Chicken Little was right - the sky is falling - and it was in the form of, massive amounts of rain - SO lets just say that, the official score is: Chicken Little One - Me ZERO! Long story short : Sadly, I came out to my JK, the other morning, only to find that in my exhaustion of trying to recover from, a major match in Virginia over the weekend, that I had mistakingly, left the Sun-Rider portion of my top open all night. And, much to my dismay, of course, it POURED. After taking EVERYTHING out of the Jeep, and drying things off, I noticed a weird "haze" on my Clarion NX509 screen -- and, since it was off, I took it as, not a good sign. I get the keys, and start her up,,,,and just like I thought -the only sound that I could hear was: a Homer Simpson DOH! I got ZILCH! NOTHING! My entire system is FRIED. Luckily, I kept my factory head unit, for just such emergency situations,,,,actually more for in case the of an accident or if we sold the jeep, I could just take the Clarion out, and replace it with the factory unit. So, I at least have a radio for now. But it will need replacing. And since I was not too happy with the Clarion unit, it DOES help soften the hit, even if just a tiny bit (it seems that the Clarion, was not calibrated right, and was off by 85 FEET, on the navigation,,,,not an easy thing to get used to - we missed a LOT of turns because of this). It also was pretty boring to look at, when in the iPod mode,,,nonetheless, having to replace the entire in dash nav system, is never an easy chunk of money to part with - especially now that I'm left with a brick that I can't even sell, to put towards the new unit.

SO,,,I'm looking at a Kenwood all in one - a Kenwood DNX7140 - And, for my first question: Does anybody have a Kenwood 7140 unit? And, how do you like it? I'm getting it a Crutchfield as a refurb unit, for $699.00 as it's all that I can part with for now. The brand new units are going for $1100-1400 , so I didn't think that $700.00 was too bad, for the refurb. I coupled it with an extended warrantee, I should be okay. I'm just really peeved at myself for sure.


***UPDATE: I went ahead and purchased the Kenwood System from Crutchfield. The PAC Harness is the same thankfully, so I didn't have to replace that. The iPod video cable needed to be replaced, and I found that too on Ebay. I also found a bypass module, on Ebay for 10 bucks (same for what I paid for the Clarion bypass - no big loss there). And I found out that, Fat wallet offers a 2% rebate, and got that on top of the discount code that they had for $25.00. All in all, it was a hard lesson learned for sure. I will ALWAYS double check that I have the top closed up, from now on.
Thanks!

And remember - always double check that roof at night!!! A hard lesson learned,,,,and certainly more costly than the five minutes that it would have taken me, to close it up!

 

Doh! That sucks! Hopefully the new hu iworks well for you!

 

Happily we got everything installed over the weekend. As usual, there were snags in getting things to fit, and learning the system seems pretty easy now that it's been gone thru a few times.

Actually, I gotta say that, replacing the unit was not something that I wanted to do, but the new Kenwood rocks, compared to the Clarion by MILES! Just in options alone, it knocks the Clarion out of the ballpark. I even got to use a white Jeep, as my navigation icon,,,and the Nav system seems MUCH easier to use, and is fully updatable as well. I also like that I can use the tilt option to avoid the glare from the sun, when the top is open (on SUNNY days ). I'm just happy and relieved that, this whole nightmare is over. A Big KUDOS out to the folks at Crutchfield! They really are the "Go To" people, for sound systems and customer support. Over the weekend, no matter what the question, they walked me thru each and every one. I cannot speak more HIGHLY of them and, recommended the website, without a DOUBT. I may even do new speakers. after I save my pennies back up!

















Bluetooth mike for hands free mode:

 

Any issues ever with the control modules mounted under the center console? Ive only driven with no doors in the rain once. And it was 2 days before christmas. It was a bit chilly to say the least.

 

I didn't even know that ANY rain was in the forecast,,,,it wasn't expected,,,but a lesson learned for sure!

 

Just saw your posting and was going to tell you that I have something very similar from Kenwood, maybe the same. I love it, but I had to take it back for warranty work a couple of times due a short circuit somewhere in one of the connections. I also bought the extended warranty because I drive pretty rough. You'll love it though. They are great systems! Good luck!!

 

When I was in Southern Illinois I'd drive and park in the rain all the time. I love the care free feeling of it all. Now I just disconnect my 75 WX ST, seal up the open port and keep going.

 

I havent washed my jeep with a top or doors in quite a while. I just go easy on the dash and console. Major downside is that when i put my doors back on, they are filthy, but the rest of the jeep is spotless.

 

Any time you get electronic equipment wet, try this. Do NOT try to turn it on. Drain as much water out of it as possible and stick it in a bag of rice for a few days. Go ahead and laugh but I have saved a ton of things that way. The rice pulls the moisture out. If nothing else it's worth a shot...

 

Ive saved two phones doing this. It works great