# Help avoiding blowing Pioneer Pico fuses



## alachua (Jun 30, 2008)

I'm gearing up to install my F90bt, and will be using an Audiocontrol DXS. Knowing that the Pioneer head units are picky about rca grounds, I want to avoid any potential issues. Would it be advisable to set the DXS to use an "unbalanced" connection for the RCA's versus the factory default of "balanced"? They describe the unbalanced as having "a hard audio ground on the rca cables".

Thanks in advance.

-Cliff


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

The best way to avoid blowing pico fuses in pioneer products is to not buy pioneer products


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## alachua (Jun 30, 2008)

chad said:


> The best way to avoid blowing pico fuses in pioneer products is to not buy pioneer products


A great way to make beer marinated Brats is:


alachua said:


> - Poke your brats 3-4 times on 2 sides with a skewer or prong and place in a large ~6 qt. stockpot.
> - Add the sliced raw onions to pot.
> - Add 4 bottles of beer and make sure the level of beer rises over the mound of brats and onions.
> - Add 3-4 cups of cold water to pot. You want to raise the level of liquid in the marinade since some will boil out later.
> ...


but that doesn't answer my question either. 

-Cliff


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Although my response was dead accurate, your response was fascinatingly epic, congrats, got a great laugh out of that


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## [email protected] (Jun 12, 2008)

isnt there a pico fuse fix for those units? search the web


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## 89grand (Nov 23, 2006)

If you don't do anything stupid like hot swap the RCA's, you'll be fine. You don't need to ground the RCA's. The only reason people ever do that is AFTER they've blown the fuse. Grounding the RCA's after the fact knocks down the noise level alot, but you don't need to do it initially.

I blew a Pico fuse once and it was completely my fault. I hot swapped the RCA's. Even though I've done it many times before on different HU's, I found out the hard way that Pioneers hate that...a lot!

I guess I'd set the AC unit to unbalanced, but with the AC products I've had it never noticed any issues leaving it in "balanced" mode. I never used them with a Pioneer, but it shouldn't matter.


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## alachua (Jun 30, 2008)

chad said:


> Although my response was dead accurate, your response was fascinatingly epic, congrats, got a great laugh out of that


Also, my response is delicious. 



BeatsDownLow said:


> isnt there a pico fuse fix for those units? search the web


There is, but I'm hoping to avoid blowing them to begin with, if possible. 



89grand said:


> If you don't do anything stupid like hot swap the RCA's, you'll be fine. You don't need to ground the RCA's. The only reason people ever do that is AFTER they've blown the fuse. Grounding the RCA's after the fact knocks down the noise level alot, but you don't need to do it initially.
> 
> I blew a Pico fuse once and it was completely my fault. I hot swapped the RCA's. Even though I've done it many times before on different HU's, I found out the hard way that Pioneers hate that...a lot!
> 
> I guess I'd set the AC unit to unbalanced, but with the AC products I've had it never noticed any issues leaving it in "balanced" mode. I never used them with a Pioneer, but it shouldn't matter.


That was my thinking, we'll see how it works out this weekend.

-Cliff


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## monkeyboy (Jun 12, 2007)

I make sure I remove power from the headunit any time I touch the RCA's. It's a pain sometimes, but it always works.


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

Make sure that the last think you connect is the RCA's. Just unplug the entire unit from the deck, plug in the harness, antenna, then the rca's. Just be careful. You're much better off if you don't blow this thing. I just repaired mine (well so far I think it worked) and it was a lot of hassle for such a tiny mistake.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

alachua said:


> Also, my response is delicious.
> 
> 
> -Cliff


Oh, I copied it


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## sqshoestring (Jun 19, 2007)

The HU grounds the RCA through the pico, so if you have power on the RCA ground from an amp/processor...that is what can blow it. Most amps should ground it, but if say your amp ground was bad...you plug in and zap. However if you blew a transformer in an amp it could fry the HU and that is why the pico is in there. I don't recall if the 880 does balanced, but then I never read all 500 pages of the manual.


