# Kenwood Excelon KDC-x995 Dead except for the red tiriangle



## NewJerseyDude

Good evening everyone,

I hope someone can help shed some light on my Kenwood Excelon KDC-x995 issue. It is installed in my wife's 1999 VW Passat and it has been working flawlessly for 14 months... until now. The symptoms: she got into the car started and drove to the store. Turned car off and went inside. Came out and started car but the HU did not power up. The only thing showing was a red inverted triangle icon over the source button on the left hand side. So I called Crutchfield support, they told me the red triangle indicates the unit is not getting 12vdc on the red and/or yellow power leads. So I disable the unit, disconnect the harness from the HU and check the voltage on yellow and red line. They test GOOD

So just for ****s and giggles I reconnected the hardness back to the HU, It Powered On... with one exception, the red triangle is still there...

I call Crutchfield back for an RMA and they are reluctant to take it. They seem to now think that the red triangle does not indicate a power source issue and that the issue would be with one of the speakers. Seems they now thing it is in protect mode.... :surprised: Ok so I poll the guy and he has be on hold a couple times so he can consult their work bench to see if their mock up does have the red triangle. He comes back and says that I need to check my speakers before I can return the unit... I asked to speak to a manger because this all did not make sense...

So now I have a senior tech and he doesn’t know what the red triangle means either... See the other guy was telling him that my HU was in Protect Mode. I said how is that possible if it won't power up... And with the key off the red triangle stays on..... I repeated this to him, with the car off the triangle STAYED ON...

So the info he was given was not correct, and once I gave him the correct info he acknowledged there must be an issue with the HU but he still can't be sure. He is going to check with Kenwood tomorrow and get back to me, his position is without knowing what the red triangle means, it could happen that they get the HU and it tests GOOD on their bench. He asked me to use the unit for some time to see if the issue re-occurs.. My position is this. The unit has 24 month warranty. If it only had 12 months of warranty he would be apologizing to me and offering to sell me a new HU because this one is out of warranty... I should not be getting any feedback for trying to send in a warranty unit, I am not going to let this ride that way. With my luck it will crap out on the 25th month.. he understands my position and will get back to me after consulting with Kenwood...

So back to the point, does anyone know what the red triangle means?

Has anyone had this happen to their Kenwood Excelon KDC-x995?

Lastly, is that red triangle supposed to say on all the time? With the key on and with it off?

Sorry for the long post, just needed to vent a little... As always I appreciate your time and assistance and thank you in advance for both...

Aleks


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## cobb2819

Have you tried an actual reset with it plugged in using the reset button??


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## NewJerseyDude

cobb2819 said:


> Have you tried an actual reset with it plugged in using the reset button??
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Not when the issue started no... I did pull power to the unit when I disconnected it from the harness. Are you suggesting there is nothing wrong with the unit if the reset button was to have cleared the " unit powered itself off with red triangle on all the time" state?


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## cobb2819

Pulling power will not exactly hard reset the unit, where as the reset button will. Try that and see if the unit turns on. 


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## trojan fan

Why are you calling Crutchfield

This is an issue for the manufacture


Off the top of my head, i would say the HU went into protect mode due a short in a speaker or speaker wire

Good luck


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## NewJerseyDude

Thanks everyone for the advise.. but

The unit never displayed Protect Mode.. because it just shut off except for the red triangle....

Since removeing the harness and reconnecting it the unit is now working as expected except I did not get the answer, is the red triangle supposed to be on all the time the unit is on or is it supposed to be off when in use and it has a specific meaning...

Right now it is on when the unit is on and shuts off when the key is removed along with the HU itself. Before regardless of the key being on or off, the unit would not power up and the red triangle was on all the time, it would not go off, even when I took the HU faceplace off then reconnected it. The red triangle would stay on all the time... As I understand it the unit will power up and display protect mode on the display when there is a problem like a shorted speaker. In my case it just shut down excep for the red triangle.. Anyone know what this is supposed to indicate??

