I put my stereo in last fall and at the time I could not find a switched 12v wire (bought the car with no stereo) Now im getting really sick of turning it off every time I get out of the car so im wondering where does the stock wire come from and/or where could I hack into to make a new wire?

 

Ok well heres a different question then, it's supposed to be hot when the ignition is on and then off with the ignition correct? hence the "switched"

 

yeah...that's right..i'm not sure about camaro's and birds exactly but i know some cigarette lighters are on a switched hot wire...the best way to do it is to go to the fuse box...check the fuse that says radio and see if it's the constant or the switched...if not jump around and find one that is on switched....however i do not by any means suggest pulling power from the ecm circuit or the heater fan/blower...it could cause strain on these parts...but usually that's the easiest way to figure it out....

 

alrighty thanks

 

Is there any of the stock wiring left in there? The stock radio had a switched wire. On our cars the cig lighter is not switched, at least not in any of mine.



Yellow should be the switched 12 volt.

 

They aren't switched. I have to unplug my damn radar detector everytime!

 

Why do you have to unplug your radar detector? I leave my GPS on for weeks at a time and can still get in and start my car everytime.

There are several ignition 12V sources in the fuse block. Trust me, I've used them all

 

ya i wish the stock wiring was still left...its been hacked apart so many times by the po that hardly anything matches up any more. The bundle of wires that was left was speaker wires only, I had to run my own power wire and never did do the switched one at the time. But I'll just find one in the fuse block somewhere so its all good

 

On the fuse box, there will be an empty slot marked ACC - this slot is switched, just crimp a standard spade connector on your stereo wire and plug it in there. There's another marked BAT - that one has power always. Some cars actually had one marked RADIO - that is switched as well I believe. Your stereo should have 2 power wires, one for the stereo to 'play' from, the other to keep 12v to it to maintain the channels set and clock function. So one you'd want to a switched source (like the ACC) and the other you'd want to an always on source (like the BAT). Make sense?

 

Easiest and fastest way is to find the ignition wire on the back of the deck and run it to a fuse that is on when the ignition is on, and off when the ignition is off just tie the wire around the fuse and stick it in, i ran mine off the 'radio' fuse and it works fine

 

Never did notice your post camaronewbie but thanks for the advice that is exactly what I ended up doing one to (acc and the other to my hot wire works great.