| Author | Message | ||
| BobD (Bobd)
Member Username: Bobd Post Number: 905 Registered: 3-2001 |
www.batterytender.com | ||
| Ken Ross (Kdross)
Junior Member Username: Kdross Post Number: 209 Registered: 2-2002 |
Thanks a million Scott. I located the wire last night and rewired the radio & amp on a temporary basis to see if the battery still dies. Once I confirm that everything is OK, I will pull the radio out and tidy up the wiring. | ||
| Scott Cairncross (Sclja)
New member Username: Sclja Post Number: 4 Registered: 6-2002 |
There is a wire behind the ignition switch that is white with red stripe that connects to a black wire. This wire is the key buzzer wire and is hot when the key is in the ignition position and stays hot till the key is taken out of the switch. This is the perfect solution to your problem. I am sure that your nak is draining the battery because they cant be wired constant. Ck this out and see if it works for you as I have been doing this for 20 years and the only time its a problem is if you like to leave your keys in your ignition. Scott@lajollaaudio  | ||
| TomD (Tifosi)
Intermediate Member Username: Tifosi Post Number: 2176 Registered: 9-2001 |
the amp should have a light on it to indicate it is shut off - even if the radio and amp work when the kwy is not in they both should go off together. whoever did this new install screw up. One other thing is if your alt is not strong enough to drive them with the car and other things on then power will be drawn from the battery over time. | ||
| Bruno (Originalsinner)
Member Username: Originalsinner Post Number: 854 Registered: 5-2002 |
Take em out. | ||
| Ken Ross (Kdross)
Junior Member Username: Kdross Post Number: 207 Registered: 2-2002 |
Pat: I agree with you that the amp is stay on. When I turn the radio off, I do hear the amp shutting down, but I will have to confrim this with a voltmeter. As of now, my main concern is locating the non-constant power source. When I locate that wire, I can rewire the amp and radio. | ||
| Pat Pasqualini (Enzo)
Junior Member Username: Enzo Post Number: 125 Registered: 2-2002 |
How is the Radio wired into power I would imagine that you might have you 2 power wires wrapped together to one power source? The radio itself might give out a signal to the amp to stay powered up. There should be a light of some sort on your amp telling you it has power. If it is lit when the car is off it is drawing power then pull power to the radio to see if the light on the amp is still on. If it is going out when you do that you might try wiring the radio one power to swtich and one to constant on. | ||
| Ken Ross (Kdross)
Junior Member Username: Kdross Post Number: 206 Registered: 2-2002 |
The amp was installed by the dealer when the car was new in 1985. It is a 60W 4 channel Blankpunt Amp. The original radio (also a Blankpunt) and amp where connected via a DIN plug and cable. The radio would work with the car off and the key out of the ignition. I do not recall the battery going dead with this original setup. The radio I installed earlier this year is a Nakamichi AM/FM radio with a CD player. The only difference between the installation is that I had to use RCA plugs to connect the radio and amp. The DIN plug used on the amp and old radio is no longer a standard size plug and could not be used with the Nak radio. As I mentioned earlier, the radio works all the time (i.e. when the key is out of the ignition). The battery dies on me in a day or two with this setup. The old radio only had three wires - power, negative, and a power lead for the amp. I did not notice a constant power and non-constant power on the old radio. In addition, the original radio was spliced into a constant hot power source, and I used the same splice for the new radio. I will probably have to locate a non-constant power souce. I think that this will resolve my problem, but where do I locate a non-constant power source? | ||
| Bill V. (Doc)
Junior Member Username: Doc Post Number: 223 Registered: 9-2001 |
Hi, Ken-I recently installed a Blaupunkt radio/cassette player in my '85 308 and found that there were 3 factory wires ( I think) attached near the radio opening--one was a ground, one was hot at all times and the third was hot only with the ignition( if I recall correctly, I think that the wire colors were pink and red). In experimenting before final installation, my radio was hot at all times with hot wire and would only work, as expected, off of the ignition with the other wire. As a start, you can just switch those 2 connections to see if the radio then operates off of the ignition. As recommended, a voltmeter will tell you what's happening without any switching. Another easy way to test is with a simple light probe tester--I've been using one for over 6 years which I paid about $3 for. You just ground it via the alligater clip and touch the connections in question--if the light comes on, it's hot. Good luck. | ||
| Steve (Steve)
Member Username: Steve Post Number: 269 Registered: 2-2001 |
Ken did this just start or has it been doing this all along? If your radio has a clock function then there are 2 wires that feed +12v to the radio. 1 is on ALL of the time and it feeds the clock. The other only gets hot when the key is in the acc. or run position. I would ASSUME that the amp is wired to the 2nd hot lead or in some cases due to the high power that the amp draws it is wired to the battery (sometimes through a high current relay). If it is ON all of the time it will draw some current to keep the components hot but should not be drawing high current until it is working with the radio. And if it is a high power amp then you may be drawing more power than your alt can keep up with.Check it out and get a volt meter and see what kind of power it drawing. | ||
| Mike Procopio (Pupz308)
New member Username: Pupz308 Post Number: 35 Registered: 10-2002 |
Do you have a voltmeter? I just picked up one at Radio Shack--they have two nice units for $49, one on sale from $69. I'm not sure about which leads you should test, but you'll need one of these voltmeter guys sooner or later... Comes in handy for a lot of things. Having the radio run w/o the ignition key in the 1st position (not necessarily the 2nd "Accessory/Run" position is not normal behavior in my experience... Often times there will be a LED indicator on the amp. My amp powers up when it receives the signal from my head unit / tuner. HTH, Mike | ||
| Ken Ross (Kdross)
Junior Member Username: Kdross Post Number: 205 Registered: 2-2002 |
It appears that either the radio or amp in my 308 are draining the battery. I believe that the amp is continuing to draw power even when I shut the radio off. A quick look under the dash revealed that the radio is sliced into some grey colored wires. Further, the radio and amp work when the car is off and the key is not in the iginition. Based on these facts, I am guessing that the radio has a constant power draw instead of a draw only when the car is on. How can I determine which of the grey wires, if any of them, are a power source only when the car is on? By rewiring the radio to a non-constant power source my power draw should be resolved. Thanks. |