Thanks


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## trojan fan

NewJerseyDude said:


> In my case it just shut down excep for the red triangle.. Anyone know what this is supposed to indicate??
> 
> Thanks



Call Kenwood on Monday and let us know what they said


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## daveds50

NewJerseyDude said:


> He comes back and says that I need to check my speakers before I can return the unit... I asked to speak to a manger because this all did not make sense...


 makes perfect sense to me... that is if the unit was in protect mode... which it is not. 

that red triangle means no such thing... in fact, it is always on then the ignition switch is on. the stereo can be off, but that red indicator is on when the red wire has 12 volts. 

this is because if it is night time, and your stereo is off, you only have to push the source button right below that red light to turn the stereo on. if that red light was not there, you would have to feel around in the dark to find the source button. 

dont know what you are trying to return something that is not broken...  

Crutchfield guys do not know anything anyway. they just sell them. 

Kenwoods often get confused. the main processor gets confused, and requires a reset. and yes, pulling the main power does reset the main processor. thats why it worked when you plugged it back in. 

i've worked on hundreds of these POS's... er... i mean Kenwoods. :laugh: know the circuitry like the back of my hand. the red inverted triangle has been on most of them since the early 90's and are used the same way. nothing to do with having something wrong with the unit... just means the source button is close by to turn it on in the dark.


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## cobb2819

Wait I missed something...it works perfectly and you are trying to send it back as not working because of a light that you just never paid attention to before?


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## NewJerseyDude

trojan fan said:


> Why are you calling Crutchfield
> 
> This is an issue for the manufacture
> 
> 
> Off the top of my head, i would say the HU went into protect mode due a short in a speaker or speaker wire
> 
> Good luck


Crutchfield is were I bought the unit. It is on month 14 of its 24 month warranty and I thought their tech support might have some idea what the red triangle iluminating all the time while the unit won't power up might be indicating... I was wrong but the 4th guy I spoke to who seems to be a trainer there said he was going to call Kenwood to find out and call me back tomorrow.. 

thanks


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## NewJerseyDude

cobb2819 said:


> Wait I missed something...it works perfectly and you are trying to send it back as not working because of a light that you just never paid attention to before?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Not correct, it was not working except for the light that I may not have paid attention to before. It started to work after I disconnected the harness to check the source voltage and when reconnected back to the harness it started to work... 

My question is, since I don't remember the red triangle being on before what does it mean when it is on? Like I posted before, I have 10 months left on the warranty and was hopeing to find out what caused my issue and if it is something that will happen again most likely after the warranty is up... which is usally the case in these things you know... 

Anyway, yes the unit appears to be working now. Are you saying that the red triangle is supposed to be on when the unit is on? If so great, that still leaves me with the problem of why the unit went dark and would not power up except for the red triangle that is until I removed the harness and reconnected it, essentially removeing power to the unit and doing a hard reboot...


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## cobb2819

Yes, red triangle is normal as mentioned. When this happens again, and it will, just turn on the car, fold the face down, and push the reset button. This has almost always been a notorious summer issue with Kenwood radios. 


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## daveds50

NewJerseyDude said:


> Are you saying that the red triangle is supposed to be on when the unit is on? If so great, that still leaves me with the problem of why the unit went dark and would not power up except for the red triangle that is until I removed the harness and reconnected it, essentially removeing power to the unit and doing a hard reboot...


 read what i wrote. the triangle is supposed to be on when the ignition key is on... even if the stereo is off. 

like he says, common for Kenwoods to get a confused processor. but, since you dont believe anyone, Kenwood will tell you the same tomorrow. 

there is nothing wrong with your stereo.


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## trojan fan

Why did you buy a higher end HU just to run stock speakers


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## NewJerseyDude

daveds50 said:


> read what i wrote. the triangle is supposed to be on when the ignition key is on... even if the stereo is off.
> 
> like he says, common for Kenwoods to get a confused processor. but, since you dont believe anyone, Kenwood will tell you the same tomorrow.
> 
> there is nothing wrong with your stereo.


Sorry Daveds50 I did not see your post until just now... otherwise I would have stopped the thread there... :blush: Did not mean to imply I did not believe you or cobb2819.. I just did not see your post.. that's what I get for going with out sleep for a day.. 

Anyway, so the triangle is good, these Kenwoods get confused in the summer time and a reset is a normal event and I should not worry that this is the first time in 14 months that it has happened, there is nothing wrong with the unit and therefore does not require a trip back to Kenwood via Crutchfields... did I miss anything...

