com/showthread.php?p=1313236



M² Mods - From my non Flammable S7!

Click to expand...

I was actually going to PM you for your thoughts! If this doesn't go well I might do some of the things folks are afraid to try with this radio (when it's working)...

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Can you pull the radio and check the radio connector for power with a multimeter? Pin 44 is the power (red wire) and pin 43 in the ground (black wire). I’m not familiar with the lockpick, does it have a connector that sits between the radio connector and the lock pick? If it does have you tried to take it out of the equation? Looking at the schematics the inline fuse is the only fuse for the radio.


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DeereGuy said:

Can you pull the radio and check the radio connector for power with a multimeter? Pin 44 is the power (red wire) and pin 43 in the ground (black wire). I’m not familiar with the lockpick, does it have a connector that sits between the radio connector and the lock pick? If it does have you tried to take it out of the equation? Looking at the schematics the inline fuse is the only fuse for the radio.


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I can. The LockPick does have a pass through harness that sits between the radio and truck. I tried it with it removed and had the same results.

So, I bought a decent multi meter when Radio Shack closed but I have no idea how to use it. I'm sure it's simple and I'm good with instructions if you'd like to tell me what to set the multimeter to? I can perform these checks in the daylight tomorrow.

If you don't feel like expanding upon what you've already said its absolutely no worries, you've given me enough to work with (Google can fill in the blanks)!

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SitKneelBend said:

I can. The LockPick does have a pass through harness that sits between the radio and truck. I tried it with it removed and had the same results.

So, I bought a decent multi meter when Radio Shack closed but I have no idea how to use it. I'm sure it's simple and I'm good with instructions if you'd like to tell me what to set the multimeter to? I can perform these checks in the daylight tomorrow.

If you don't feel like expanding upon what you've already said its absolutely no worries, you've given me enough to work with (Google can fill in the blanks)!

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Click to expand...

All you have to do is set the multimeter to anything greater than 12v DC (20V is normally what I use )and then probe the positive and negative with the leads. It will give you a read out of how many volts DC are at the connector. It should be somewhere around 12.

Here’s a video that may help.
https://youtu.be/p89h9oS2jXk

Did you do the 8.4 Conversion on your truck or is it a factory 8.4? If you converted do you happen to still have the original radio to plug in and try it out?


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DeereGuy said:

All you have to do is set the multimeter to anything greater than 12v DC (20V is normally what I use )and then probe the positive and negative with the leads. It will give you a read out of how many volts DC are at the connector. It should be somewhere around 12.

Here’s a video that may help.
https://youtu.be/p89h9oS2jXk

Did you do the 8.4 Conversion on your truck or is it a factory 8.4? If you converted do you happen to still have the original radio to plug in and try it out?


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Click to expand...

It is a conversion and unfortunately I no longer have the RA2 radio just the bezel...

Thanks for the info! I'll give this a try tomorrow. I'm guessing the truck needs to be running when I check the power?

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SitKneelBend said:

It is a conversion and unfortunately I no longer have the RA2 radio just the bezel...

Thanks for the info! I'll give this a try tomorrow. I'm guessing the truck needs to be running when I check the power?

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Click to expand...

The schematic shows it’s a fused b+ and not a run relay circuit so there should always be power there even if the truck isn’t running. I’d check it with the key off and see if you have power. If not turn the key to the on position and then check.

Have you done any other mods lately? That circuit jumps through a couple other connectors on its way to the radio.


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DeereGuy said:

The schematic shows it’s a fused b+ and not a run relay circuit so there should always be power there even if the truck isn’t running. I’d check it with the key off and see if you have power. If not turn the key to the on position and then check.

Have you done any other mods lately? That circuit jumps through a couple other connectors on its way to the radio.


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None, just the 17.x.x firmware but I didn't think that could affect power TO the radio...

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Yeah it shouldn’t. Did it start immediately after the upgrade? In addition to power the radio has to receive the correct CAN messages from the truck to basically tell it to turn on. If the radio doesn’t receive the right messages over the CAN, it won’t turn on even if it has power (At least that is how I understand it).


