Discussion
Afternoon!
I spent an hour this afternoon installing a new Pioneer head unit that can play MP3s in my Chimaera. Unfortunately, the way the manual suggests wiring it, the system can now only be turned on whe the ignition is on, which is less than optimal.
Is there a fix for this? It seems to me that I can either join the ignition-switched and the non-switched power feeds or, more elegantly in my view, find a way of using the intermediate position of the ignition switch: after 'off' but before the ignition comes on.
Is that possible? Has anyone done it?
I spent an hour this afternoon installing a new Pioneer head unit that can play MP3s in my Chimaera. Unfortunately, the way the manual suggests wiring it, the system can now only be turned on whe the ignition is on, which is less than optimal.
Is there a fix for this? It seems to me that I can either join the ignition-switched and the non-switched power feeds or, more elegantly in my view, find a way of using the intermediate position of the ignition switch: after 'off' but before the ignition comes on.
Is that possible? Has anyone done it?
How do.
If your Pioneer is like mine, it takes its power "direct", but has a wire with an in-line resistor that goes off to the ignition switch. If you wired the resistor to the direct power wire, then you'd be able to switch the radio on completely independentlyof the ignition. Downside is that it wouldn't make the bleep-bleep to remind you you've left the control panel attached after you've switched off the engine. (Then again, that might be seen as an advantage.)
If your Pioneer is like mine, it takes its power "direct", but has a wire with an in-line resistor that goes off to the ignition switch. If you wired the resistor to the direct power wire, then you'd be able to switch the radio on completely independentlyof the ignition. Downside is that it wouldn't make the bleep-bleep to remind you you've left the control panel attached after you've switched off the engine. (Then again, that might be seen as an advantage.)
I've got it working independently of the ignition switch now by wiring the 'memory' and 'switched' wires from the head unit together and connecting them to the always-on cable from the battery.
Interestingly, there was an in-line resistor on the 'memory or battery cable, but even though it appeared to have negligible effect on the voltage according to my multimeter, the unit wouldn't work while it was left in-line. Cutting it out fixed this.
Not sure what its purpose was...
Interestingly, there was an in-line resistor on the 'memory or battery cable, but even though it appeared to have negligible effect on the voltage according to my multimeter, the unit wouldn't work while it was left in-line. Cutting it out fixed this.
Not sure what its purpose was...
quote:
Afternoon!
I spent an hour this afternoon installing a new Pioneer head unit that can play MP3s in my Chimaera. Unfortunately, the way the manual suggests wiring it, the system can now only be turned on whe the ignition is on, which is less than optimal.
IMO, this is best. That way you don't wake up at 2AM wondering if you turned the unit off.
I have a Kenwood flip round front unit which also has 2 lives, 1 for ignition and 1 permanent. I disconnected the under dash light switch button and run the radio ignition wire to it. The otherside of the switch is the permanent live from the battery and radio permanent live. It means i can press the button and flip the unit round at any point, very handy. Make sure you connect the dash lights wire together if you do this mod.
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I always take the face-off unit with me so there's no chance of that. I would prefer to use the intermediate ignition switch position though, so I guess at some point I'll just have to start dismantling the steering column...
That's fair enough - that way you turn off the stereo when you remove the ignition key, but don't need the coil/fuel pump live to use the radio. Should be too hard to find the acc wire?!?
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