Can anyone tell me how to bench test a stock antenna motor?

[RickInABox]

Hi, I'm looking to bench test a stock antenna mast motor. I didn't want to just go tapping 12v to stuff, so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for testing this. My current radio doesn't have a mast signal so it's not much use going through that.

Thanks,
Patrick

[IceWhite]

The original Hirschmann antenna has 3 wires (Black is separate/free hanging, Red & White in a connector).
Ground, Constant Power, and Switched Power.

How it works is this.
Ground is obvious, we know what it does. It is the separate black wire and it connects to the body of the car with round terminal.
Constant Power (Red). Gives the antenna power at all times.
Switched Power (White). Should be coming from the head unit, is usually blue wire. When this wire has power, the mast extends. When power is removed from this antenna wire, the mast retracts.


So, to bench test,

• connect a wire from the negative terminal of the battery to the black wire on the antenna.

• Then, connect a wire from the positive terminal of the battery to the red wire terminal of the antenna.

• Lastly, connect another wire from the positive terminal of the battery and touch the white wire terminal of the antenna, and the mast should extend. After the mast has extended, removing this wire connection from the white wire terminal of the antenna, the mast should retract.

Hope this helps!

[RickInABox]

Ah thank you so much for your help with that! I was able to bench test it, but unfortunately it does not extend all the way. The motor seems to work great but it looks like the middle section is a tad seized.

[george graves]

IIRC there are two types of the antennas. And they both end up with the teeth stripped. (or was that e21's?) Anyways. I don't think there is a DIY that will fix it.

[Originale30]

You can buy a new antenna mast cable, unscrew the top and power it on, the old antenna mast will pop out, feed the new antenna mast cable down u til it stops then have someone power on the radio and it will feed itself the rest of the way... be sure to have the teeth facing the correct way!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jeffnhiscars]

I've taken enough of these apart and besides the obvious broken mast or DOA electronics, there are 2 common problems:

The worm drive gear strips a section of the helical gear

The 2 helical gears are locked together by a plastic tab between them and that frequently sheers off.

Masts from mastsrus.com and you'd have to search for the replacement gears. IIRC there's a shop in LA that sells all the widgets