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New TeslaOffer SR+ Speaker Activation Wiring
- Thread starter rfullerton
- Start date
Hi, I'm at my wits end and need some help:
Issue: Click for Video of Issue
Intermittent audio from front right speakers (all of them). Sometimes only bass (no mids/highs) and sometimes crackling (on road bumps)
Backstory:
I bought the Hannshow DIY kit for my 2021 Model 3 SR+ and installed it. Shortly after I noticed that sometimes when I drove the front right speakers would stop playing audio (only deep bass would be coming out of the door speaker).
When I played with the balance, the front left speakers worked perfectly, but if I slid the slider to the right all I could hear is low bass audio coming through. Driving around, hitting street bumps and pot holes the speakers would crackle (static) and then sometimes the front right speakers and tweeter would come back online. It was hit or miss. I could go days without any issue, and then could go days with no audio coming from the front right speakers.
What I've tried:
Thoughts:
I can't exactly bring this to Tesla as these speakers aren't supposed to be activated with the SR+. The only thing I can think of is to remove all the Tesla Offer wiring, put it back to stock, and see if I still have audio issues. The A pillar and door speakers aren't activated in the stock configuration, but at least I can see if perhaps there is an issue with the wiring from factory? The additional issue is that the issue isn't reproducible, so If I revert the wiring back to stock, discover that the issue persists, and setup a service appointment, what's the likelihood that on that particular day the speakers won't be working properly for the technician at Tesla to observe. Knowing my luck it will work perfectly when dropping off the car, and stop working once I bring it home.
Any ideas?
Issue: Click for Video of Issue
Intermittent audio from front right speakers (all of them). Sometimes only bass (no mids/highs) and sometimes crackling (on road bumps)
Backstory:
I bought the Hannshow DIY kit for my 2021 Model 3 SR+ and installed it. Shortly after I noticed that sometimes when I drove the front right speakers would stop playing audio (only deep bass would be coming out of the door speaker).
When I played with the balance, the front left speakers worked perfectly, but if I slid the slider to the right all I could hear is low bass audio coming through. Driving around, hitting street bumps and pot holes the speakers would crackle (static) and then sometimes the front right speakers and tweeter would come back online. It was hit or miss. I could go days without any issue, and then could go days with no audio coming from the front right speakers.
What I've tried:
- I tried soft and hard resetting the car
- reconnecting all the Hannshow wires again to make sure a proper connection
- asked Hansshow to send me a replacement DIY harness because I thought it was a faulty unit (installed the replacement and the issue persists)
- I ordered the Tesla Offer version and installed it today. The same issue appeared. Turned on my car and no mids/highs coming through the front right of my car speakers. I slide the balance to the right, cranked up the audio (loud), it crackled and then the speakers came back online (full stereo). The Tesla Offer version connects differently then Hannshows and I used taps to connect the wires (instead of squeezing in the wires into the plug like Hannshow instructs).
Thoughts:
I can't exactly bring this to Tesla as these speakers aren't supposed to be activated with the SR+. The only thing I can think of is to remove all the Tesla Offer wiring, put it back to stock, and see if I still have audio issues. The A pillar and door speakers aren't activated in the stock configuration, but at least I can see if perhaps there is an issue with the wiring from factory? The additional issue is that the issue isn't reproducible, so If I revert the wiring back to stock, discover that the issue persists, and setup a service appointment, what's the likelihood that on that particular day the speakers won't be working properly for the technician at Tesla to observe. Knowing my luck it will work perfectly when dropping off the car, and stop working once I bring it home.
Any ideas?
bo3bdar
Member
That sounds like a loose connection in one of the speakers, maybe a marginal short on one of them that comes and goes. When you crank up volume it can sometimes push through the low contact short and work.
Definitely take it apart, and test again without harness, to be sure normal speakers are working correctly.
With added speakers that were never tested, they could easily be not quite functional. To narrow it down, simplify the variables by removing components. For example, plug the harness back in, but remove one of the speakers by cutting the wires or pulling the pins from the connector. Like excise the right tweeter from the setup, and see if you still get problems. If you do, remove the next speaker like the round imaging speaker. There are three speakers on the one connection to the front dash speaker.
Since this is Hansshow, there is always a chance the wiring harness is just broken. Early on, they were shipping harnesses that swapped speakers, and swapped polarities. Entirely possible this harness doesn't work at all on 2021 models. You ruled out the specific harness by trying a TeslaOffer replacement. Keeping in mind these different 'brands' come from China and might be made on the same factory and just marketed differently.
But my best guess is that you have a loose connection inside one of the right hand speakers that are not active. The tweeter is easy to look at, you can just pop up the cover. The round imaging speaker is very hard to get to and would be the first one excise.
when I got into my car this morning, the speaker issue persists. I tried cranking up the volume like before but could not get the speakers to activate.
I've taken the front passenger front door off to sound dampen the door, and checked the door speaker, as well as the tweeter, and playing around with the wires didn't activate the sound. The only thing I haven't checked is the A pillar speaker. Where else might there be a connector that I should check the wiring to?
Update:
Got in my car again and the issue is not present.
I had a thought, if it is a wiring issue (something loose) then it would have to be fairly far away from the speakers themselves. My reasoning for this is that when the audio starts crapping out, I don't get any audio (except for bass) from my front right speakers (not just one speaker). How many speakers should be active when I set the balance to the far right corner? 4? 1 under the windshield, 1 in the A pillar, the tweeter in the door and the large speaker in the door. Right? 4 speakers should be work, but only bass coming out of the door speaker? Is there a connector that feeds to all of these speakers?
