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Antenna base's connecting wire

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by akio74, Jul 28, 2015.

  1. akio74

    akio74 New Member

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    Greetings!

    Last weekend I had the roof wrapped on my 2015 Prius. Afterwards, I noticed that the radio signal was very poor (the shop did remove the antenna base from the roof during install). Tonight I removed the antenna and wiring to inspect, and discovered one of the wires had come lose from the crimping connector.

    I've searched online, and even took it down to Fry's, however I'm not having any success in finding what this type of wire connector is called, or a replacement for it. I'm really hoping this is not a Toyota specific part.

    Pictures attached - note this is the female end, the male end if mounted in the headliner. If anyone can identify the name of the connector I need, it would be greatly appreciated!

    Thanks!
     

    Attached Files:

    #1 akio74, Jul 28, 2015
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2015
  2. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    You can probably strip a bit of insulation off the broken wire and solder the connector back onto the wire.
     
    #2 xliderider, Jul 28, 2015
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2015
  3. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    the broken lead you have is a coaxial cable, it will be a TASK to do it correctly into the loose connector
     
  4. akio74

    akio74 New Member

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    @xliderider - I was initially hoping this would be a $3 connector that could be picked up at Fry's, however I'm not finding it. I like your suggestion to solder, will give it a try.

    @mrbigh - I dissected the connector and discovered the only part which broke was where the coax's core was crimped. Everything else, I believe can be put back together. I'm going to try radio shack for the connector, if they don't have it will try soldering as xliderider suggested.
     
  5. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Doh, you are right... I viewed the pics on my smartphone, so I didn't notice it was a coax cable/connector.

    Akio, you may just need to recrimp the connector on the end of the coax cable. As mrbigh pointed out, coax cables aren't soldered, the plastic insulator would melt from the heat. It does look like the end of the coax cable doesn't have much of the conductor wire exposed, you might need to carefully cut away a bit of the insulator to expose a bit more before recrimping the connector on.
     
  6. akio74

    akio74 New Member

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    The crimped portion of the connector is what broke off. Here's another picture of the connector taken apart, the green highlighted area is where the crimp extended to.

    Question - can coaxial be soldered? If so, I can solider the coax's conductor wire to the metal piece which it was crimped onto, then reassemble in direction of the arrows.

    I don't have much wiring/soldering experience, does this look like it could work? Thanks

    2015-07-28_12-42-10.jpg
     
    #6 akio74, Jul 28, 2015
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2015
  7. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Yeah, the center wire in the coax cable would be soldered onto the small connector, then reassemble, and crimp large crimp area around outer grounding wire sheath that's surrounding the coax wire.
     
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    shouldn't the wrap place fix it for you?
     
  9. akio74

    akio74 New Member

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    Great, thanks. Will give it a shot tonight and report back.

    Probably, however since they specialize in vinyl wrap and not electrical wiring, figured I would be able to resolve myself more efficiently. If this ends up costing me more than I'd like, I may ask them to help out.
     
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    usually they pay for you to go to a radio installer, or in your case, the dealer.
     
  11. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    seeing the exposed connector, you have a good chance of resurrecting it. Remember that you will have to crimp the shield part of the cable to the outside part of the connector.
    The worst part is the confined area you have will to work inside of the car
     
  12. akio74

    akio74 New Member

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    It's working!!! I picked up a soldering iron after work, watched a couple youtube beginner guides, and practiced on some speaker wire. I cut about 1/2 inch off the insulation, which gave me lots of the conductor wire to work with. Everything went together fine and radio reception is back to normal. Thank you everyone for the assistance!
     
    xliderider and bisco like this.
  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    congrats!
     
  14. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Nice. Cheap repair, but the feeling of accomplishment = priceless! :D
     
  15. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    You learned a little bit of soldering skill.....;)