Power Antenna Hookup
 

Please help me. I'm putting in a Mazda power antenna and want to use with an aftermarket. I've done my prerequisite research, and I've got me a relay, and I'm clear on everything except where I hook up the relay output going to the power antenna. Which specific wire to I tie that to? Thanks

First look at this article. Although it's about putting in a replacement for the OEM antenna and still using the OEM head unit, it does describe the behavior of the factory wiring and that should help get you started.

Antenna Replacement

I'cw looked at that prob 10 times, as well as wiring diagrams, and relay instructions. I've read until I'm more idiot than when I began. I got the shit about a relay and switching the low-grade power alert from aftermarket HU to negative. I got the relay, and I'm sure of all but one wire to hook up, and I can't find this on any documentation or posts. Which specific wire is the output of the relay supposed to be attached? All docs say "to power antenna", yet there are 3 wire on that connection.

Does your aftermarket radio have an antenna wire? The RX-7 antenna is negative triggered hence the need for the replay because most aftermarket antenna outputs are 12v.

Factory Antenna Wires (on the antenna itself)

Black wire -> ground
Blue -> 12v constant
Blue/Yellow -> switched ground from replay.

This might help also. It shows the colors and how to wire in the relay. https://www.installdr.com/harnesses/mazda-wiring.pdf

Instead of hacking up wiring and factory connectors, I like to us male connector and remove the plastic around the male connector so it plugs into the factory plug.

Yes, the aftermarket has the blue power antenna wire. I can wire up a relay, with ground as source, blue wire as turn on/off function, but the output wire from the relay, where does it go? Do I run back to the OEM power antenna, and if so, which of those 3 wires on that connector do I tie into?

sorry, after I reread KC's note, I understand -- let me go wire that up and see what I get. Thanks

I got a Red, Blue and Blue/Yellow on the antenna. I assumed Blue/Yellow would still be the lead I need to connect the relay. It's still not working. I've got the aftermarket power antenna wire going to the green wire on the relay, which is the one that acts as the remote on/off. I've got the relay ground and the relay source wire grounded. And, I've got the relay output going to the Blue/Yellow on antenna. When I switch radio on, I can hear the relay, but no antenna comes up

Please read the document I have the the link above. It describes where each wires goes and what the values should be.

How did you wire the Red and Blue and wires on the antenna?

Also check the output of the relay. What is the value of connection 30 when the radio is initially turned on?

When the radio turns on, the (+) 12 Volt power antenna wire will turn on the relay, moving the contact arm from pin 87a to the (-) negative ground wire
attached to pin 87 which is also in contact with pin 30 which is connected to the Mazda power antenna.

Relay:

contact 30: Output Wire going to Mazda power antenna
contact 85: Negative or Ground connection
contact 86: Power Antenna Wire from the new replacement radio
contact 87: Negative or Ground wire connection
contact 87a: No wire connected to this contact

my instructsions show contact 30 and 87 switch - all else the same. So, I've got 30 grounded, and 87 going to mazda power antenna -- let me switch them around and see what I get.

Here's what I've got now;

86 going to aftermarket power antenna wire - can here this making relay kick on when switching between radio and CD

30 going to Blue Yellow on Mazda antenna, although I'm using the wire on the other side of the connector that corresponds do to ease of access

87 going to body frame

85 going to body frame

87a - not used

STILL NO ANTENNA

What am I doing wrong? It's a brand new antenna

How did you wire the Red and Blue and wires on the antenna? Can you take a picture of the connections from the relay to the care wiring and also how the Red and Blue are connected?

I don't have blue, connector 87a, hooked to anything. Red, connector 30, hooked to Blue/Yellow of power antenna; Green, connector 86 hooked to aftermarket power antenna wire (blue), and white, connector 87 grounded to frame, as well as black wire, connector 85

on the antenna side, the blue and red wires are still connected, I just added the relay wire to the Blue/Yellow.

That's the problem. The Blue and Red on the antenna need to be hooked up. The only thing your currently sending to the antenna is the up/down trigger. The Blue and Red do NOT go through the relay. They need to be wired up as normal. You have no power going to the antenna.

The hole purpose of the relay to to convert the 12v coming from the new antenna trigger and convert it to a ground trigger. You still need a 12v source for the antenna to power the antenna motor.

I've mistyped, or you've misread. I took the connector to the antenna, and cut the Blue/Yellow wire, and ran it to the relay. The blue and red wires to the antenna are still connected

ok - so check the voltage of the blue and red wire with key off, key on, and when radio is turned on. With the factory unit removed, I'm not sure it gets any voltage.

ok, another idiot question -- I've bought a volt meter but I don't know how to use it -- I'll get my buddy to see if he can come up tomorrow

it has a bunch of settings on front dial, I'm not sure of which one to use - sorry I'm an idiot

since factory has a relay under the driver dash, that I assume switches the factory stereo's negative to positive, couldn't I just use the aftermarket power antenna wire if going directly to antenna and bypassing factory relay?

For the multi meter, put the selector to DC. Always take readings with reference to ground, meaning the black lead will always be on a ground source such as bare metal.

I just looked at the wiring diagram again it's easier to keep the factory relay in place and just use the blue/yellow wire to trigger the new relay. This way you don't need to mess with the red and blue wires. What you have should work by cutting the blue/yellow wire on the antenna side and using the extra relay. The only thing I can think that is wrong is that the factory relay isn't working.

At this point it makes sense to validate the voltage of the red and blue wires. As a test you can ground the blue/yellow wire on the antenna side with ignition on and the antenna should work.

ok,the voltmeter I bought has a bunch of settings for DC, and again, I don't know what I'm doing there. My bro-in-law is coming up tomorrow evening and we'll test all the wires you mentioned. It'll be about 6:30 - 7 pm EST. Thanks for all your help

OK, on connector J02 at the power antenna, I get 12volts on the Red wire on ACC, nothing on the Blue wire or Blue/Yellow wire at any time

For the Blue/Yellow wire try this test. The Blue/Yellow is a ground. The new relays job is to pass a ground to the antenna via the Blue/Yellow.

Put the multimeter on ohms and connect one end to Blue/Yellow and the other end to a body ground point (bare metal). Turn radio on. You should see the multimeter readout go from infinity ohms to ~0 ohms. It might be a somewhat quick jump only while the antenna is moving.

If this fails, the next step is to move back to the new relay and ensure everything is correct. If this is ok, try testing the factory relay.

Ok, so I'm getting 12 volts on both the Red and solid Blue wires, and nothing on the Blue/Yellow. I'm alone, so I'm not able to do the Blue/Yellow read while turning on the radio. With radio on, I tried grounding the Blue/Yellow wire, but still no antenna raises.

I'm almost ready to drive this thing to KC and pay you to fix it -- this is driving me nuts