Satellite radio install probs

[Auf los!]

I installed a Sirius/XM Onyx Plus in my 2001 today. Managed to mount the antenna under the cowl on top of a plastic box, found the large grommet behind the battery to run the cable into the interior. Found and used the phone connector wires so the receiver has switched power. Modified an old GPS suction cup mount to stick the receiver to the windshield. Bought an aux cable off of Amazon, and found the "secret" instructions on this forum to access the AUX function in my CDR220, thanks so much!

It works and I'm getting music, but there are two problems. The first is that I am getting some nasty buzzing, kind of like ignition noise, that I can hear between when I turn the ignition off and the receiver dies. I am suspicious of a cast metal box mounted to the top of the tunnel and inside the console where the phone connector was. The 12v cigarette lighter plug that came with the radio is intact...I connected a 12v socket to the phone connector, and the plug and socket are resting inside the console, basically on top of this metal box. What is that box? Could that be the source of the interference? If I put some distance between the socket/plug and the box will the buzzing go away? Any other ideas for getting rid of it?

The other problem is that about an hour after I buttoned-up the car and put the alarm on, the alarm went off, I think for the first time in the ten years I've owned the car! I disarmed the alarm and it went off, but if I screwed something up, why would it wait an hour for it to go off? How do I fix that?

[Burg Boxster]

Ground loop... i.e. different grounds b/w source (sat radio) and head unit is causing the "ignition" noise. Install ground loop isolator (from amazon or radio shack if any still around) and noise will be gone.

Alarm - you might have dislocated the radio frame alarm ground when installing the AUX in to radio. Pull head unit again and make sure firmly attached (upper back left corner as I recall).

Good luck

[BRAN]

...and avoid any spooling of cables.

[Auf los!]

Thanks, folks. Burg, I will fit one of those isolators, and bran, if you are referring to the antenna cable, I tightly bundled the extra cable the way CAI recommends. I bet the isolator will solve the buzz.

Still getting the "you left your console open" beep when I put the alarm on, though! I opened and closed the console and both trunk lids, still getting it. I checked on the anti-theft ground tab touching the radio chassis, bent it a little to make sure it's touching, and lightly sanded it for a good connection. Still getting the beep. I seriously doubt I disconnected that ground where it connects to the car, even with all the pulling the radio chassis in and out.

What else could be causing the beep? I need to have a working alarm...

[Auf los!]

This is what the install looks like. I deliberately chose a windshield mount in order to keep the radio close to my eyeline when driving. Taking my eyes off the road to do anything in the cockpit is getting hairy at my age.

My one complaint about the Onyx Plus is that there is no easy way to cycle through the presets. I can hit the t/mix button, and it samples the presets randomly 10 seconds at a time, but it's not as good as being able to hit a button and quickly cycle through Preset 1, Preset 2, etc. My wife's Nissan can do that.

Until I can figure out what the single beep is about, I have disconnected the alarm horn.

[Auf los!]

I resolved the mysterious single beep when locking/alarming the car. It is not well-described (at least not that I have seen), but part of the anti-theft CDR220 system is a piece of vinyl glued into a depression in the side of the radio chassis. This insulates the chassis from the tab that sticks out of the frame. This seems counter-intuitive to me. You would think the system WANTS metal-to-metal contact, and if it doesn't get it, there's no radio, it must have been stolen. But it's the other way around. No contact means everything's hunky-dory.

Anyway, on my radio, I have pulled it out and stuck it back in so many times that this little piece of vinyl was peeling up...it's been almost 20 years, after all. It was peeled-up in such a way that it was allowing contact between the tab and the chassis. So I just pulled the connector of the anti-theft wire off the frame, put a piece of electrical tape over it, and no more "somebody's stolen your radio" beep or alarm going off for seemingly no reason.

[ddodgen]

I had mounted my Onyx on the dash where the open compartment is and ran the antenna under the dash and under the weatherstripping up the passenger side door and under the top weatherstripping. I place the mag antenna on the windshield rim just front of the top and it works great with no noise. Easy to do and easy to replace if I had to.