LeolaPA Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I found a replacement power antenna on Ebay Model number AW-PW12 by Metra. It looks from the picture to be identical to the one in my 95 Legacy Wagon. I was wondering if anyone has installed one of these? (Metra tech help says that it is obsolete, and has been replaced by PW-22, by the way.) One issue is that the description talks about 2 wires, when there are 3 wires into my stock antenna. If anyone has experience with this, I would appreciate the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarl Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Is your power antenna kaput, or is the mast broken? I think the mast's cost at the online dealer's is fair (sub-$40). The only thing preventing me from buying it is knowing it will break again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Yeah the parts arean't actually that bad from Subaru. I wouldn't mess with aftermarket junk. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeolaPA Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 I did call the dealer, and I think he quoted me in the $90 range, I think for the mast, but don't remember now. I found a mast seller online. They have masts for about $38. There are also people selling them on Ebay for $20. I wouldn't have gotten into this, but I know that Subaru didn't make the power antenna unit, they buy from somebody, and this one looks the same- at least from the outside. So if it fits, $25 for a new unit is better than buying a mast, in my humble opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eulogious Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) I just grabbed mine out of the junkyard. $8 FTW! I had to rewire it since I grabbed one off of a 98, and my car is a 1990, but it's been working great for over a year now. Except when it gets cold it tends to only come up part of the way until the car warms it up, but I think that is just the nature of power antennas and the cold weather and having your car sit outside in the cold weather.. But no biggie for $8! Here's the wiring diagram for the radio in your car (1995 Legacy): It shows 3 wires. A power wire, the ground, and the "control" wire, the wire that actually tells the unit to go up and down. So if the new antenna only has 2 wires, you need to figure out what they are, and then wire it up from there. My guess is that you just have a 12+ and a ground for the new antenna. So to get it to work, you will need to use the "control" wire to turn on and off the antenna. For that to work, you will need to wire in a relay so that when the "control" wire is turned on it in turn applies power to the antenna making it go up. You can't just use the "control" wire to power the antenna has it is in no way strong enough (not enough amps most likely, all those control wire signals are usually only rated about about 500mAh which is alot less than the antenna needs), so that's why you need the relay. The other issue I see is how to make the antenna go down when you turn it off, since using the relay would cut the main power when the radio is turned off so how would it come down with no power? You can wire up some relays that would reverse the power once it looses the control wire power, but that's more work, but might be what needs to be done. Having some more info on the replacement antenna would make it easier to figure that out... This is the whole reason there are 3 wires, so when the control wire sees power it goes up, and when it looses power the antenna then retracts. So having more info on the 2 wire guy would make it easier to help ya out! Edited February 3, 2012 by eulogious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbrat Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 maybe the 2 wire model grounds through the housing mounting bolts to the body? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarl Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Yep... $25 sounds fair for the whole thing. The mast at 1stSubaru or the likes is $38 or so, though. Anyway... use a DVM to measure resistance between each pin and ground. I bet none of them is connected to ground in any way: I believe the two pins are just the two ends of the motor winding. Connecting one to +12 and the other one to ground moves the motor in one direction, do the opposite and the opposite happens. There should be a limit switch to prevent damaging it by running it permanently. *IF* what I just said is correct, you'll need a DPDT 12V relay and a soldering iron. C'est tout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeolaPA Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 elogius it looks like the wiring diagram you supplied shows a "hot" wire, since it goes to a fuse, and a control wire, and I am posting a screen shot of a newer model of the same antenna, that shows a power wire and a control wire, so it looks like there would be no relay needed. If there was, these guys who make these antennas would have a lot of returns I would think, since that would be beyond the scope of most folks to figure out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eulogious Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 elogius it looks like the wiring diagram you supplied shows a "hot" wire, since it goes to a fuse, and a control wire, and I am posting a screen shot of a newer model of the same antenna, that shows a power wire and a control wire, so it looks like there would be no relay needed. If there was, these guys who make these antennas would have a lot of returns I would think, since that would be beyond the scope of most folks to figure out. It must be grounded somehow though, to the frame or something, like McBrat mentioned. You need both positive and negative to make it work, so I would double check that once you get the unit But you are correct. Those are the two wires that you need. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't tell you you needed a relay at all. In my remote start system (and keyless entry) I installed, it never mentions that I NEED any relays, just that they "might" be needed. Well, I had to install 6 relays to get it all working. So having a aftermarket manufacture not mention what you need is not uncommon at all, nor would I think they would take any unit back (after the normal return policy) because you didn't know how to install it, lol. Unfortunately this happens far more often than not with aftermarket stuff. Good luck with installing it, and if you need any more help, just ask! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeolaPA Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 Thanks. I put the order in and it is shipping from California, so it should be here next week. We'll see how it goes from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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