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Radio stopped working on low battery

2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee

My friend's Jeep has a low battery which ultimately needs to be replaced, it already left her stranded once. The battery puts out 9V only, it still cranks the car but barely. When the engine runs the voltage coming out of the alternator is about 12+ V so the alternator is fine. Anyhow, the radio stopped working when the battery was to low to crank the engine at all. This maybe just coincidental, however my question is if there is some security feature/code to activate the radio after a loss of power. I checked the fuse (no 30, blue 15amp) and it's fine. I would think it is unlikely that there is a short circuit somewhere in regards to the radio.

So, any special way to activate the radio after loss of power? Its the standard factory radio and the manual is not talking about any special procedure.

Thanks in advance. Axel

Reply to
axel
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When the battery is that low all sorts of things can happen. Even the Jeeps brain gets confused. Replace the battery before something is damaged, especially the alternator because it will be overworked. That and failing batteries can go bad in spectacular ways (think internal short).

As for the radio, that depends. The WJ shipped with several radios, some of the higher end units did have an anti-theft. When the radio has power loss for a significant amount of time (think about an hour) the next time it powers you usually get "ENTER CODE" as the display.

Reply to
DougW

I do not know about the grand, but I do know that the stereo in a Cherokee can blow out from an 'open' circuit on the alternator or no battery in the circuit to buffer the load. The alternator can spike the voltage with a bad or no battery connection which lets the magic smoke out of the stereo.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG AT's, 'glass nose to tail > 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Reply to
Mike Romain

JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR Magic Smoke is the stuff that makes any electronic gadget operate. If the smoke leaks out, the gadget stops working.

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LMAO! Jeff... you be too kewel fer skool man!

K.

Reply to
Kate

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