Last edited:
Here's a video of the crackling sound as I drive. There is definitely something loose as it only crackles when I drive over rougher roads. The speakers will sometimes pop back on after crackling enough. Any ideas on where I should look to see where the wiring might be loose?
click to view video
click to view video
todd2fst4u
Member
Since it’s effecting the entire front right channel (original dash speaker, door tweeter, and a pillar speaker), I would assume it’s an issue at the input. I would check the connection at the main computer.
I had a similar issue with the tesla offer, no sound out of right speakers, only bass out of the door. Mine didn't crackle, was always out. I disconnected the positaps, still nothing. In the end, I disconnected and pulled out the harness, make sure everything was PERFECTLY stock, brought it into Telsa and they replaced the right dash speaker.
Then I hooked it all back up, minus the right mid and upper tweeter and everything is fine again. I will hook up the 2 right speakers one day, but for now it sounds great...
bo3bdar
Member
The way these harnesses work is that they add two more speakers in parallel with the original dash speaker. So there are 3 speakers all on a single channel from the amp after you install it. The dash speaker is a mid-range speaker. The door speaker is for bass and is unchanged by the harness, which is why it still works when glitching.
This suggests that the one connector from the amp for the Dash, which is then paralleled with the tweeter and the imaging (round) speaker is glitching. Since they are all connected, a fault in any one can cause the whole circuit to fail. The Dash speaker is clearly not the likely culprit because it came from Tesla working. The harness itself is not super likely because you tried a second harness. The two speakers (tweeter and imaging) and the wires to them are still untested.
The easiest one to check is the tweeter, because the grill pops straight up. However, the most likely failing point is actually the round imaging speaker on the A pillar. You'll need to experiment to narrow it down further.
The tweeter has a connector you can pull at the speaker itself. It also has the plug from the harness in the lower right footwell. Unplug it from the footwell to disconnect that speaker and the wires and thus test only the imaging+dash setup.
Someone else had a problem with their imaging speaker, which is why this is the most likely answer for you as well. Only way to test that speaker would be to cut the wire in the hansshow/teslaoffer harness to disable that speaker. But doing the easier tweeter test will help narrow it down. If it still glitches with only the imaging+dash, that tells you it's the imaging speaker.
Thank you for the clear explanation. Can I disconnect the imaging A pillar speaker temporarily from under the footwell or do I need to remove the A pillar cover? How do I identify the tweeter and A pillar speaker wires in the footwell?
bo3bdar
Member
I'm honestly not sure here. This is past the point where I've needed to disconnect things so far.
Some guesswork on my part- I think the connector for this right side imaging speaker is in the blue connector near the B pillar on the floor. The one the harnesses plug into. On the normal wiring, there are missing connectors/wires that are not connected. One of these pairs is the connections for pins 11 and 23 for the blue connector. If I have this right, that's where the hansshow/teslaoffer harness connects up that speaker. As far as I know, there is no connection in the footwell for this speaker, which is why the harnesses go to that blue connector. Presumably you could trace that wire, it's got to travel up the A pillar somehow.
If you narrow it down to this imaging speaker being shorted/broken/loose, I think it would be worth turning the car off, and disconnecting that blue connector, and then trying to play sound over that wire using an external amp of some form. Another option might be to remove all the trim to get access to the speaker and pull the plug on it. Best video for trim removal I found in a quick search is this:
The speaker itself is glued into the headliner, so removing it altogether is apparently difficult. But getting access to the wires does not look super hard, although I haven't done it myself. In that video, Albert runs his own wires up there, so it's definitely something you can replace if necessary. With access to the connectors you can also buzz out the wiring with a multimeter. And also you can just disconnect the speaker plug as a good test.
As noted, these imaging tweeters are the least valuable of the added speakers, and add an extra load onto the amplifier that is undesirable (from 4 ohms, to 1.3 ohms for 3 in parallel), so just disconnecting them is actually a good idea.
Thanks again. You have been very helpful. I will start digging in and see what I can come up with.
For those of you that installed the Tesla offer harness for 2021 models and installing your own rear shelf speakers, did you have run the rear shelf speakers wires yourself? Is it different from the older models because in their installation video it shows them installing the factory speakers and they used a harness to connect them.but they told me it does not come with a harness for my 2021 and I would have to wire them up myself.
You have to run your own, they have a video on how. It's not a ton of fun, just go slow and be gentle.
I ordered my kit with rear speakers, and mine came with everything I needed...
Anyone with a 2021 M3 SR+ will have to do it if they want rear deck speakers, regardless of which kit you buy.
IMO, it's well worth the time, it really rounds out the sound
They have a video on how to make the harness for the rear shelf speakers? Can you post the link please?
The kit with rear speakers comes with the speaker wires for the rear shel
Yes that package comes with the speaker harness for rear shelf but if you order without speakers, it does not. It'd be nice if the could sell the harness with the speaker end pigtails and the other end connector at the seat area. I don't want to use the OEM speakers but want just the harness. But they don't sell it. I guess I'll just positap it and use my own wires.
bo3bdar
Member
Not sure if it's what you are looking for, but another option is the Topfit harness. It has the connectors for the back deck speakers.
Amazon.com: Topfit for Tesla Model 3 Inactive Speaker Activation Wire Line Audio Upgrade(DIY Cable)Compatible Model 3 Standard Range : Electronics
Buy Topfit for Tesla Model 3 Inactive Speaker Activation Wire Line Audio Upgrade(DIY Cable)Compatible Model 3 Standard Range: Speaker Cables - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
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