tiresmokinV8

Ok I bought my 96 maxima se from a friend on here and he replaced the power antenna since someone ripped the mast out of the old one. Anyways the new one never did work so I looked into it tonight. Found that theres 3 wires, 2 power wires and 1 ground. I unwired the 3 wires and I checked the powers with a multimeter against the grounding wire each lead showed 12v when the radio was on, and one wire showed 12v with the radio off the other showed nothing. So far its normal. I pulled the power antenna out and put it on the battery, hooked the ground to the battery and both leads to the power on the battery and the antenna extended. Took off the one wire that I found to be the trigger and the antenna retracted, Ok so far everything checked out, Hooked it all back up and still nothing. Checked the power leads again and the constant 12v showed 12v but the trigger wire only showed 3v when the constant 12v was still hooked up, unhook the constant 12v and the trigger shows 12v again. So some how the trigger is only putting out 3v when its all hooked up which is not extending the antenna, I touched both leads to the constant 12v and the mast extended and stayed extended when I hooked the wires back up. Shut off the radio and the mast goes down like normal but turn the radio back on and once again no worky just 3v at the trigger wire. So whats going on here?

djfrestyl

iTrader: (89)

So what you're saying is that your radio's power antenna lead is only putting out 3v? You're getting your constant from the radio harness?

tiresmokinV8

Yes when I have the constant 12v hooked up to the antenna and test the radio remote wire its only showing 3v when the radio is on. But if I unhook the constant 12v and then test the remote wire with the radio on it shows 12v?

tiresmokinV8

Its all factory Bose.

djfrestyl

iTrader: (89)

Why don't you just get constant for the antenna somewhere else then?

tiresmokinV8

The constant always shows 12v though like it should. Its the trigger wire from the radio thats only showing 3v

djfrestyl

iTrader: (89)

Yes, but you're stating that the trigger shows 3v when the constant is connected, and 12v when the constant is not connected.

tiresmokinV8

Oh I understand you now. Ill try that. Thanks,

tiresmokinV8

Well I finally got around to trying the new constant 12v approach and it ended with the same results. Leaving the trigger wire exposed by just twisting it with the lead from the antenna I testd the voltage across it. With any 12v constant I use the trigger goes from 12v to 3v. But if I hook up the constant 12v to the antenna and just test the trigger coming from the radio it shows 12v but as soon as I test it while hooked to the antenna it goes to 3v, almost sounds like theres a short on the antenna or something and is pullling too much from the radio trigger? But that would show a loss in amps not volts? Tieing both antenna leads to a constant 12v causes the antenna to go up normally and removing the trigger lead from the antenna while still having the constant 12v hooked up causes the antenna to go down, Normal i suppose although Ive never dealt with a power antenna before.

I just dont know what the problem is, the antenna is aftermarket I think it says roadworks or something along that line on it so I dont know if it require more power to trigger it to go up or what.
Maybe Ill just look for a fixed antenna, what are some good ones out there just in case?

DAlastDON

Have you considered putting a relay on the trigger wire? Trigger wire from the radio activates the relay and supplies power to the antenna from the 12v constant.

tiresmokinV8

Damn didnt even think of that! That should work, Now I can use my new soldering iron!
Thanks!

djfrestyl

iTrader: (89)

+1 on the relay.

tiresmokinV8

Well ran into another problem. Theres either not enough voltage or not enough amps to trigger the relay. At first I thought I might have wired the relay wrong but if I pull the wire going to the relay that Im using as a trigger and touch it to a constant 12v the relay clicks and the mast goes up, So Im guessing the relay I bough requires to much voltage to trigger? Need to find a 12v relay that will trigger with low voltage.

DAlastDON

I did not read your first post carefully the first time. I had just woke up to get ready for work and the first thing that popped in my head was to use a relay. An external relay should not be required because the antenna has one built in. I'm thinking that you may have mistaken which wires are the constant and remote coming out of the antenna.

The head unit's remote line is not meant to put out very much current but it should put out more than enough to trigger a relay. Your standard 12v automotive relay only needs about 7v-8v and 150ma(.150a) to activate the coil to close the contacts. So I'm going to assume that either the relay was not connected right or the remote output from the head unit is bad.

What color are the wires coming out of the power antenna? Antenna brand and model?

All aftermarket antenna's i have seen have Red(constant), Green(remote) and Black(ground).

Dealt with a few GM antenna's and they had Orange(constant), Yellow(remote), Black(ground).

The way the antenna works is simple. When the trigger/remote line is activated the motor pushes the antenna up until it trips a limit switch and shuts the motor off. When voltage is taken away from the trigger/remote it activates the motor but in reverse, pulling the antenna down until it trips a limit switch and shuts off the motor.

tiresmokinV8

The brand is something like road "works" or road something, but it has a red, blue and black wires coming from the antenna. Pretty sure I have it wired correctly, With red as constant blue as trigger and black as ground I can touch the red and blue to a constant 12v and the antenna goes up, remove the blue wire and the antenna goes down, do the same but remove the red and leave the blue still attached and nothing happens, Im not positive but Im pretty sure Im tapped into the correct factory wires too, They were crimped on when I got the car so Im only assuming they are the correct ones, Ones always 12v the other is 12v only when radio is on (unless anythings hooked to it then it goes down to 3v with radio on)

DAlastDON

Sounds like you have go it right. I would think you have a bad remote output on the radio. Without replacing the radio to make it go up and down you would have to wire the blue wire to a 12v accessory. It would go up when you turn the car on and down when you turn the key off. Personally i would add a switch to bring it down for when you go through a car wash.

tiresmokinV8

I still want to tap into the remote wire as it comes right out of the headunit since I have replaced it 2 months ago. The antenna didnt work on the original bose headunit which went bad so I swapped in one from a 99 and it doesnt work now either so Im surprised that both headunits had bad remote outputs. Could be that way though. If anything Ill put it on a switch. The whole tapping into a key on circuit wouldnt do so well in a carwash which I use a lot during the winter months.