Clarion 386VD- Installation in 05 Camry Altise

[Michael Hossen]

Hi Everyone,

I am a new user here and have been reading the forums for a while. I recently acquired an 05 Camry Altise. I have since purchased and installed with a friend (with installation experience) a Clarion 386VD double DIN unit. We have it installed and working... mostly. :P

We are having a few small problems which I would really appreciate your help with.

1. The radio signal is poor to average at best. The antenna plug is in tight but it intermittently goes bad and then comes back good. The signal is OK with FM radio but non-existent with AM. My Camry has the antenna in the back window- printed on. Would this affect the signal?

2. We have wired the green hand brake cable to the ground, but we still can't get a DVD picture on the screen. I have read that we must install a small toggle switch inline on that wire. Can anyone confirm this and provide some more details. :)

3. The screen often goes fuzzy, not like static but appears to be shaking a bit(not physically) due to interference or similar.

Again, thanks for the great forum, and I'm looking forward to your answers and getting this head unit working fully.

Michael

[Michael Hossen]

Anyone have an idea as to what is going on?? I have discovered that FM radio will work well while driving East-West, but very poorly when going North-South. AM still wont work at all. I'm beginning to think that the antenna connector on the Clarion is a bit dodgy.

[daviboy]

umm, make sure you have a good earthing point for the unit. I hav a Clarion MAX686BT double din unit but i have never tried AM stations but FM is fine.

Is the antenna a factory printed one?

The handbrake wire if grounded correctly should show image on screen, make sure it is in fact the handbrake wire and not something else.

Double chek all ur connections, make sure theres no shorting.

Other then that, i got no clue

[the_random_hero]

1. You car undoubtedly has an electric/powered antenna.

2. Are you sure it's grounded correctly? Hook it up to the handbrake and see if it makes a difference.

3. Try improving your grounds, don't use the factory one in the loom. Find a nice piece of chassis somewhere and put a self-tapper + ring terminal through it.

[Michael Hossen]

1. You car undoubtedly has an electric/powered antenna.

2. Are you sure it's grounded correctly? Hook it up to the handbrake and see if it makes a difference.

3. Try improving your grounds, don't use the factory one in the loom. Find a nice piece of chassis somewhere and put a self-tapper + ring terminal through it.

The car doesn't have a powered antenna- you mean the ones that raise and lower with an electronic motor?

Yes, it is grounded to the chassis.

I think the seller has given me the go ahead to send it back as I believe it's faulty.

[Michael Hossen]

umm, make sure you have a good earthing point for the unit. I hav a Clarion MAX686BT double din unit but i have never tried AM stations but FM is fine.

Is the antenna a factory printed one?

The handbrake wire if grounded correctly should show image on screen, make sure it is in fact the handbrake wire and not something else.

Double chek all ur connections, make sure theres no shorting.

Other then that, i got no clue

Yes, it is the factory printed antenna. There was a problem with the tinting though- The dealer had metallic tinting installed which somewhat effects the radio quality. But with the factory Fujitsu Ten radio it works fine.

No shorting as far as I can see.

[the_random_hero]

1. You car undoubtedly has an electric/powered antenna.

2. Are you sure it's grounded correctly? Hook it up to the handbrake and see if it makes a difference.

3. Try improving your grounds, don't use the factory one in the loom. Find a nice piece of chassis somewhere and put a self-tapper + ring terminal through it.

The car doesn't have a powered antenna- you mean the ones that raise and lower with an electronic motor?

Yes, it is grounded to the chassis.

I think the seller has given me the go ahead to send it back as I believe it's faulty.

Some antenna's have a built in signal booster, which require 12V on a line to the headunit to turn it on. Semi-decent FM reception and terrible AM reception is a symptom of this. While your headunit is turned on and plugged in, probe the unused leads from the loom with a test light (hooked up to power) and see if your reception greatly improves.