# Installing a radio.



## teal (Feb 23, 2009)

Bought new radio from ALDI (bluetooth and all that jazz)however couple of weeks later the vehicle battery went dead , down to 9.75 volts . Its never gone down at all in the past. With this radio installed it showed a .25 a drain .The wiring diagram say's connect yellow wire to 12vi/ battery and red to ignition, but on mine 2001 Ducat 2.8 the red and yellow have been connected together.When i put the meter on the red wire it showed live even with the ignition off so it must be wired to a accessory i suppose. To get to a wire from the ignition it seems daunting to me as its so difficult for me to move in that space.So as the yellow wire is for memory why does it need a live to ignition?.


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

The power is supplied to the Red wire.
For the radio to turn on, the Yellow must also have +ve.
So if the Yellow is connected to the Red the radio can be switched on without the ignition being on (parked etc)
If you want the radio to turn off when you switch the ignition off, the Yellow wire will need to be connected to something which only has +ve with the ignition on.

Patrick


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## trevorf (May 16, 2005)

Your original wiring may have been modified to prevent the radio automatically switching off after 20mins when the ignition is not live. Many owners (including myself) have done this by connecting the +ve ignition and +ve non ignition lives together which I think is what you described.




Trevor


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## brianamelia (Mar 17, 2008)

The red is connected to the ignition because thats what feeds the part of the radio that uses most power like the amp which if not switched off will flatten your battery.
Bri


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## Howlinwolf (Aug 25, 2008)

I had this very problem with my Aldi radio and mentioned it whilst having some other work done at Peter Hambiltons. He found that the radio differed from the original and was drawing power even when swithed off. He broke into the live wire and inserted a simple on/off switch. The only downside to this is the clock in my Hymer B584 also gets switched off and has to be reset for every journey! Peter did mentio that removing the fuse would probably have the desired effect too.


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## brianamelia (Mar 17, 2008)

Howlinwolf said:


> I had this very problem with my Aldi radio and mentioned it whilst having some other work done at Peter Hambiltons. He found that the radio differed from the original and was drawing power even when swithed off. He broke into the live wire and inserted a simple on/off switch. The only downside to this is the clock in my Hymer B584 also gets switched off and has to be reset for every journey! Peter did mentio that removing the fuse would probably have the desired effect too.


That shouldnt happen he has connected the switch to a feed that goes to the clock
Bri


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

brianamelia said:


> The red is connected to the ignition because thats what feeds the part of the radio that uses most power like the amp which if not switched off will flatten your battery.
> Bri


It is the YELLOW that is connected to the ignition. The RED is connected to the battery direct (or the radio suppy wire on most vehicles).
To protect the battery, the switch would need to be in the RED wire immediately before the radio.

Patrick


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## teal (Feb 23, 2009)

brianamelia said:


> The red is connected to the ignition because thats what feeds the part of the radio that uses most power like the amp which if not switched off will flatten your battery.
> Bri


But surely when parked up and using radio the power for the amp you say will be the same?.


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## Howlinwolf (Aug 25, 2008)

brianamelia said:


> Howlinwolf said:
> 
> 
> > I had this very problem with my Aldi radio and mentioned it whilst having some other work done at Peter Hambiltons. He found that the radio differed from the original and was drawing power even when swithed off. He broke into the live wire and inserted a simple on/off switch. The only downside to this is the clock in my Hymer B584 also gets switched off and has to be reset for every journey! Peter did mentio that removing the fuse would probably have the desired effect too.
> ...


I don't know why it happens but I do know that I have not had a flat battery since and that the problem is solved.


