chenko

My kenwood is a CD/MP3 unit, model: KDC-M4524

The previous owner of my car was to cheap to buy a cheapo connector for a fiver and decided to hack the cables about. So, I got a Subaru>ISO connector, took off the ISO end and patched it in place of the old connector which was not being used... just hanging from a few cables.

I used the old plug and the converter cable to figure out which colour is which and I wired up the ISO connector... and the stereo works fine, appart from the radio will not turn on manually when the ignition is off, which also causes the Unit to lose my tuner settings etc after being turned off for a while.

I have looked at the troubleshooting guide in the manual and it points to the different power connectors in the lead that goes from the stereo. The igition power lead is connected to the ignition power, and the always on power lead is connected to the power lead... The book suggested to switch these around... no luck... its also possible to make the stereo run off JUST the ignition power as there are 2 inputs for ignition... but this is just making it do what I dont want....

any ideas?

When fitting the radio, there was a yellow, what seemed to be live cable (it blew a few fuses as I forgot to terminate it)... it dosent come out where the loom bundle does, do I maybe need to connect this to the stereos power in?

Hanslow

I think the solid yellow cable is normally the +12v line that always has power, and will be the one that allows the h/u to retain it's settings.

You should basically have 3 wires for powering. Normally, black - earth, red - +12v switched power, yellow - +12v constant power.

Might want to check with someone else to confirm though

PETENAUD

does sound as if the perm + and IGN are the wrong way round.

Make sure the perm stays live when turning the ign on.

The perm is the memory on the radio, and the ign switches the radio on.

On my radio u cant turn on the radio without turning the ign to acc. This is so you cant leave the radio on.

Sill question but also check the earth.

The yellow on the radio is perm live supply.




[Edited by PETENAUD - 12/31/2003 7:37:53 PM]

chenko

I will have a try with that tommorow... the thing is that I seem to have a yellow live going into the connector, that is why I am/was dubious about connecting this spare cable. Also, the cable that goes from the stereo to the connector converter (subaru>ISO) has the red and yellow inline, but you are able to switch them about and swap the yellow and red etc, which i already tried...

Also, when i have yellow to yellow as i do now... the red light flashes when the faceplate is off when the ignition is of... yet it wont turn on?

[Edited by chenko - 1/1/2004 12:05:11 AM]

chenko

Ive had another look and this yellow cable is joined onto a cable coming out of the loom, which is the one that goes into the yellow on the radio anyways... :/

DJNafey

Hanslow is right in saying that, normally, the yellow is permanent live and the red is ignition live.

If you want to get the radio to come on without having the ignition switched on, then you would normally need to wire in the permanent live to both the red and yellow cables coming out of the stereo - this is how I've always fitted stereos in my Minis.

I have the same problem with my new Kenwood MP3/CD losing all the settings in my Impreza. I had assumed that Kenwood just use their red and yellow lives the opposite way round to everyone else.

I'll be interested to see if you get the definitive answer to this as I was going to take mine out at the weekend and swap the lives over.

[Edited by DJNafey - 1/2/2004 12:27:24 AM]

AJT

.....Kenwood unit fitment in Scooby (and a lot of other cars) requires the red and yellow feed wires swapped round (red to yellow, yellow to red etc). This retains the power to the unit when the ignition is switched off.

Cheers.

Alex.

DJNafey

Just had a look at the manual (first time for everything!) for my Kenwood and it basically says:

"We don't know exactly how this works so try these different ideas that we've come up with and see if one of them works for you" !





[Edited by DJNafey - 1/2/2004 8:00:50 PM]

chenko

AJT,
I guessed that as much, it suggests it in the manual... though It doesnt seem to work like that, I will try it again tommorow, but Im pretty sure I switched them.


DJNafey,
Thats the same as I have in my manual, and I have tried all combinations, the 3rd being useless but I tried anyways.

DJNafey

DOH! Well I'm going to try and sort mine out over the weekend as well so I'll let you know if I find the solution.

It doesn't bother me really if it's wired to the ignition or not so, if even the Kenwood manual can't work out how to do it properly, I'll just wire it up so it's live all the time.

DJNafey

I've just read the 3rd option in the instruction manual again and that doesn't seem right to me.

I would like to suggest an option 4!

Connect the red (main power) and yellow (memory, presets) from the head unit to the yellow (constant live) feed from the car. If you connect it to the red (ignition) feed from the car then, as soon as you switch your ignition off, it will lose everything.

Be aware though that this is a bit naughty if the wiring loom has a lower rated yellow cable. They are normally only supposed to handle 5 amps so running a 4x50w head unit at full power (17 amps) might result in a funny burning smell, lol.

[Edited by DJNafey - 1/3/2004 1:23:39 AM]

chenko

I've tried switching them over, but that doesnt work... I just tried it again to make double sure (well treble but hey) and it still doesn't work.

:/