Annual Service, Health Check, iPod adaptor, etc 05
by
, 30-07-2014 at 03:25 PM (2610 Views)
Now the fun begins.
The owner bought the USA Spec PA11-HON iPod adaptor over amazon (US) from one of the authorised dealer.
I checked the phone no. on the amazon shop front and it was the same as the one on their own website so it looked to be genuine.
However, when I looked at the actual product received from the owner, I was bit curious because compared to all other PA11-HON units that I dealt with including mine, there were several differences.
Please note that my PA11-HON was purchased long-long time ago so the outer case design is different (like heatsink) and the position of the sticker was at the bottom as it was impossible to attach anything on the side.
The biggest concern was that there was no serial no. or Lot no. on the box.
Nothing on the side of the unit purchased by the owner.
These two boxes were purchased awhile ago for ohter owners and all of the units had white sticker at the side of the case for later design case (smooth finish) or at the bottom like mine (with heatsink like case design) showing the serial no., date and lot no. together with possibly the software version.
On the owner's box, there was also distinctive square hole covered by the tamper proof label and as far as I know, this kind of hole was not there on all of the units I dealt with.
This is the unit that I installed for another owner recently and as you can see, there was no hole next to the dip switch.
Of course, the owner may have received the newly designed case and my experience is simply old info but as far as I know, PA11-HON is not that popular and probably no further development so even it was sharing the case with other USA Spec products, bit strange to use different case all of a sudden.
The lot/date/serial no. on the Apple cable looked to be really old compared to the one I recently purchased.
It could be hard to see in the above photo but it's shown as 100317H2 for the one came with the owner's unit.
The 2nd photo is the one that I installed recently for another owner.
If it is the seial no. in series increment or possibly the date Lot no., then the one came with the owner's unit seemed to be really old???.
And my concern was right.......
When I connected the unit on the bench, although the iPod Mini was being charged, the head unit didn't recognise it and simply couldn't go into the CD mode.
I tried my ancient PA11-HON under same condition using the cable came in the same box and it worked perfectly so it's not a cable issue.
The owner's box at the top and my ancient unit with heatsink like case design at the bottom.
You can see the CD mode in operation on the display in the back ground.
To be 100% sure, I took the owner's unit and installed it on my NSX and it didn't work.
There is no need to do so but to double check, I even tried all combination of dip switch position after power cycling the unit each time changing the switch and still the same issue.
Interesting thing is that the iPod mini was being charged even through the faulty unit so at least, something was working.
It was just simply not recognised as CD changer.
So based on these, I came to a conclusion that the supplied cables are fine but the unit/box is faulty because
a) simply due to hardware failure
b) although it says PA11-HON on the plate, it's a wrong model as it has extra square hole on the case
c) wrong software used but no way to confirm due to lack of sticker on anywhere
d) something not quite right as there was no sticker showing the date/lot/etc info
Since the owner purchased it through amazon and the vendor being as the authorised dealer, I hope the owner can get the replacement very soon.
Will put everything back on the car today.
Kaz