Thanks again everyone for helping to put me and more importantly my wife at easy... :coolgleamA:


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## NewJerseyDude

trojan fan said:


> Why did you buy a higher end HU just to run stock speakers


I am one of those who always trys to improve upon things when they break. i suppose I could have gone out and spent a whole lot less money on a less feature rich unit but I wanted the USB, AUX and BT capabilities along with the higher quality of a more higher end HU. Swapping out the speakter in 13 year old car when they were working did not seem penny wise... 

Now I know you are going to say I waisted money because I did not upgrade the speakers... could be but that will happen when this HU finds a new home in one of my trucks after my wife is done with it... around here and with the economy the way it is, I try to squeeze as much out of everything as I can..

Thanks again everyong for you time and assistance.


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## NewJerseyDude

Not that you needed my confirmation but yes Kenwood told me what you have already told me...:blush:

Thanks again for your help...


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## Tracy Benson

NewJerseyDude said:


> Good evening everyone,
> 
> I hope someone can help shed some light on my Kenwood Excelon KDC-x995 issue. It is installed in my wife's 1999 VW Passat and it has been working flawlessly for 14 months... until now. The symptoms: she got into the car started and drove to the store. Turned car off and went inside. Came out and started car but the HU did not power up. The only thing showing was a red inverted triangle icon over the source button on the left hand side. So I called Crutchfield support, they told me the red triangle indicates the unit is not getting 12vdc on the red and/or yellow power leads. So I disable the unit, disconnect the harness from the HU and check the voltage on yellow and red line. They test GOOD
> 
> So just for ****s and giggles I reconnected the hardness back to the HU, It Powered On... with one exception, the red triangle is still there...
> 
> I call Crutchfield back for an RMA and they are reluctant to take it. They seem to now think that the red triangle does not indicate a power source issue and that the issue would be with one of the speakers. Seems they now thing it is in protect mode.... :surprised: Ok so I poll the guy and he has be on hold a couple times so he can consult their work bench to see if their mock up does have the red triangle. He comes back and says that I need to check my speakers before I can return the unit... I asked to speak to a manger because this all did not make sense...
> 
> So now I have a senior tech and he doesn’t know what the red triangle means either... See the other guy was telling him that my HU was in Protect Mode. I said how is that possible if it won't power up... And with the key off the red triangle stays on..... I repeated this to him, with the car off the triangle STAYED ON...
> 
> So the info he was given was not correct, and once I gave him the correct info he acknowledged there must be an issue with the HU but he still can't be sure. He is going to check with Kenwood tomorrow and get back to me, his position is without knowing what the red triangle means, it could happen that they get the HU and it tests GOOD on their bench. He asked me to use the unit for some time to see if the issue re-occurs.. My position is this. The unit has 24 month warranty. If it only had 12 months of warranty he would be apologizing to me and offering to sell me a new HU because this one is out of warranty... I should not be getting any feedback for trying to send in a warranty unit, I am not going to let this ride that way. With my luck it will crap out on the 25th month.. he understands my position and will get back to me after consulting with Kenwood...
> 
> So back to the point, does anyone know what the red triangle means?
> 
> Has anyone had this happen to their Kenwood Excelon KDC-x995?
> 
> Lastly, is that red triangle supposed to say on all the time? With the key on and with it off?
> 
> Sorry for the long post, just needed to vent a little... As always I appreciate your time and assistance and thank you in advance for both...
> 
> Aleks


Good Morning. We received the red triangle with the exclamation inside of it.. it's a warning that something is not closed or a door is ajar. 🙂


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## Clarion_Freak

I've had more Kenwood head units than any other brand over the past 45 years, more than I could begin to count, and I've NEVER seen that red triangle lit up unless the deck was powered on. I hook ALL my head units, regardless of brand, with the yellow AND the red connected to constant 12 volts so I can listen to my stereo without having to have the key on. I've never seen that red triangle lit up when the head unit was turned off. If I had, I probably would have switched brands. Nobody needs a constant red triangle lit up to attract thieves, as sometimes you don't feel a need to remove the faceplate like running into a 7-Eleven or something. So I'm confused when so many people are saying that red light is always lit when the unit gets power even if it's off. Mine never did. 

Here's two pictures of the same head unit in my car from 2016. In one shot, you'll notice the red triangle is lit up when the head unit is powered up. The other picture with the head unit turned off, the red triangle is NOT lit up.


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## suri2905

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