HELP!!!!!
I have a 2004 XL F150. I received the sirius starmate 4 with car kit for xmas. After searching many posts here, I bought a PIE (part #frd04-aux). I installed the antena under the cowl and ran my wire through a pre-placed factory groumet, I wired the power for the PIE from the extra 12v power outlet. I ran the RCA to minijack cord from the PIE to the starmate. Then I hooked up the cig. lighter power adapter and tested the unit. It worked and sounded great.
Next I cut the wires off of the cig. lighter power adapter and spliced the wires into my factory radio harness, also as outlined in many posts. When I tested it again, the sirius didn't have power! I got out my handy voltage tester and tested the radio harness, just to make sure that I hooked everything up correctly. It read 12.23 volts. I removed the wires and hooked them up to the cig. lighter. Once again, no power to the sirius unit! I tested the wires to the cig. lighter, once again 12.23 volts. I don't get it.
The only thing that I can think of, is that the unit is getting to much power and isn't turning on as a saftey feature? I noticed on the power adapter from sirius it reads "12v-16v to 5v" on the side.
Is my problem the spliced cig. adapter? Does sirius make a cord to hardwire the starmate 4 into a 12v source? Please, what am I missing?
Starmate 4 is a 5v and 5v only unit. you might have burned out your unit putting 12v into it. They make a pie unit that has a 5v output on it for xm units and series 4 sirius units. Sirius does not make a wire to hard wire it you will need to get a new power cord or resplice that one back together.
Which "unit" do you think that I burned out? I plugged my sirius into the home dock and it played fine. I can't believe that I burned out the PIE because that does require 12v, right?
I gues my options are buy a new cig. lighter power cord and run the sirius off that while using the PIE to play it through my radio, or buy a new PIE that supplies power to the sirius unit. Thanks for any advice.
Everything I have read and heard said you would have burnt out your Sirius head unit, looks like you got lucky and didn't. Yes the pie does require 12v. Your right those are your only options but you could mount a cig lighter inside your dash so the plug is hidden. Lots of guys use that option
Thanks for your reply's. I guess my lesson here is that you should know what is combatible with your equipment. I guess I went cross eyed reviewing all of the posts concerning sirius and PIE. Many posts suggest the PIE that I have, some people, like yourself, recommend the PIE for the current generation of sat. radios (5v). Word of advice for the next guy:
Check to see if you have a 12V (older) or 5V (current generation) sat. radio and buy the corresponding PIE adapter. I was confused and thought that one PIE fits all. The difference is in your power needs. I guess I forgot the age old lesson of measure twice and cut once
Why not just buy a female cig adapter from radio shack, splice that in to the 12v source then plug in the Sirus to the cig plug that is hidden. The adapter for the Sirius is probably adjusting the power. The benefit then is that you can transfer the Sirius to another vehicle in the future.
I have the pie with the 5v built in in my truck and i have the cig lighter cord in my wifes camry so i can use it there, so i dont have to move any wires i just move the sirus unit from vehicle to vehicle
i ran into the same problem you did, i tried to hardwire the sirius without the cig adapter. what i ended up doing, was bust into the adapter at the end and run wires from the pins inside the adapter to the wires you would normally hook it to and it worked. Not a very big mess behind the HU and I didn't have to wire in all kinds of stuff. maybe this will help someone
Help I cut my power wire on my starmate 5. When I tried splicing the wires back together now power. I checked my fuses in my truck and they still work. But no power to head unit what is wrong?
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I got out my handy voltage tester and tested the radio harness, just to make sure that I hooked everything up correctly. It read 12.23 volts. I removed the wires and hooked them up to the cig. lighter. Once again, no power to the sirius unit! I tested the wires to the cig. lighter, once again 12.23 volts. I don't get it.
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