Vallee

I recently Purchased the FRD04-AUX Adapter. I plan on using it for my XM satalite receiver. However, I can't seem to get to connect with my radio, every time I try the aux it says "no aux audio" I carefully installed per instructions with no success, its just not communicating? I am starting to think that the FRD04-AUX Adapter might be bad or is a big POS.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated... thanks....


-Adam

RedDragon777

it should work the first time if not then you might have a bad one, but you should not hook it up to a constant 12V source, you should try conecting it to a switched source so the adapter is always resetting itself

official_style

if u have the latest firmware u should connect it the way it says, to a constant source.

azoufan

Either solution is bad. From what I understand, hooking it up to a switched source has caused some of the adapters to lose connection to the radio, requiring a reset by pulling a fuse. This is supposedly fixed in the new firmware. Connected to a constant source presents you with my problem, draining your battery. Even when the radio is selected, no mp3 player connected, car turned off, the battery will drain in less than 2 days of non-use. I went through 2 batteries in 2 weeks, trust me, connecting to a constant power source is NOT the way to go.

I can't get anyone to tell me what the best switched source is to connect it to, so I haven't done that yet. Right now mine is unplugged until I get the time to connected it to a switched source, at which time I will be able to personally confirm if the new firmware fixes the fuse reset requirement issue.

Also forgot to mention, mine did the exact same thing upon installation - NO AUX AUDIO message. I got frustrated and gave up after the 3rd time disassembling and re-assembling my dash to troubleshoot. About a week later I took it to a stereo shop and paid them $40 to troubleshoot, the guy connected an iPod and it worked. No troubleshooting. On the plus side, I did get to pay them $40 so at least it "felt" like I got something for my money. I know it sounds stupid, but try connecting an mp3 player to it after a day or two, after you've driven it a few times.

Vallee

yeah I finally got it to work and now my battery is drained after one day! PIE is sending ma a new chip with updated firmware, they tell me this "should" fix the draining issue... lets hope... Please keep me informed on how you make out...

Thanks...

official_style

i have no drain problems. connected direct with latest firmware. i am using an optima yellow

azoufan

Interesting, maybe mine is draining because it is not the latest firmware? Please keep me posted on this. I'm soooooooo glad to know that someone else is having the same symptoms as me. Not that I want you to deal with this garbage, but because I want to find the root cause of the problem.

Waiting with anticipation...

RedDragon777

i am thinking about connecting mine to the switched source where i have my RD connected to, it is an empty slot in the SJB and if it keeps messing with me then i will just put a momentary switch so i can reset it every time it screws up

official_style

why not just call up pie and have them send you the updated chip, and then you can connect it the way its supposed to be connected? if its connected to a switched source, your going to have to push aux everytime you start the car, it gets annoying, your listening to sirius, get out, get back in start the car and FM comes on.

KevinS

I jumped on this boat over the weekend, installing the FRD04-AUX (bought from Logjam) to my Shaker 500. Three words... NO AUX AUDIO. After some tinkering I got it to work just fine as long as I have the pass-through disconnected from the plug that originally went into the back of the head unit.

Of course, in that condition, the lights and screen of the head unit are always dimmed, and I suspect other things don't work right as well but I haven't found anything.

I e-mailed PIE to see what's up. This is quite a disappointment since Logjam actually posts the following on the product page of their website:

Logjam Comments:"This device had some problems when it was first introduced in September '05 but those issues were resolved with the two firmware updates that followed. The device continues to be a strong seller and is the still only successful Ford 'CAN-Bus' interface that we know of out there on the market."


I made the sad assumption that they were selling me an updated unit. Bah.

official_style

get the updated chip for it, its not PIEs fault ur using the old one.

KevinS

Well come on, it's PIE's fault for putting out something that didn't work and relying on the consumer to contact them for correction.
Even so, I applaud the device now that I have it working, and don't have any further gripes (yet?).

So I called them and figured this all out, it was simple. There is a weird initialization process involved. Make sure your key is out of the ignition and radio powered off. Then just unplug the pass through from the factory harness so it's only going into the radio and into the FRD04-AUX box. Make sure the FRD04-AUX has 12v power, then turn everything on and hit the AUX button. Once the radio says "PIE" or it might say "CRYSTL-LINE", wait a few seconds and then plug in the factory harness to the pass-through. Everything will now work properly.

However, if you ever cut 12v power from the FRD04-AUX it appears as though you will have to repeat the initialization process above. I am fairly sure this includes disconnecting then reconnecting your battery (I hope not but will be testing that out soon).

This was a problem for me in that I had the FRD04-AUX on a switch that also activated my amplifier, cap, electronic crossover, and Soundgate adapter. This was based on an assumption that it was safe to make it switched, but now I realize when they say "constant" 12v they mean it. I will have to put it on a constant 12v line as a solution. I noted earlier in this thread that someone was having battery drain issues as a result of this. Hopefully that's been corrected and I suppose I will find out in the coming days/weeks.

UPDATE 10/15: I did verify 100% that if 12v power is cut for ANY reason to the FRD04-AUX, you will need to repeat the initialization process. This includes disconnecting the battery. So basically every time your battery dies or is disconnected you have to pull everything apart, and perform the init process. Man, that is a stupid, stupid product. I pity the fools at stereo shops, etc. that install it for customers and have them coming back for this. I will be contacting PIE soon to find out why they made it like that and/or if there is a solution. At that time hopefully I will eat the previous words. Also, my car will be parked for five days due to an upcoming vacation, that will be a perfect test of the battery drain issue. I will post an update after that.

UPDATE 10/23: After five days of sitting, sure enough, dead battery. I called their support line and am sending an envelope so they can send an updated chip. The tech said it will correct both the battery drain and power off/init process problems, but we'll see.

KevinS

UPDATE 12/7:I finally got the new chip and installed it. I disconnected the negative battery terminal, plugged in the FRD04-AUX, reconnected the battery. Keyed up the car and the adapter was recognized without problems. It seems to be operating as expected now, even with the radio remembering that it was on AUX after removing and re-inserting the key. The battery can be disconnected and reconnected without any further action to get the adapter to work again. It appears now that the chip update has done the trick. The only outstanding item is whether or not it will drain my battery. I have a three-day period coming up where I won't need to use the car so that will be the test. I will post a follow-up afterwards.Logjam Electronics clearly has acknowledged the problems in this unit on their web site product page as well as on their forum (http://logjam.d3datasolutions.com/fo...topic=231&hl=). They have also explained that the problems are resolved with PIE's latest chip. If so... I wonder WHY, after almost two years, Logjam is still selling the defective ones instead of making sure their inventory has been updated with the latest chip...very sad and a real waste of their customers' time.

UPDATE 12/12: After three days of sitting the battery was OK. I'm going to assume, based on that, the device will not drain the battery like it used to. This means all the problems with this unit were solved by using the latest chip. I hope this has been useful to someone.

Cowtown

Useful to me, I have had my car sitting for two months but I had my Aux working without the speedvol and dimming (disconnecting that got around the battery drain issue). PIE was supposed to get me info on an updated firmware but their "Outstanding customer service since 1989" BS obviously didn't apply to me.

I'll get this updated chip and hopefully end this saga, I took the **** thing apart 3 times, it's not good for the panels and stuff.

KevinS

Just as a final follow up, I've had the device installed for a couple months now and zero problems. Looks like the latest chip does the trick.