# Wiring radio to leisure battery



## Delores

Hmmmm - never though I'd find myself in this forum! 

We have a 'problem' in that our radio is wired to our engine battery and not the leisure battery meaning that we can't listen to the radio in the evenings - which is a shame as we have fabulous speakers mounted in the back of the van. (Were there when we bought it.) As soon as we put he keys in the ignition to listen to the radio all the 12v in the back cuts out.

So - is it an easy process to get the radio re-wired to run from the leisure battery? And is it likely to be expensive?

Many thanks for any and all advice.


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## jettdt

Usually they are wired so you can turn them on even with the ignition off.
My Tv sound works through the stereo and although it goes off when I first remove the key, pressing the power button again brings it back on. You should be able to find a permanent live feed behind the head unit and running the stereo off this should not be too much of a problem as long as its not for extended periods.


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## Delores

I just nipped out to take a look and most bizzarely our radio has an off switch but not an on switch.... :? I just tried pressing each switch in turn, but nothing. The fact the previous owners went to the trouble to have nice speakers mounted in the back would suggest that there is a way around this - we just haven't found it yet! 

Many thanks for the suggestion though.


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## buellster

I fitted a Sony head unit and wired it to the permanment live. The radio is switched on using the program select (radio, aux, cd). To switch it off, the off button has to be held in until it switches off fully. It has never caused a problem with the engine battery.


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## asprn

Don't you have an Auxiliary position on your ignition switch (e.g. turn it one position anti-clockwise from Off)? We have the same issue as you, except I found the Aux position not that long ago, and we've enjoyed radio in the evenings for the first time.  

Dougie.


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## Pudsey_Bear

A radio should not flatten a battery in only a few hours, also have you considered fitting another head unit in the hab area, maybe one with a headphone socket so you can listen while your other half has the TV on, some can link to Ipods, USB sticks full of MP3 etc, and some have remotes too, there are even those which double up as a DVD player, the options are endless, only limited by your pocket.

Kev.


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## Spooky_b329

Is it normal for the 12v in motorhomes to disconnect when you turn on the ignition then? Seems a bit strange.

If you can take the radio out of the dash, you will find there are two power wires, one is permanent 12v, the other is ignition switched 12v. Simply chop the switched wire about 2 inches from the radio, insulate the live end coming from the wiring harness, and then use a scotchloc type connector to join the cut wire from the radio to the permanent live. You just clip the connector over the live wire, post the end of the cut wire into another hole, then squash the connector down to make the connection.

The only downside is the radio will no longer turn off automatically when you park up, so you need to remember to press the off button.

Now you will be able to turn on your radio in the same way as you do when driving, usually by pressing the 'source' button or turning on the volume etc. Don't bother trying to wire into the leisure battery, as you've already found that everything gets cut off when you turn on the ignition! The radio will run for ages before flatting the battery, but a CD/tape will take a lot more juice and you probably wouldn't want to go over a few hours.


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## sallytrafic

Spooky_b329 said:


> Is it normal for the 12v in motorhomes to disconnect when you turn on the ignition then? Seems a bit strange.


UK built motorhomes are very often wired like that It saves them doing tests to see if the electrics will interfere with the ABS or similar. There is a standard for UK motorhomes that some, not all, manufacturers subscribe to and they call for the 12V to be isolated. (It might be the NCC National Caravan Council)


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## granducawanderer

just chop the live feed to your stereo & take a new live feed directly from your lesuire battery your stereo will now run from your van not your cab don't forget to fuse your new wire 5-10 amp will be fine


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## Senator

Delores said:


> So - is it an easy process to get the radio re-wired to run from the leisure battery? And is it likely to be expensive?


I had exactly the same issue in my van. There is an auxiliary position on the ignition but you need to push a small button in and turn the key the opposite way, but this only allow you to have the side lights on - from memory!

For my radio/cd unit I ran the radio supply power cable up to a new double pole changeover switch on the dash and also ran another wire to this switch from the leisure battery (via new in-line fuse). The switched output then went to the radio/cd unit power input. Total cost was around £10.

Now I can select the power source. So for normal driving about, the radio switches on and off with the ignition and in the evenings we switch over and can have the CD on without any worries of draining the engine battery.

Hope this helps.

Mark


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## Spooky_b329

_just chop the live feed to your stereo & take a new live feed directly from your lesuire battery your stereo will now run from your van not your cab don't forget to fuse your new wire 5-10 amp will be fine_

If you do this, make sure you disconnect the switched/ignition live and use the new live feed to power both inputs. You don't want the radio to provide a connection between you vehicle and leisure battery!


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## igglepiggle

hi delores here is a pic of what i have done in my bess used 1 of the openings took power off feed to charger with fuse in line . and then connected to the speakers allready there


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## Patrick_Phillips

Spooky_b329 said:


> Simply chop the switched wire about 2 inches from the radio,


Conventionally, this wire will be yellow but check!
Patrick


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