Metra kit issue to be aware of!

[rray]

For those who said their display went all the way out... did the basic black LCD graphics fail, or just the RGB LED backlighting?

If out of warantee and just backlight failed, maybe we can rebuild the backlight?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[jeepguy_1980]

Originally Posted by SS Drifter

Either way, it's kind of a hassle to remove and reinstall. I don't think I want to repeat the exercise every 18 months or so.

I keep my cars a long time and hope I can keep the Camaro for a very long time. My concern isn't 18 months from now, but 10+ years now.

[rray]

I just got a reply from Justin at Metra, who replied I either have to find an authorized dealer to upgrade firmware, send the whole kit back to the company I purchased it from, or send the whole kit back to Metra to upgrade firmware.

All those options kind of suck as I will end up paying shipping, labor, and/or go without a radio for who knows how long. I think I'm going to dissect the display and connect ala carte LED's in place of the originals, to speed the process along.

[kalimus]

Originally Posted by rray

For those who said their display went all the way out... did the basic black LCD graphics fail, or just the RGB LED backlighting?

If out of warantee and just backlight failed, maybe we can rebuild the backlight?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I think all of them are just the backlight. I've never seen one where the entire LCD went out.

[MoneyMike]

My dad bought his Camaro used, and it has the Metra dash. I'm not sure when the previous owner bought the kit and had it installed, but my dad had that Camaro for almost a year now. But, I'll definitely have to let him know about this when he gets home tonight.

[2010ABM]

Same thing happened to mine, this is the second time now. Metra told me that since they warrantied it once already and its over a year old (15 months old) that they will not warranty it again. Guess this leaves me buying a new LCD on my own. It'll be the last metra product I ever buy, that's for sure.

[rray]

I took mine apart a week ago Sunday, and after taking the meter to it figured out a solution. The funny thing is, my unit started working good again while I was testing it, so I put it back together for now.

Well this morning, the green stopped working, and the blue stays on for 15 minutes or so then it starts flickering, so I'll be taking it all apart again.

What I found is a single rectangular approx. 3mm X 6mm 3 color Common Anode LED provides illumination for the whole display. Each color (RGB) is fed by a 1K ohm resistor from the output of transistor, and those are powered from the control box where the buttons are below.

What's nice is the common anode measured +13V, and the copper clad on the board measures ground, so all that needs to be done is an SMT 10K trim pot and 1K resistor soldered to each leg of the LED, then to ground on that display board. Starting with the trim pots mid travel, you would just manually tweek them till the desired color is achieved.

For me, I will just put a 1.2K resistor on the Blue and the Green leads to ground to get a constant aqua color, always on.

I'll post a photo when I do the work, but I'm not in too much hurry to take that panel off again.

-Robert

[big papa]

The blue color doesn't work on mine, but everything else is okay. Wonder how long it will last. i won't switch it out just because blue doesn't work...

[Dx2Tony]

Originally Posted by big papa

The blue color doesn't work on mine, but everything else is okay. Wonder how long it will last. i won't switch it out just because blue doesn't work...

Mine has been giving me this problem too months ago, kept flickering and now had been out for awhile. It's just the backlight on the LCD to where at night I can't see if the air is on or anything without turning on dome light

[Sickwitit]

Originally Posted by Dx2Tony

Mine has been giving me this problem too months ago, kept flickering and now had been out for awhile. It's just the backlight on the LCD to where at night I can't see if the air is on or anything without turning on dome light

How can the firmware be updated if it's already installed...another question is where can we find and or ID the current firmware?

[BBQdDude]

If it is still the same, I had this on my RX-8, you just plug a cable in and update it that way. however the cable is $.

[Eich]

The display on my metra kit that I purchased via Amazon on December, 20, 2011 is a mess. Sometimes it doesn't light up at all. Sometimes it's orange other times it flickers blue.

Last October, I contacted Amazon and their first response was to contact the manufacturer for warranty claims.

So, I contacted Metra and they said:

Originally Posted by Metra

At this point, a firmware update may not resolve this. You can try to have a local shop that sells Metra, update it for you. If not, you will have to exchange it with Amazon. Your warranty is 1 year from the date of purchase, through the original place of purchase.”

I was travelling at that time and in the end, the warranty period expired on me before I did anything with it.

So, I just contacted Metra again last week to see if I could PAY them for a replacement part or send it in for repair:

Originally Posted by Eich

I wasn’t able get anywhere with Amazon and in the end, the warranty period is over.

Now the display on my Camaro dash kit is flashing erratically and driving me crazy. Is there a replacement part that I could purchase from you to fix it? Or does the entire thing need to be sent to you for repair? Or do I just have to replace the whole thing to get it working again?

Appreciate any advice…

Their response was:

Originally Posted by Metra

There is no repair, once the kit is returned to us from the vendor, it is scrapped. This is now WAY out of warranty, as I stated in my original reply on Oct 2, 2012 (when you were still within your 1 year warranty) the kit needed to be exchanged with the original place of purchase.

Not exactly stellar customer service nor a stellar product. Metra knows this is an issue and all they do is cover replacement through the original place of purchase for 12 months. So, unless you can continue to turn it in to the original place of purchase for complete replacement every 10 months or so before the warranty expires, you are out of luck. It's not clear if you get a new 12 month warranty on the replacment. But in any case, I'd never buy another.

[jcthegrate]

so if i settle for the metra kit i should definitely have it professionally installed and pay extra for a good warranty.

[Eich]

Originally Posted by jcthegrate

so if i settle for the metra kit i should definitely have it professionally installed and pay extra for a good warranty.

Yeah - if they offer an extended warranty, you'll want it. The display is almost guaranteed to die within 12 months every time.

IMO - it's too much hassle to replace the kit every year. Something as simple as an LED backlight should last longer than 10-12 months. Thankfully, the rest of the kit still works for me until a better solution comes along.