Ever since I've had my 89, I have had no hotwire in it. All of my electronics are hooked straight up to the battery with toggle switches to kill the power. I never had a problem with this, but I just got a new CD player, and I have to cut it off b/c of all the lights. It is very annoying trying to reprogram all of my settings every time I cut it on.

So the question is, what do I run a wire from to run this thing only when the key is forward? Off of a starter terminal? Fuse box?
Thanks
Jason

 

Not to be rude man . But you can prabably get a quick and better answer in the Car audio or Electronics board .

 

umm find the memory wire and put that to the batt. that will hold the presets.

 

How come the car is wired like this? Did someone butcher the fuse box? Or did the previous owner not know what they were doing?

Two ways to get the fuse box down... I undo the two 7mm screws holding it to the underside of the dash. There's also two plastic "handles" on the sides that stick down. You squeeze them together, and then you can swing the fuse box down- for me it's more trouble than it's worth.

But, go to Radio Shack or Pep Boys or Home Depot, and look for "male quick disconnect crimp connectors". They're a 1/4 inch wide, flat metal. If you notice by looking at your fuse box, on the same side the fuses are on, you'll see little squares that could not take a fuse. Look inside the squares w/ a flashlight, you'll see a set of contacts. These tap into the fuses. For instance, the radio fuse has two arrows to 2 of these squares; these run off the radio fuse.

The sneaky thing is, these taps are also on the back (wiring side) of the fusebox. This is where GM would add an option... for example, got the subwoofer/amp option? GM would put a plug in the back of the box. Power seat or mirrors or door locks? Same kind of thing. 'Fact, there's an additional fuse block behind the driver's side kick panel (to the left of the driver's left foot), up behind the dash. This is another spot for power.

Anyway, you could tap into the back of the fuse box (cleaner look) for things like a CB radio or radar detector. Remember to use an in-line fuse on the wire, just in case the wire you add shorts out, you don't blow the main fuse.

Power wires for the radio, in the radio harness, are:

Orange = +12 volt constant, aka "memory". The corresponding aftermarket radio color is usually yellow.

Yellow = +12 volt switched (off ignition key), aka "power". Aftermarket radio color = red.

Black = ground, same color for aftermarket radios.

Brown = +12 volt "clock dim" signal. On a stock radio, if this wire saw 12 volts, the display would dim. This is what you could hook up to a new radio with nighttime dimming features. This wire goes right into your lights switch. When the lights are off, of course, this wire sees 0 volts.

Gray = +12 volt panel lights dimmer. On a stock radio, when you put your lights on (and the radio saw this thru the brown wire), this dimmed the radio panel. It dimmed it to the same brightness as your regular dash lights (speedometer, fuel gauge, etc). So this wire sees 0 volts when lights off, and between 0 and 12 volts when your lights are on. This is wired to the dashboard dim switch above the lights switch. This usually isn't used for an aftermarket radio. (Tip: You could wire the lights of an aftermarket gauge into this wire.)

CHC has the better idea of running right to the battery for radio memory, especially with the newer head units. Two things to remember: 1, use a grommet to protect the wire from chafing against the firewall! 2, put an in-line fuse on this wire 10-15 inches from the battery, in case the wire shorts out, you don't want to start a fire.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks guys.

Didn't think about putting it on the other board. This one is where I ask all my questions.

Lock it if necessary.