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## badger750 (Nov 1, 2009)

the red wire should be constant live and the yellow the ign switched wire so if they are joined together the feed could be powering up other stuff on the van which should be off when switched off some radios are wired up different as was my farther inlaws when i fitted that and when the ignition was turned off for more than five minutes the memory was lost in the radio


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## brianamelia (Mar 17, 2008)

Howlinwolf said:


> brianamelia said:
> 
> 
> > Howlinwolf said:
> ...


you wont get a flat battery because the switch cuts off the power to the radio but it also cuts off the power to the clock so one problem solved but another created
Bri


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## brianamelia (Mar 17, 2008)

badger750 said:


> the red wire should be constant live and the yellow the ign switched wire so if they are joined together the feed could be powering up other stuff on the van which should be off when switched off some radios are wired up different as was my farther inlaws when i fitted that and when the ignition was turned off for more than five minutes the memory was lost in the radio


99% of radios I have fitted the red should be the switched live and the yellow the permanant though I cannot speak for your radio as I havent seen it)the reason the radio lost its memory was because the lives were the wrong way round or both connected to the switched live .The majority of vehicles have the lives in the same pin positions but sometimes the opposite way round .Some vehicles dont have a switched live in the plug so you have to add one or connect them both to the permanant live but that will drain the battery.but all vehicles have to have some form of permanant live .but not A switched live. As the original radio in some vehicles can be turned on by the can system, in the vehicle when you switch on the ignition.Hope this helps
Bri


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## sideways (Jun 2, 2008)

i connected the radio to the leisure battery as we have the radio on 24/7 when in the van, no more flat battery.


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## Jezport (Jun 19, 2008)

badger750 said:


> the red wire should be constant live and the yellow the ign switched wire so if they are joined together the feed could be powering up other stuff on the van which should be off when switched off some radios are wired up different as was my farther inlaws when i fitted that and when the ignition was turned off for more than five minutes the memory was lost in the radio


Correct. If the 2 wires are connected you have linked the 2 circuits making them both permanant +ve.
An addition of a diode would put it right.


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## teal (Feb 23, 2009)

Patrick_Phillips said:


> brianamelia said:
> 
> 
> > The red is connected to the ignition because thats what feeds the part of the radio that uses most power like the amp which if not switched off will flatten your battery.
> ...


Really confused now as the book said yellow to battery and red to ignition. I keep coming back to my thoughts that either way if there is a live connection on all the time it will still run the battery down.


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## teal (Feb 23, 2009)

sideways said:


> i connected the radio to the leisure battery as we have the radio on 24/7 when in the van, no more flat battery.


 I am thinking of going down that road myself it sounds logic.


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## brianamelia (Mar 17, 2008)

teal said:


> Patrick_Phillips said:
> 
> 
> > brianamelia said:
> ...


Dont be confused it very straight forward yellow to battery or permanant live red to switched or ignition live if its that way round it will be fine as the permanant live only uses a tiny amount of charge
Bri
Bri


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## brianamelia (Mar 17, 2008)

Patrick_Phillips said:


> brianamelia said:
> 
> 
> > The red is connected to the ignition because thats what feeds the part of the radio that uses most power like the amp which if not switched off will flatten your battery.
> ...


Hi Patrick you got me confused are we talking about the radio harness colours If so the standard colour configs are red ignition, yellow permanant on 99% of the radios we install sony, kenwood, panasonic, etc maybe im misunderstanding you but are we talking about the same wires
Bri


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

brianamelia said:


> Hi Patrick you got me confused are we talking about the radio harness colours If so the standard colour configs are red ignition, yellow permanant on 99% of the radios we install sony, kenwood, panasonic, etc maybe im misunderstanding you but are we talking about the same wires
> Bri


I was referring to the vehicle wiring loom but I am willing to be wrong - I don't wire radios very often  
Sounds like I should be ignored... :roll: 
The main point I was trying to get across to the OP is that the ignition switch wire needs to be either connected to the radio if the ignition is to switch off the radio as well and linked to the 12v permanently if it is to be used with the ignition off.
Thanks for the correction.
Regards
Patrick


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## brianamelia (Mar 17, 2008)

Patrick_Phillips said:


> brianamelia said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Patrick you got me confused are we talking about the radio harness colours If so the standard colour configs are red ignition, yellow permanant on 99% of the radios we install sony, kenwood, panasonic, etc maybe im misunderstanding you but are we talking about the same wires
> ...


No problems Patrick hopefully another useful discussion will help clear up a lot of uncertainty for a lot of people
Bri


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