I got an 89' TII and it has a pioneer cd player installed in it. I dont know if the kid who had the car before installed it, or some place did, but anyways, the antenna doesn't go up automatically like I assume it should. Do most cd players have wiring setups so it can control automatic antenna raising, or was it maybe not an option on this one, so the kid left it out cause he only played cds or something? Its a fairly new cd player, which goes for about $200 from what I saw online, so I figured if there was a feature like that, it should have it. If its not possible to make it go automatically, is there a way I can wire a switch to push when i want it to go up?

 

the RX-7 antena is very strange. it's backwards to every other car. it needs ground to go up. not power.

so you can't just connect it to the antena wire on the deck. which is probably the way it is now. you need to hook up a relay in between.

 

Yep. It's a PITA for sure. I took mine back to Best Buy twice, and it still goes up anytime the ignition is in the "ACC" or on position- it only goes down when I turn off the car, no matter if the radio is on or not.

 

Most stereo harnesses have a blue accessory wire labeled "Remote" for operating stuff like the power antenna. Here is a diagram of the stock stereo wiring and wire B is for the antenna.



Click here for a write up on how to repair the power antenna (courtesy of Mazdatrix) in case the antenna isn't working.

 

It's really easy, just wire it up like this:

 

back from the dead!


sorry im not up to my electrical symbools but is the the three line thiny on bottom a ground or battery

im not sure cause i know that two lines is a battery

thanks for the help

 

I think it is the ground, it should be pulling power from the radio.

 

87 is ground in that picture

 

thanks icemark just wanted to make sure

 

I know what you mean. With the stock head unit, if you were listening to a CD or the radio was off, the antenna went down. With aftermarket head units, it's always up if the key is in ACC or ON. It has to be a head unit thing.

 

did you read the rest of the thread?

 

Are you talking to me?

Yes, I read the thread, and I've had the relay installed for quite some time.

Car ON - Antenna up
Car OFF - Antenna down

Problem? No, it just doesn't operate in quite the same fashion Mazda had it.

 

Only if you've wired it wrong. Most modern head units have a seperate antanna wire (like I show in the diagram) that raises the antenna when the radio's on but lowers it when playing CD's or it it's switched off.

 

That would be wired wrong, or you have a very very cheap head unit.

Almost no aftermarket head units should operate the way your's is.

Only the most basic cheapest, strippy models do not have a power amp or power antenna turn on lead that can be used for activating the relay for the power antenna.

If yours works that way, the installer did not know what he or she was doing.

 

Well, darn, I've got a caper on my hands. Here's the deal:

Head unit is a Sony Xplod, bought about two and a half years ago.

The relay is wired perfectly. You guys made me start to doubt myself, but I double and triple checked. So, as I said, when the key is in ACC or ON, the antenna is up. When the car is off, the antenna is down.

What defies logic is that if the antenna wire from the head unit is unplugged from the relay and then plugged back in, it attenuates the sound, nearly muting the volume until you turn it back up manually.

 

Sounds like you might've connected the cell-phote mute wire instead of the antenna wire.

Double-check you've connected the right wire from the head unit. Incorrect wiring is the only explanation.

 

The wire clearly says Power ANT +

What kind of voltage should the wire put out? I checked and it's a constant 2.13-2.17 whether I'm listening to a CD or radio station.

 

Perhaps it's been labled wrong. Check the colour codes in the head unit's wiring diagram.

 

Problem solved. Had to unwrap the harness to figure out the issue.

The friend that installed it two years back connected the light blue wire out of the Sony harness to the light blue wire of the adapter harness. Problem is, he shouldn't have used the light blue wire out of the Sony harness, he should have used the blue one that has a female connector already crimped on.

This is why other people don't work on my car anymore.

 

I had a 3 year old pioneer unit that didn't have wires labeled, it (obviously) did have a fused remote, which worked great for my amp, but it was on as long as the head unit was on, so it wasn't intended for use with power antennas.

anyway, I was messing around with my wiring (stupidly) and blew the remote fuse, I needed my system running so I just bypassed the fuse. Later when working on it again, shorted out the wire, ever since then it didn't work properly. When the car is on, the remote is on, when the car is off, the remote is STILL on. rather odd... (no i didn't mixup 12v constant and ing. wires)

 

Mine goes up only with radio, its always down if its off or cd player is on, regardless of key position. I wired with a relay and its a 3 year old deck.