Post
by MikeB » Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:08 pm
There is an Anomaly with the MP3 players that plug into the CD connector. If you push the A.SEL button when you are playing music from the MP3 player, the OEM radio control will most likely lock up on you. Here's my story...
I pulled off the freeway to get gas 300 miles from home. The MP3player was playing and I wanted to select some local radio stations here in this area. Its had been a long day, I worked an eight hour shift and then ridden 300 miles. I'm tired and had forgotten what I was listening to. I pressed the A.Sel button and nothing happened, and the music continued to play. I was at a stop light so I looked at the display and realized I was still playing my MP3 player. I then made a turn towards the gas station. I pressed the CD button to turn off the MP3 player knowing it needed to be off to scan the radio stations and didn't really notice what happened next but the music stopped and as I was trying to get some music. I'm at the gas station now and I looked up and the Multi Display was illuminated but no radio info was displayed. No AM/FM, no CD, no AUX, no WB and no CB transmit or receive. Intercom did work but volume adjust was fixed and no increase or decrease was possible. The odometer and trip functions worked. The Suspension Adjust worked. I pushed every button on the radio, twice and nothing worked. I turned off the ignition thinking that it would reset things and go back to normal. No such luck. In fact, I see that when I turned off the ignition the radio control back lights remained on. I assumed it was a relay but not sure. At the motel, I disconnected the MP3 player from its connection at the CD input connector, thinking that it may have caused the problem. I checked fuses and as suspected, none were open. Not wanting to drain the battery as I slept here in the motel, I disconnected the battery for the night and put everything back together.
I posted the problem to the GL1800 Riders board and received couple of responses as well as a response from a fellow chapter member back home. What they told me was, do not touch the A.SEL button while the MP3 player is in operation or the microprocessor in the OEM radio will most likely lock up and give cause the problems. When you hit A.SEL, the radio checks to see what is connected to it, sort of a query command. Now the MP3 player is substituting for the CD player. The radio is expecting a certain response back from the CD player, and doesn't get it. So now it hangs up because what it expected is not what it got, and won't get out of that loop till power is pulled, either by lifting the negative battery cable or pulling a fuse to the system.
The next morning when I reconnected the battery, all was well. Everything worked as advertised. So, word to the wise, STAY AWAY from A.SEL if you have an MP3 player.
MikeB
Tacoma, WA, USA