Hardwiring Problem

[Catalyst]

Do I have to do something with the yellow and black wires to make the x50 happy? Oh and thanks for your help too comp...

[compu44]

Do I have to do something with the yellow and black wires to make the x50 happy? Oh and thanks for your help too comp...

Nope, I never even hooked them up on my install. Make sure that they're not shorting of course, but they don't need to be connected to anything.

If you're reading 12v on the RJ11 connector going into the X50, and the wires are in the same order, there is no reason that you should not have it working. Assuming that the above statement is true and the yellow and black wires aren't shorted or connected to anything, you have me 100% stumped. The only thing I can think of, and this is a long shot, is that maybe the little grooves that the contacts of the RJ11 are in are more narrow than those of the smartcord RJ11, and thus the pins in the X50 aren't making contact. Beyond that, I have absolutely no clue.

[Catalyst]

I think my ground was no good, I put it behind a bolt but found out later the bolt is only touching plastic. I have been able to get power to the unit via another telephone cord I just spliced, so I'm gonna thread it through and I should be good to go... Thanks again comp, I'll post back with a picture of my results.

[JettaGLI]

If you can't get it still just buy a smart cord hardwire kit from Roy. They are more money than a phone cord, but you get the remote mute. I put mine in the same way as you with the smart cord kit, plugged it into a fuse tap, and it came right on.

-Bill

[synmoo]

You could very possibly have a poor ground.

A poor ground will still read close to the proper voltage with a meter, but will not flow enough amperage to power the detector depending on how bad the ground is.

Try touching your ground to your cig lighter (outside ring, not the tip in the bottom!) or an unpainted peice of metal like the door hinge and see if it doesn't work.

[JettaGLI]

You could very possibly have a poor ground.

A poor ground will still read close to the proper voltage with a meter, but will not flow enough amperage to power the detector depending on how bad the ground is.

Try touching your ground to your cig lighter (outside ring, not the tip in the bottom!) or an unpainted peice of metal like the door hinge and see if it doesn't work.

Good advice, bad grounds have f'ed me on mor than once, and they are always such a ***** to figure out. It's the last thing I think of, then it finally dawns on me and I feel like an idiot :?

[compu44]

When I installed my hardwire, I tapped into the Ground lead going to the stereo to avoid that very problem. Worked like a charm.

[robert]

Definitely, a smart cord from Roy would be a good solution. Can you get to your radio's wiring? Would be real easy to tap into that and get your power and ground without issue. You can get wire taps from Radio Shack or splice it in.

[Catalyst]

Thanks for the replies guys, I haven't finished this yet, due to a busy holiday weekend. Will probably spend some time in the garage with it tonight. I was using cheap phone wire before that didn't strip well plus I think I was not getting a good ground. I'll post back hopefully with success later... =)