I have written many basic tutorials about pioneer car radios in recent times. It includes setting their clock, pairing them with a smartphone, resetting them, etc.
But then I notice different people asking online about how to turn them on and off.
Yes, you’ve read right. As trivial as it may seem, some people find these procedures difficult.
How to Turn On and Off Pioneer Car Radios
So, in this post, we’ll talk about turning pioneer radios on and off.
How to turn off the Pioneer DEH Radios
You can turn the display off in single-din DEH radios by pressing and holding the ‘SRC’ button for a couple of seconds.
How to turn off Pioneer AVH-211EX
To turn off the display of AVH-211EX, press the Display button. It will make the screen blank, but you can still listen to music and do other button-based tasks.
If you want to turn off the music:
- Press the home button.
- Then select the ‘source off’ button. It’s denoted by a musical note.
- Now you can’t play any music, but the head unit is still operational.
If you want to turn off the head unit completely off:
- Select the ‘power off’ button. It’s on the right side of the ‘source off’ button.
- Once you’ve selected that button, there’ll be a pop-up message asking whether you want to turn off the unit or not.
- Select Yes.
Now the radio will stop working.
How to Turn On the Pioneer AVH-211EX
If you want to turn the radio on again, simply press the home button. It will make the radio fully functional again.
How to turn off the Demo Mode in Pioneer DEH-S1200UB
When you turn off the display pioneer radios, they usually into the DEMO mode. You can follow the procedure below to turn this mode off and have a completely blank screen.
- Press the volume knob to go to main menu.
- Then, go to system menu by rotating that volume dial until you see ‘System’ on the screen.
- Press the volume button again to enter into system menu.
- Rotate the dial again until you see ‘DEMO OFF’ on the screen.
- Press the volume button and set this option to Yes.
What to do if a Pioneer Radio Won’t Turn On
Some people have reported that sometimes, out of nowhere, their car radio refuses to turn on. There can be several reasons behind this issue:
Damaged Fuse
The most common reason is a damaged fuse. Therefore, you should go to the fuse box before anything else.
The fuse box will have different fuses. To identify which of the fuses is for the car radio, you’ll have to check the fuse diagram at the backside of your fuse cover.
If there’s no such diagram in your vehicle, you should check the owner’s manual or search for it online.
In this article, I’ll assume that your vehicle has a fuse diagram. In that diagram, check for labels such as ‘radio’, ‘audio system’, or ‘amplifier’. The fuse we’re looking for will have any of these labels. In many vehicles, there’ll be two fuses for the radio named ‘radio no. 1’ and ‘radio no. 2’.
Once you’ve identified the radio fuses, disconnect the -ve battery terminal and pull them out. Now test each fuse with the multimeter one by one. If they pass the test, they’re good enough to be installed back into the fuse box. If not, you should replace them with new fuses of similar ratings.
Some aftermarket radios come with an internal fuse located at their back. You should examine that as well.
Check Internal Wiring
After fuses, it’s time to examine the car radio wiring. In particular, you should check the constant 12V+ wire, accessory wire, and ground wire. You can check them through physical inspection, but a multimeter would be more accurate.
Head Unit Protection Mode
Some head units go into protection mode as soon as there’s a power interruption. Although it’s mainly for theft protection, you can accidentally activate it by disconnecting the battery.
If your radio goes in this mode, you’ll get either a blank screen or a small message asking for a ‘code’. This code is usually provided by the manufacturer in the owner manual. Enter that code, and the head unit will start working again.
Older Car Radio
If you’ve tried all methods and your radio is still not turning on, aging can be a possible reason.
The wear and tear can cause the radio buttons and display to go unresponsive. This unresponsiveness can make the radio not turn on.
