Radio wiring help wanted

[Ez-Bone]

Hi I need a clear radio wire diaphragm for an 84 944 if anyone has one.

The previous radio (Deawoo) in the car kept killing the battery over night or in some cases if I simply didn't drive it enough.
I've gotten a new radio (Kenwood) installed and let the car sit for about three days and the car still lives with no starting struggle. But I still would like to know if anyone here has a radio wire chart so that I may check over the connections and make sure everything is as it should be. It would appear to me that Pelican doesn't seem to have one listed or I've missed/overlooked it somewhere.

Another reason I need this is the radio's memory wire seems to be wrong, when I took the previous radio out, I noticed the red (ACC power aka the main power) and yellow (ACC backup, memory) wires were tied into the same main power ACC wire from the car... that can't be right can it?
I'm guessing due to that, each time I take the key from the ignition the radio shuts completely down (at least I think so) then resets itself when you turn everything back on...
Ugh, wiring is so frustrating at times!

[Vicious]

ill take a peek at my wiring and see if those two are tied together in mien as well, dont believe they are though. and typically yellow is main supply of power in a radio and red is the ignition power. at least in all the aftermarket ones i have installed.

[Icey1174]

I had the same problem with my radio drawing too much power when the car was not running and killing the battery even with the radio turned off. I was never able to get an answer to fix the problem.

My solution was to intentionally blow a low amperage fuse, solder two leads to the top of each side of the blown fuse, add the proper size fuse inline, put a switch on it, and run it through the firewall on the passenger side of the car and into the glove box so I could turn the circuit off each time I turn the car of so I do not kill the battery.

It was supposed to be a temporary fix that has turned into a long term fix because it works well. I lose the clock each time I turn the switch on and off, but it keeps my presets.

[Ctan]

Deck wires are pretty much the same on every new deck nowadays.

- Yellow -> Battery with an inline fuse or any constant power source (ie still getting juice even when the car's off)
- Red -> any power source that is live when the car is in ACC or running

The red wire does the same thing for the deck as the "remote" wire (blue off the deck) does for an amp. It only turns it on when power is being fed through it.

If you're hooked up with yellow and red to the same line then yeah, your deck is always on and eating power.

[Ez-Bone]

Originally Posted by Ctan

Deck wires are pretty much the same on every new deck nowadays.

- Yellow -> Battery with an inline fuse or any constant power source (ie still getting juice even when the car's off)
- Red -> any power source that is live when the car is in ACC or running

The red wire does the same thing for the deck as the "remote" wire (blue off the deck) does for an amp. It only turns it on when power is being fed through it.

If you're hooked up with yellow and red to the same line then yeah, your deck is always on and eating power.

But what about the memory? I'll experiment around with the red and yellow and see what happens but the radios memory still resets each time I remove the key from the ignition. How do I remedy that?
Thanks for the info so far

[Ez-Bone]

Originally Posted by Vicious

ill take a peek at my wiring and see if those two are tied together in mien as well, dont believe they are though. and typically yellow is main supply of power in a radio and red is the ignition power. at least in all the aftermarket ones i have installed.

That would be very much appreciated meanwhile, let's say the red and yellow truely do not hook to the same wire (which I have a strong feeling they don't anyway) is there a diaphragm of the car's radio wire info so I'd know where to connect the red and yellow properly?

Also, I was messing around with it today and my friend turned the radio rather loud... well I found out it 'flinches' with the bass... does that mean I have a bad alternator? like, not getting enough power to the radio or do I simply need a stronger alternator? or is that even the problem?

Oh boy, this is why I dislike wiring lol it always chain-links into another issue or surfaces a 'dormant' issue.
Sorry if I'm asking too much at once everyone

[Ez-Bone]

Oh! forgot to ask, would a make a difference if I got the radio number incase someone knew the specifications of it?
Like, I have a Kenwood (KDC-319) but I'm guessing the power draw would be rather high for my 84's 90amp alternator. If so, what should I do to balance things?
Or, if the power draw is ok for the stock things on my 84, would I still have to do anything to it or could I leave it as is?

[wild man]

Yellow is (almost universally) memory power, which needs to be connected to a terminal on the fuse panel that stays hot when the key is removed. Red is main power, which connects to a terminal that is only hot when key is in ACC or ignition-on positions. Blue is an output signal from the radio that is used to raise/lower the power antenna and/or turn power amp(s) on/off. These (and all other) connection points should be available on the factory radio connector wiring.

P. S. Symptoms described DO NOT indicate a bad alternator. Either the amp is being over-driven, or the circuit (or wiring) from which it is powered, cannot supply enough current. Or you have 1 or more bad speakers

[Ez-Bone]

Originally Posted by wild man

Yellow is (almost universally) memory power, which needs to be connected to a terminal on the fuse panel that stays hot when the key is removed. Red is main power, which connects to a terminal that is only hot when key is in ACC or ignition-on positions. Blue is an output signal from the radio that is used to raise/lower the power antenna and/or turn power amp(s) on/off. These (and all other) connection points should be available on the factory radio connector wiring.

P. S. Symptoms described DO NOT indicate a bad alternator. Either the amp is being over-driven, or the circuit (or wiring) from which it is powered, cannot supply enough current. Or you have 1 or more bad speakers

1 The info was on the wire harness packaging I got so I have everything connected properly so far. Question is; for that yellow wire (and the blue one now) where does it connect on the car? It's hard to tell since most of those wires behind there (that I could find) are almost hard to tell the difference from one-another. If I can, I'll get a photo to show you exactly what I'm talking about

2 And as for your PS note, my rear speakers are bad so that could possibly be the victims? And I also changed out my front speakers to ones I had before (newer). Was that a bad move?

3 And lastly how would I be able to tell if the amp is being overdriven (If I'm thinking the same thing as you are, I'm going to assume I do an have 'amp')

[wild man]

1. I don't know off-hand, but if it was me, I would test all of the wires (but not the speaker wires, which you can tell by the fact that they are "siamesed" pairs that are the same color, with one having black, or white, stripes on it) with with a volt-ohm meter (VOM) or digital multi-meter (DMM) - I think wal-mart has one for less than 10 bucks or so. Use the 20 volt DC setting, with the common (black) lead on reliable ground point, and look for a wire that reads 12-14 volts when the key is NOT in the ignition - that is where the memory power (yellow) is connected. Blue is a little trickier because you can't simply "test for voltage" on that wire. But if you do not have a power antenna or "external" amp, then you don't need to worry about it, other than making sure that the blue wire coming out of the radio can never come in contact with anything that is a ground, or you risk frying the power (on/off) switch on the radio.

2. Yes; and no, not necessarily.

3. You always have an amp, as that is what drives the speakers. But it can be internal (most radios have this) or external, or both. A typical "both" setup uses the internal amp to drive the front speakers, and an external one to drive the rears. An amp is being overdriven when you turn it up to the point of starting to hear distortion in any aspect of the sound. Continuous operation beyond this level is usually what damages speakers!