I have a 920BT Pioneer head unit. I recently installed some aftermarket HID's and now whenever the headlights come on, the radio speakers cut out. When I turn the radio off and then back on, they work fine. Its like a surge is happening and I dont know how to fix it. I installed some new terminals thinking it could have been that, but no fix.

Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

 

we assume the 920 was working perfect UNTIL the hid got installed,,,?

if so then some conn u made changed the way the light circuit worked b4 u messed with it. u need to try to undo that change.

lights should not be in the radio power circuits

 

Get yourself some wire at least as thick as the power wire in the headlight harness. 8GA, 10GA or some speaker wire (usually 12-16GA) would probably work just fine. I can almost certainly guarantee if you cut the power line out of the HID kit, extend it and run it straight up to the battery your problem will go away. A word of caution, if you're going to spend the time to do this, I implore you to do it right. Heat shrink, electrical tape, make it nice and clean so you don't have any problems in the future. If it were my truck I would twist the wire together real tight, hit it with a generous amount of solder, and cover the stripped section with some heat shrink tubing.

I see this a lot at our shop, and this fixes the issue 95% of the time. A lot of times the extra draw from the ballast's powering up will drop the voltage enough to cause problems with some more sensitive head units. I'm not surprised you're having the issues, for a truck made to run a lot of off road accessories the stock electrical system isn't very robust. I was completely dissatisfied with the voltage drops in my system until I upgraded it. Everything in the back end of my truck read solid voltage, but everything going through my fuse box was experiencing horrendous voltage drops when my bass hit. I ended up going with 0GA wire from the alternator to the battery, battery ground to frame, and engine block ground to frame. I also upgraded the input and output at the fuse box to 4GA. The OEM fuse box wire is somewhat close to 4GA, but is pretty crap quality with huge thick strands in it, and tested at a much higher resistance than what I replaced it with.

If you start having issues with the lights not turning off with the vehicle, then what you'll need to do is hook up a small relay and tap the original power wire in the HID harness for the accessory wire to the relay. This varies from kit to kit based on my experiences, some work just fine, others need a relay or they never turn off or don't function at all. Relays are cheap, so I would recommend having them on hand when you start this project just in case you end up needing them, because once you cut that power wire out of the harness you're up **** creek unless you want to ghetto rig it back together. Accessory wire is just a fancy term for any wire that only has voltage when the vehicle is on, what this does is tell the relay when the vehicle is on so the current can pass through.

As long as you get a relay with the right amperage to match the draw of the HID's you'll be fine, and you'll need one for each HID kit.

Someone like this with the appropriate amperage rating is what you'll need IF you end up needing a relay.

Amazon.com: RELAY BOSCH 30AMP SPDT 12V VAN: Electronics

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

hey thanks for all the information. seems like you definitely know alot about this, I wish i could personally show you what the deal is. I had to install the relay on them before they would work. and the relay works so that it plugs into just one of the stock headlight plugs. Would i possibly need 2?

Also I installed the 2 fog lights and they plug right in and cause no problems when they come on. Both of the lights are also grounded, one to the frame and the other directly to the battery.

What else should I try?

Thank you.

 

What kind of kit did you get? You didn't get one that plugs right up to the OEM headlight harnesses? I would start with using a relay for both plugs, because the truck does have a computer, so I wouldn't doubt that it can tell one of headlights are "unplugged".

I'd also check your grounds. Make sure they're as short as possible, ideally under 3ft. Are you using a wiring harness for your head unit to keep the door chime and OnStar etc?

Before you do anything cut the ground out of the wiring harness and ground it directly to the frame behind your radio. I wish I could show you but its easy enough to explain. As soon as you pull your radio out there's a big bar behind it. On the bar is like a little flange with a hole in it. I can't remember if it was painted or not but if it is hit it with a wire brush or a wire wheel on a drill and strip it. Ground your stereo there using a ring terminal and a bolt instead of letting it go through the wiring harness, the ground there is crap. I have a Metra GMOS some number harness and this is what I had to do to get rid of my problems.

Try that and if that doesn't help we'll go from there.

 

its a xentec HID kit. I actually messed up one of my headlight plugs trying to get it to work, so one is messed up anyways. it does plug into the OEM harness just one of them though. Also, the head unit is fine when the lights come on, the screen doesnt change at all. Its just the speakers that cut off when the headlights come on. Not all the time either, sometimes itll take about 5 min and they cut off. And even when I turn it off and back on the door speakers may come back but not the subs. its very strange, and I think that it very well could be a ground...

 

Start by taking the ground out of the harness, re-grounding it and go from there. For some reason nearly every harness made for our trucks sucks and needs to be jury rigged in some way to work perfect.

 

pardon my ignorance. But you are talking about the ground from the OEM harness that plugs into the headlight correct?

I will try this ASAP and get back to you. thanks for walking me through this, it has been a hassle dealing with it and i dont want to eventually mess up my truck...

 

No sorry, I'm actually talking about the ground in the wiring harness behind your radio!

My wiring harness is a metra so it looks like this.



What you want to do is actually find the ground coming out of your radio, cut it before it goes into the harness, and put a terminal on it and ground it to the bar behind your radio.

If this doesn't fix your problem, it will at least clean up any slight alternator whine or static you may have.

However, I'm willing to bet this may fix your problem.

 

awesome, got it. and do you know what color it would be? or i know some of them are acutally labeled with a sticker.