Music Keg, HU, or possible voltage issue???

[ukyo]

I have a Music Keg (KHD-C710) attached to a Kenwood KDC-X959 HU using the supplied cable.  I had a really hard time getting the HU to detect the keg when I first installed it, but it finally picked up and started working.  It worked for a long time (year +), but then the HU starting going crazy.  Most of the time it would not detect the keg.    Sometimes if you pressed the volume up once it would turn up several levels.  If you pressed the volume down once it would either not go down or would go down several levels.  While it was doing this you could change the source, but the volume still acted the same.  I found that by unhooking the cable from the keg the HU would return to normal. 

The battery in the car died not long after that.  I put in a new battery and decided maybe the old battery was not supplying enough voltage, and thus causing the keg / HU to go haywire.  I hooked the cable back up, reset the HU, and everything went back to working.  It worked for a month or so, then returned to the same behavior as noted above.  I found this site today and looked up the pin outs for the cable.  I tested the voltage at the end that hooks to the keg.  I got 12.05v on both pins 10 and 13, and 0.00v on pin 14 with the key off.  I tried it with the key on ACC and in the ON position.  Pins 10 and 13 dropped to 11.5v.  Pin 14 still read 0.00v. 

Has anyone ran in to an issue like this in the past?  I don't know if it's the cable or the HU that is causing the voltage to not come down pin 14.  The biggest PITA here is I will have to remove a large percentage of the dash to pull the HU so I can test the port on the back for ~12v with ACC power.  Is ~12v on pin 14 needed to make the unit operate (I assume yes)?  Is there another way to test this without having to yank everything apart again?  I guess what I am hoping for is this is a common issue and someone will know how to fix it before I tear in to the dash.  I tried searching, but being new to the forum, I may not know the right abbreviations to dig out the information I need.  Any help that can be offered will be greatly appreciated.

[sbingner]

Actually according to the pinouts -- pin14 is not connected for kenwood...

I just double-checked mine, and I never get voltage on 13 -- only 10 and 13.  I guess where I say the top ones were verified for all those was misleading, I'll correct it

[ukyo]

Hrmmm...  I guess I was looking at the wrong pinouts for the cable, then.  So, if 14 never gets anything then my car is normal.  I wonder why it won't work?  I'm debating on pulling it from this car and putting it in my other car just to see if the other Kenwood HU will detect it and work normally.  I just hate to rip it out, I did a very clean install on it.

Update: Yes, I looked at the wrong chart.   

I have the page up that I found now and I see that both pins 10 and 13 tie back to 11 on the Kenwood HU.  14 is not used.  So I am completely perplexed.  I get proper voltage, but the HU does not see the keg any more.   

[sbingner]

Remember that if you disconnect the cable, it has to boot up and verify the firmware then turn itself back off BEFORE the head unit will detect it...  other than that I don't know what to tell you.  I'd definately try it on another HU

[ukyo]

It's been a while, but I finally got the Keg out of the car it was in and put hooked it to the HU in my other car.  The HU refused to work with the Keg at first.  It would say "Load" for a few seconds then go to "Eject".  Then I remembered the Keg had to initialize before the HU would see it (as noted in this thread).  After I let it initialize the HU saw it without issue and started playing.  Everything pointed to the other HU being the issue but... the Keg will only give me right channel audio.  There is a faint signal to the left side, but it's very low and has a lot of static.  I tired reseating the cable on both ends but there is no change.  The left channel works fine with the CD player or the tuner, but not with the keg.

I tried searching the forums here for "left channel", but I'm not finding anything, and the only thing I found searching for just "channel" that was relevant was a user who's homemade cable stopped working.  Grrr...

So I still don't know if the HU in the original car is the issue, if the Keg is the issue, or if they are both messed up to some degree.  Any other suggestions on what I could try?

[ukyo]

I pulled the Keg again, and decided to take it apart.  I reseated the ribbon cable where the HDD docks.  While looking around inside I noticed that two of the capacitors are bulging at the tops.  I've seen this on PC motherboards that have failed, so I think I may have uncovered my issue.  I'm going to see if I can track down new capacitors and get a TV repair shop to replace them (I can't solder, much less surface solder).  If that fixes it I will report back.  I'm also open to any other suggestions you guys may have to offer in the mean time.  

Note:  The two bulging capacitors are both labeled 1000uf25v and have an "X" shape on the top.