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DeereGuy said:

Yeah it shouldn’t. Did it start immediately after the upgrade? In addition to power the radio has to receive the correct CAN messages from the truck to basically tell it to turn on. If the radio doesn’t receive the right messages over the CAN, it won’t turn on even if it has power (At least that is how I understand it).


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That's my understanding too. Maybe someone will jump in and correct us if we're mistaken. I was pretty sure that since the LockPick and my Dash cameras are not getting power it is actually something to do with power in the radio harness itself, the LockPick gets power from there and the dash camera from the accessory power of the LockPick harness.

It started roughly 1-2 weeks after the update and while it could be related I think maybe it's coincidental. I also wonder if the compass/homelink module is on the same circuit because sometimes it's not working during this radio problem too.

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Did you get a chance to check it out today?


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DeereGuy said:

Did you get a chance to check it out today?


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Unfortunately no, I had to get a tree moved/planted before the first frost. I will get to this tomorrow though...

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OK while going in to do this I was pulling the radio out and heard the dash camera go through its start up momentarily. That is being powered by the LockPick so I now believe this is a wiring problem (bad ground?) solely with the LockPick. The LockPick has a rats nest of wires so before I do that bit of tracing I'm going to see if leaving my radio (now working) disconnected from the LockPick will continue to power on normally.

I swear I tried this (LockPick removed) when this first happened and the radio didn't come on but maybe I didn't.

I'll keep this updated when next I troubleshoot which will likely be in next week if the radio stays on...

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Just curious, when you remove the LockPick, are you removing it's "T" harness between the factory connector and the radio also?

M² Mods - From my non Flammable S7!

Mpgrimm2 said:

Just curious, when you remove the LockPick, are you removing it's "T" harness between the factory connector and the radio also?

M² Mods - From my non Flammable S7!

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Yes, actually that's the only thing I'm removing as there are A LOT of wires going to it. The only thing not used or the video out's. I just checked the radio again and it powered up normally.

I'm beginning to think there is a bad/weak ground/power somewhere that lost contact due to falling temperatures.

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Any news please? I have same problem.

84mischo said:

Any news please? I have same problem.

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Nothing new yet sorry. I've been caught up by life. I will say that every problem I was experiencing prior to removing the LockPick has been cured. I could even flash the latest 17.x.x firmware without it erroring on the Sierra Wireless unit.

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Sorry to keep you all waiting for those wanting an update. After much troubleshooting I have come to find that the lockpick air v2 itself is at fault. The manufacturer said its out of warranty (which is only 1 year), the seller already replaced this unit once a couple years ago (4 months after original purchase, had to pay $50 for out of warranty replacement?). I originally thought I had a bad unit then, but maybe this speaks to the quality of the lockpick not being that great.

The unit will not take firmware updates but does power on. Before removing it the only way to get it to power on the radio was to physically unplug the lockpick itself from the wiring harness and plug it back in while the vehicle had power. After a power cycle the same step needed to be repeated to get power to the radio again.

It's possible it's something simple like a cold solder joint and I plan on asking a forum member who already has a lockpick to test my unit with their harness if he's up for it. These things cost too much to easily give up on them!

SitKneelBend said:

Sorry to keep you all waiting for those wanting an update. After much troubleshooting I have come to find that the lockpick air v2 itself is at fault. The manufacturer said its out of warranty (which is only 1 year), the seller already replaced this unit once a couple years ago (4 months after original purchase, had to pay $50 for out of warranty replacement?). I originally thought I had a bad unit then, but maybe this speaks to the quality of the lockpick not being that great.

The unit will not take firmware updates but does power on. Before removing it the only way to get it to power on the radio was to physically unplug the lockpick itself from the wiring harness and plug it back in while the vehicle had power. After a power cycle the same step needed to be repeated to get power to the radio again.

It's possible it's something simple like a cold solder joint and I plan on asking a forum member who already has a lockpick to test my unit with their harness if he's up for it. These things cost too much to easily give up on them!

Click to expand...

I spoke to lock pic about the capatability issue with the new firmware. I ended up turning off the overide feature so my gps would work but I lost the ability to input any thing while in motion. Also lost the ability to have a passenger add blue tooth music while in motion. Lock pic said they would have a software update soon but I have heard nothing back from them.

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