ok so, i got an aftermarket radio in my jeep. and i checked the wireing about 15 times now. and my problem is that the radio doesnt keep its memory. the radio workes great when its on. and here comes the weird part. when i turn on and off my headlights my radio shuts off for a split second than comes back on. and also my dimmer switch dimmers the radio lights... any ideas on how to fix it, or some way to jimmy rig a constant 12v wire to the radio taht wont drain my battery. please let me know thanks.

 

Isn't there a constant 12v already going to it? It should have a constant to keep the memory, an accessory that only turns on when the accessories are on, and the ground. Do you know where the radio is getting it's power from now? I would reroute the power to come from elsewhere. You can rig the accessory up to any power source that is only on with the accessories, and it should work fine. Or, you could run two constant powers to the dash, and send one to the constant for the radio, and sent the other to a switch and then to the acc for the radio. That way you can always just flip the switch. That may not be the best way, because if you forget to flip it off, it could indeed drain your battery.

 

ya it has the constant wire and the 12v power wire and they are both wired up but it still is messed up, so you think just get a 12v wire from say the fuse pannel (for example) and run it to the constant 12v on the radio it would be fine? cause the 12v power wire is fine but the constant is the problem.

 

any help?

 

yellow wire is constant power and red is actual power , make sure you have them right , you did buy a wire harness right ? you didnt cut and chop your stock harness ?

 

It sounds like you tapped into the dimmer wire for a ground. Run the radio ground directly to the body and see if that helps. Also make sure you have the red to switched power and the yellow to constant voltage.

 

no, wire harness is a waist of money. and i have yellow as switched power and red as constant, just like the wire diagram for the jeep shows. and i will mayby try and switch the ground to the actual ground. and see what happens.

 

Looks like school was too. It's waste. And you didn't buy a harness? Really? And it sounds like you ran your power to your dimmer switch. That's what I'm getting out of this. And yeah, try maybe connecting to the actual ground. That would help.

Actually, can we PLEASE have some pictures of this?

 

no i will never buy a wire harness. wireing it up is very easy as long as your not color blind you can wire it up. and ya switching the ground doesnt matter. wireing the constant wire to 12v doesnt help. switching constant and switched around didnt help. is it a bad radio?

 

I think for 6 bucks at the local wal mart it would of save you a ton of headache.

 

12volt.com---

 

.....i have the wire diagram for the jeep, i have the wire diagram for the radio and i checked over them both about 20 times now. think ill just try a different radio and solder it up and hope that one works....

 

in the aftermarket I bought for mine, it uses 3 hots. 1 for constant, 1 for switched, and 1 for lights switched. Apparently the lights switched is so it know to dim the head unit because it's at night and you dont want a bright head unit at night, it's distracting when it's reflecting off your windshield. Anyway, mine is wired correctly, the orange/black is your light hot. I don't remember off the top of my head what the constant and ignition hots were but you can find it by throwing a computer fan or comparable item on. Attach the ground and then start switching away.

 

For Christ's sake why not? That's just ignorance. Buy the damn harness. I guarantee you it will work fine if you just shell out some cash.

 

Its pretty funny to absolutely refuse to pay 6 bucks for a wiring harness and then whine about your radio being obviously wired wrong. Your yellow wire should be wired to constant power and the red should go to switched power. Whether you believe this to be true or not you should at least try it before chucking the head unit and buying a new one.