My P201-UH (05 Outback XT) Head Unit draws 210-270mA while off

[AndrewZ]

Hey LGT,

 

My Subaru P-201UH head unit, the original equipment for my 05 Outback XT-Ltd MT, is drawing so much power with the car off that it drains the battery within 6-8 hours while connected (with the car off and the doors locked).

 

I've been trying to hunt down this big power drain for a while. I had isolated the drain to the "backup" 20A fuse in the under-the-hood fuse compartment. With the car off and the doors closed and locked the battery drain would vary between 220 - 280mA. With the "backup" fuse removed it would drop to 5mA.

 

I started removing components I believed were on the "backup" circuit and have found that by removing the head unit the power consumption drops down to 10mA, while still having the "backup" fuse in place.

 

Probably around 2 years ago the 6-CD changer jammed on me. This could be a culprit - if the motor has been trying to work since then and it finally burnt out and is shorting internally. I hope that the drain is isolated to the headunit and not somehow tied to other components it powers.

 

Does anyone have advice on how to salvage this unit? I don't care about the CD changer - I took it apart several times after it failed and had no luck bringing it back to life. By the time I fixed the jam on the spindle some of the CD curcuit was apparently burned out because pushing the button did absolutely nothing. The power drain didn't appear for ~18 months after this, though. I just want to have climate controls, and preferably radio, without having to remove and install the backup fuse every day while getting to and leaving work.

 

I suppose there's also a possibility that there's a short somewhere say in the speaker wires that the head-unit powers, but I believe all the speakers are working properly and the climate control has been working properly too. I disconnected the antenna with the head unit in place and that didn't affect the power draw so that potential short I think is ruled out.

 

I really don't want to buy a new head unit because I'm planning on trading the car in soon - and at the same time I wouldn't feel too comfortable trading in a car where the battery will be dead after I finish the trade. The CD changer not working is easy to disclose - the massive power drain isn't. I'm hesitant too to buy a junkyard model from some bad experiences I read and would like to avoid any expense in this if possible.

 

Does anyone have any advice, ideas or solutions?

 

Btw here is a link to a thread on LGT where you can find the technical documentation on the unit:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/radio-service-manual-2005-thru-2006-leagcy-51528.html?highlight=p-201uh

[GTTuner]

Open up the unit and disconnect the ribbon cable to the cd changer, it's really all you can do if indeed it is the cd changer. A P201-UH is easy to find, cheap used. Go on E bay you'll find a bunch.....just make sure it is a "-UH".

[AndrewZ]

Thanks for the feedback, GTTuner! I'll try disconnecting the ribbon tonight and see if that eliminates the power draw

 

EDIT:

Power drain has dropped from 220-280mA to 12-16mA after putting everything back together with the ribbon inside the P201-UH for the CD Changer removed!! No more :spin:going crazy over power issues.

 

I had fun in the process: I took apart and reassembled the CD changer, which was a puzzle. A couple springs were left over after re-assembly but I don't think it would have worked again regardless. I found that my jam (which was documented in the past here on the forums) seemed to come from the top few CD sleeves having gotten bound on the top of the metal shaft they ride on. A little force in the right spot got them back in place but with the current draw it was making I assume some internal component got fried after it trying to work while bound for so long.

 

Many thanks to GTTuner for the simple idea of disconnecting the ribbon - I had no idea such an insubstantial wire could carry that much current for so long

[GTTuner]

Glad it worked for ya!