Video wiring help (long with diagram)

15 years ago

I really hope someone can help me. I'm trying to fix my headrest DVD players. They are supposed to work independently AND as a Master/Slave. I'm assuming the drivers side is master. ??

Each unit has 2 post wires. The right has 2 yellow cords (rca?), a white cord and a red cord. The left, as I read somewhere on the internet, is the power post. It has a single of each..yellow, white and red.. along with solid colored wires.. one each of black, yellow and red.

I cannot figure out a few things.

1-How in the heck to do you know which yellow is 'out' and which is 'in' when they're not labeled? Is the one on the outside of the cord 'out' and the inner one 'in'?

2-How in the heck should this be wired so the master/slave thing works?

All of the audio stuff comes together after the wireless transmitters and goes into the power stuff.

On the driver side, the left post cord has all 3 rca (red, white and yellow) hanging down. On the passenger, only the yellow hangs, the red and white tie into the whole audio configuration.

HELP!!!

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Comments (3)

yosemitebill
15 years ago
Julie,

From your diagram these appear to be two separate, non-interconnected DVD players... But I'm going to need a lot more information to see if I can help you out here.

I'm assuming when you say "fix" you mean these units were already installed, connected, and working. So is the problem here the master/slave issue? Did it ever work? Is that the only problem?

To be clear, are these units two separate displays each having it's own DVD player? Is there another DVD player (ie in-dash or overhead) in the vehicle? Is there another in-vehicle display?

Are you the original owner of the vehicle? Are these OEM units that came with the vehicle, installed by dealer, or aftermarket? What is the make, model, year of the vehicle? Does the vehicle have a back-up camera?

Are the wireless transmitters in your diagram IR or RF (infrared or radio frequency)? Are these for the headphones? Does the audio also play through the car stereo from these units? (Yes, no, from one, or from both?)

What kind of filters are you refering to on your diagram? Does it state that on them? Is there any other info on them?

And most importantly, do you have the make and model number on the players? Any other info at all?
just_julie
Original Author
15 years ago
Sorry for the delay in getting back here. I actually got it to work by holding all 6 video cords, 3 in each hand, and randomly hooking them up to each other.

I will answer what I can so if someone else needs help, the info will be here.

They are Power Acoustik DVD/Monitor combos. We purchased the 2007 Suburban used and the non-chevrolet dealer threw these in to sweeten the deal. I think they were LITERALLY thrown in. They each have a DVD player, each can work independently. No back-up camera or other video player in the vehicle.

The round transmitters are farenheit FMT-3 and the square filters are PAC RCA SN-1. In the beginning, you -could- listen to a DVD over the radio... I think just the driver side. There are wireless headphones but I don't think the equipment in the seats has anything to do with them.

I did email and call the manufacturer and I'm very disappointed in the lack of customer service.

Everything worked fine for the first road trip. A few months later the passenger display went out and we brought it back for repair. We didn't notice until months later that the master/slave thing wasn't working and we couldn't get it to play over the car stereo anymore.

I fixed the car stereo part by pure luck-there was a loose cord connection under 20 feet of electrical tape.

As for fixing the video part, I'm pretty sure I connected the yellows on the left posts. I struggled with this project for 5 hours and when it finally worked, I tried to see which yellow was which but those cords are a jumbled mess and I wanted to get those seat backs on and be done with it.

Thanks for your time--do you think it was the left post yellows?
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yosemitebill
15 years ago
Glad to hear you got it all figured out!

The Power Acoustik website does have manuals available, although not as in-depth as they should be, but could be helpful.

The transmitters are RF over the FM radio broadcast band with selectable frequencies. You can tune your stereo to the frequency set by the switch on the side of them.

It appears (but not positive) that the headphones are IR - and use an IR signal just like a remote control - to broadcast the sound to them and have a selectable setup frequency as well.

The filters are just noise/ground loop, and probably not really required for this type of installation, but don't hurt anything.

Again, glad to hear it's working.