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## zwc0442 (Oct 24, 2008)

I've got a avh-p6800 and it had horrible wine when I first installed it. I bought it as a display unit and they must have blown the fuse during their time in using it. I've done quite a few installs in my cars over the years with all pioneer decks and never blown a pico fuse. Anyway soldered a small wire to each rca output and grounded them all and my deck at the same place and the whine went away but when I change cds I can still hear the movements of the mechanisms in the deck through the speakers. Is there anything else that can be done with this particular deck? Thanks.


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## alachua (Jun 30, 2008)

zwc0442 said:


> I've got a avh-p6800 and it had horrible wine when I first installed it. I bought it as a display unit and they must have blown the fuse during their time in using it. I've done quite a few installs in my cars over the years with all pioneer decks and never blown a pico fuse. Anyway soldered a small wire to each rca output and grounded them all and my deck at the same place and the whine went away but when I change cds I can still hear the movements of the mechanisms in the deck through the speakers. Is there anything else that can be done with this particular deck? Thanks.


If you search for "pioneer pico" on here, you'll come across a thread detailing how to fix this issue. It involves some soldering of small components inside the unit.

I know your pain, I had the same issue on my 6000 last year, never knew what it was. Glad I returned the unit before the time was up.

-Cliff


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

The question remains, especially looking at all the link-backs in the pico threads, WHY are people buying them if they have such issues. I mean it's blindingly evident that it's a common issue.

Does pioneer REALLY have that loyal of a fan-base that they lose all common sense when making a purchasing decision?


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

The question remains, especially looking at all the link-backs in the pico threads, WHY are people buying them if they have such issues. I mean it's blindingly evident that it's a common issue.

Does pioneer REALLY have that loyal of a fan-base that they lose all common sense when making a purchasing decision?


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## 89grand (Nov 23, 2006)

chad said:


> The question remains, especially looking at all the link-backs in the pico threads, WHY are people buying them if they have such issues. I mean it's blindingly evident that it's a common issue.
> 
> Does pioneer REALLY have that loyal of a fan-base that they lose all common sense when making a purchasing decision?


To be honest. I thought the 880 was the best headunit out there for the money. It's an excellent unit...besides the fragile pico fuse. If you install it right and don't blow it, it'll never be a problem.

I have an Alpine CDA-9855, and I liked the Pioneer a lot more. There are only so many choices when going with an active system.

I have a Pioneer in my Jeep although I didn't buy it, it was already there, and I just installed an amp and had no issues at all.




chad said:


> The question remains, especially looking at all the link-backs in the pico threads, WHY are people buying them if they have such issues. I mean it's blindingly evident that it's a common issue.
> 
> Does pioneer REALLY have that loyal of a fan-base that they lose all common sense when making a purchasing decision?


To be honest. I thought the 880 was the best headunit out there for the money. It's an excellent unit...besides the fragile pico fuse. If you install it right and don't blow it, it'll never be a problem.

I have an Alpine CDA-9855, and I liked the Pioneer a lot more. There are only so many choices when going with an active system.

I have a Pioneer in my Jeep although I didn't buy it, it was already there, and I just installed an amp and had no issues at all.


*Two answers for your two questions!*


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

That was awesome (the 2 answers thing) that was my first auto dupe this week, I believe, I thought it was fixed 

Here's the mentality, YOU are not afraid of the dreaded pico fuse, but if YOU WERE apprehensive about a purchase of a headunit due to the fact that you think it could be an issue, then maybe it's not the proper choice for YOU, nomesayin?

I can fix them (if they were mine, hint folks don't PM me for repairs on these) but STILL I would not buy one due to the issues. Because I don't like ripping my dash apart to repair a obvious design flaw. Because, yes folks, I hot-swap. I even hot-swap car batteries and **** like that.


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## 89grand (Nov 23, 2006)

I see your point. I didn't even know they had a pico fuse until I blew mine. If I had known and didn't fully understand its weakness and how to work around it, I probably wouldn't want one either.

I don't even know if I blew mine simply because I hot swapped the RCA's or because the RCA's got grounded while I hot swapped it. I had Knu RCA's and they have exposed metal ends. Either way, they shouldn't blow like that I agree, but if one follows some basic precautions while installing it and they have a sound install, they will never have a problem.


