Hey guys sorry for being such a post ***** but I need some help. I bought a Jensen vm9213 indash on craigslist for $80 and I'm trying to test it out before I actually install it to make sure it working. But I can't seem to power it on right. I had an old car phone charger that I striped to use for the 12v cigarette plug. I connected red an yellow to the positive and black to the black for ground. But it doesn't power up. All it does is light up a little src button red and doesn't do anything else. I called the dude back and he picked up right away and assured me it worked an if not to let him know so he sounds pretty legit. Does anyone have any ideas to why it's not powering on or if I'm doing something wrong? I'll appreciate any help guys

Thanks

 

Wire it up again, and there should be a reset button on the bottom right corner of the front panel. Give that a try.

 

I looked for it an it's on the bottom left panel on mine. I connected it and still the red src is on and I pushed that little button with a toothpick and the src button stoped lighting up for a second then it came back up red and nothing. Any other ideas?

 

That's all I got... I pulled it from Jensen's troubleshooting on their website.

 

This might sound ridiculous, but shut the truck off, pull the key out, start the truck back up. When the light turns red, hold it down. Find another 12V source as well--bench test, properly hook up, etc. I've put in countless Jensen units, so if that doesn't work, then let me know. Also, remember what I told you about going cheap? Keep that in mind.

 

Take it back out of the truck, wire it to a car battery on bench. Ground the batt to the black, red to +, yellow to +.. Some radios need a absolute 12 v source on the keyed(red wire to do it)

 

i also tried testing it with a drill battery and it did the same thing. just that darn red source light and yea cc05 i remember you told me to get a good unit but im only 17 and not working right now so that cheap jenson seemed real good at the time lol. but since youve installed other jensens is that red light a common thing? do you know anything else i can try? i just dont wanna keep a broken indash

 

Hook it to a car battery, like Mangled said. Once you do that, hold the red button and don't let off of it. Trust me, in the long run, you'll spend more money fixing mistakes than you will just patiently waiting. I was there at one point too.

 

i know this may sound like a dumb question but... what does on the bench mean? can i put jumper cables on my trucks battery and connect the other end of the cables to the stereo ? red and yellow to red and black to black

 

Bench test... Doesn't mean you have to necessarily slap the radio on a bench and tell it to "sit and stay". Haha, I'm just messing with you. You can't learn without questions. Hold the hu up with the wires connected like you mentioned. Then, hold the src button. Don't let up.