Doug,

Best for me to answer this pmail. We don't want all the potential thieves
knowing how this works. LOL... not that any thief would want a Heidelberg...
mine is... Darn! They stole the Heidelberg out of my van!

CYM.

Ben

On 6/23/06, Doug Fitz-Randolph <fitzr@suscom-maine.net> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> No, this isn't the typical "Help - I disconnected the battery and now my
> radio doesn't work" question...
>
> Three years ago, for a radio-less friend, I picked up two Heidelberg
> radios
> from the local junkyard, figuring that at least one would work. One was a
> Heidelberg V, the other a Heidelberg VIII. I got them home, applied 12V
> and
> - bonus - neither was dead. Both displayed "SAFe" on the screen, as I
> would
> expect.  I figured I'd get the codes from the VW dealer after I installed
> the radio for my friend. Long story short, they've been sitting untouched
> in
> a box for the past 3 years. I was recently in need of a radio, so I pulled
> them out of storage. Of course, it just couldn't be easy for once. Here's
> the puzzle...
>
> Both displayed "SAFe" when powered-on three years ago. Now, the model V
> seems to have lost it's security coding completely - it comes on and works
> fine with no "SAFe" code. The VIII, however, now shows nothing at all on
> the
> display. The only evidence of life is that the little red security LED
> blinks when power is applied.
>
> I have a theory about this, as follows: There is a battery in the radio
> which maintains the SAFe code. When the radio is disconnected from 12V for
> long enough, this battery dies. On the model V, when the battery dies, the
> code goes away and the radio functions normally. On the VIII, which being
> newer maybe has more "advanced" theft protection circuitry, when the
> battery
> dies the radio ceases to function completely.
>
> Can anyone offer any insights on this or any tips on bringing the VIII
> back
> to life?
>
> You might ask if one of the radios works, why do I care? Well, the volume
> knob also functions as the "seek" button. On the V, it's so sensitive that
> whenever I adjust the volume I change the station. It's driving me
> slightly
> crazy. On the VIII, even though it doesn't turn on I can tell the knob is
> less finicky. I want to keep a VW radio in there 1) because everything
> else
> is bare bones original  and 2) aside from not wanting to spend any $, all
> the new radios you can buy look too much like video game displays.
>
> Thanks,
> Doug Fitz-Randolph
> Freeport, ME
>

--
BenT