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

I didn't know about the problem before I bought mine either. It way have been a deal breaker for me, had I known. The thing is, there aren't too many options that have the abilities of the 880, and of the options, the 880 was the only one that looked good to me. The alpines always looked a bit cluttered. Now, the eclipse is growing on me though. I just repaired my 880, but I'd rather not have to deal with these issues again.


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## Jtejedor (Dec 19, 2008)

Yeah the whole pico fuse thing has kind of turned me off from pioneer decks.


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## sqshoestring (Jun 19, 2007)

I paid about 200 plus ship for mine sealed in a pioneer bag in the sealed box, no way I could go wrong and have had good luck with their tuners. Previous alpine tuner was weak and I drive way out of town at times. Still not checked mine, but my twisted RCA are about 6" from the amp 5ga too....yet the alpine had no problem. Like I said the HU should ground it and most amps are 1K ohm to ground on the shields to bleed any errant current. If it blows there should be something wrong with your equipment though it may work yet. Nothing should have power on the shields past a couple mv at the most, I've tested a pile of amps that did not. On the other hand I've never hot swapped car audio stuff except power wires, but the system and car were shut off. If you had power on the amp and no ground, that could blow it, and I have seen a few amps that blew the case ground trying to ground because they did not have one. They can try to ground through the RCA to HU depending on how the amp is made. I'd guess the amp ground is the issue more often that other things.

This amp is pretty much still new, and the ground is a seatbelt type bolt above the floor and I'm telling you the bolt is tight. Weather broke a little here so I might get the time/ambition soon to check it.


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## rain27 (Jan 15, 2009)

I've blown the pico on the 880. Didn't know the problem existed before buying it. Dealt with terrible noise, popping, you name it...for weeks until I found the solution on the net. You don't need to open up the unit. Grounding the RCAs to the h/u took away all of the noise. I even tried some ground loop isolators before finding this solution. The isolators removed the noise, but made my system sound awful when the volume was turned up.


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## alachua (Jun 30, 2008)

chad said:


> The question remains, especially looking at all the link-backs in the pico threads, WHY are people buying them if they have such issues. I mean it's blindingly evident that it's a common issue.
> 
> Does pioneer REALLY have that loyal of a fan-base that they lose all common sense when making a purchasing decision?


It really comes down to compromise. When I'm looking to buy something, I figure out the positives of all units I'm considering, then compare their negatives. Yes, _possibly_ blowing these stupid things might suck, but its not like other decks only get ugly if you hot swap rca's...that's a guaranteed 'feature'. Not to mention, this possible down side didn't out weigh all the upsides to the unit. 

-Cliff


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## rain27 (Jan 15, 2009)

as long as you know what the solution is to the pioneer fuse problems, you're fine...it's the people who have no idea and are pulling their hair out trying to find where all the noise is coming from


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

chad said:


> The question remains, especially looking at all the link-backs in the pico threads, WHY are people buying them if they have such issues.


easily the best sound/features for the money..

and as long as you instal it correctly there will be no problems.

its like women, we all know they are a ****ing lot of work, but we still want em right?


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

alachua said:


> I'm gearing up to install my F90bt, and will be using an Audiocontrol DXS. Knowing that the Pioneer head units are picky about rca grounds, I want to avoid any potential issues. Would it be advisable to set the DXS to use an "unbalanced" connection for the RCA's versus the factory default of "balanced"? They describe the unbalanced as having "a hard audio ground on the rca cables".
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> -Cliff


disconnect battery, connect/instal everything (correctly check 3 times), 

reconnect battery=no worries.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

60ndown said:


> disconnect battery, connect/instal everything (correctly check 3 times),
> 
> reconnect battery
> 
> ...


 Corrected

Seems like a hell of a lot of work to move some ****ing RCA's around.


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## alachua (Jun 30, 2008)

I don't really intent to move rca's around much, i only have one set running to my x-over, and it only has one input. The other set goes to the sub amp, and that is all. 

What I'm really more curious about is what i should have the audiocontrol unit set to for the rca input, balance or unbalanced. I'm already running new power wires and putting on new terminals, so the battery is disconnected anyhow.

-Cliff


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

I had the best luck setting the AC units for differential inputs.


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