I have a Kenwood excelon KDC-794. I had this head unit for only a couple of months and it worked great. Then it randomly cut off and would not turn back on. So I took it out and shipped it back. Kenwood said they took it apart and fixed a connection(all it said on the paper work that came back with it). After I hooked it back up, I drove around and only used it for 30 minutes. It started to turn off, then right back on...then turn off then right back on. It did this maybe 5 times and then turned off and I could not get it to turn back on again just like the first time I had this problem. I called kenwood and all that they would say is that it was the install. They would not say what it was in "my install" or what it could be. Both times I took it out I used a digital volt meter and the remote power(only when car is on) and power wire were getting 12 volts like normal. Then I checked the fuse on the back of the head unit(good). Then I checked every fuse in both fuse boxes(just to make sure)....every one good. Can some one give me an Idea whats going on. Do I have a bad head unit, or did I mess something up. What would cause this to happen. I have a Jl 12w6v2 and an Alpine m-1000 and I know it is well grounded. Any advice would be awesome.....thanks

 

Test the fuses for continuity just to be 100% sure.
If they test ok then try connecting the radio's constant power directly to the battery with a fuse in-line and see if that fixes the issue.

 

Does the HU turn right off, [no readout] or is it just the sound that turns off?

Did you use a harness adapter to plug into the stock radio harness plug or is the Kenwood wiring harness "hardwired" to the stock radio wiring?

MM&Y of car? 94

 

The first time is turned off, it turned right back on and went back to default settings, then seconds later turned off for good. Then I was not able to get it to turn back on again. It was like it was not getting power at all, even the eject button behind the face plate that flashes even when the head unit is off was was dead. I used the Metra 70-1721 Radio Wiring Harness and wired that to the kenwood wiring harness. It worked great for about 3 weeks. It only cut off and turned back on once before it died and I was blasting some music at a red light. Could it be my stock battery struggling with the load?....I'm just lost at what else it could be.

ps. Before it gave out for good the first time, I was riding back from a Bassnectar concert in Asheville and it was about a 2 hour drive. I had the heat on the entire time. I was blasting music the whole time and all of a sudden I sounded like the music(treble, and voices) was getting progressively quieter but the bass from my sub was staying at the same volume. I turned it down and turned it back up and it was back to normal. I thought I was just imagining it. Then when I pulled into town it kicked it for good. Sorry for such a long post, I just don't want to leave out any detail.

 

Sounds like you are loosing power on the 12V constant line, I would replace the 12V constant fuse, even if it looks good.

Better yet, run a fused 12ga lead from the batt to behind the HU and connect the HUs 12V constant, [yellow] to it, don't forget to cap off the stock 12V constant or just remove the yellow lead from the adapter so it can not short out, don't forget to replace the fuse, as in most Honda/Acura it is ECU/ECM memory also.

I would also run a 12ga ground strap from the chassis of the HU to the cars chassis, this may not be needed depending on MM&Y of car and how HU is mounted. 94

 

I will replace the the 12v constant fuse and see if it changes. When I returned the head unit to kenwood, they said they fixed some connection. When I got it back it worked again for only 30 minutes. Can faulty fuse cause damage to the headunit itself?

 

A faulty fuse should not damage the HU, but with electronics, anything is possible.

A weak connection, [cold solder joint] on a circuit board could be effected by fluctuating current.

Driving the HU internal amp hard, [cranking the tunes] requires current, [amps] the small gauge 12V constant lead and most likely a 7.5A fuse can not supply the current needed by the aftermarket HUs internal "high power" 4ch amp, so the amp clips, [distorts] a lot, the louder you play the HU the more the amp clips.

Besides sounding like poo, it produces heat, everywhere, the amps outputs, the speaker VCs, the poor connection on the circuit board, the fuse that the power is running through.

So Kenwood may have repaired a bad connection and you may have a bad connection

If installing a new 12V constant fuse, gets the HU working, DO NOT install a bigger fuse, you can burn your car to the ground doing chit like that.

Run the fused 12ga from the batt. instead and do the chassis to chassis ground.

If the fuse does not fix the problem, then there is still a problem with the HU, this assumes that your connections are good. 94