Newly installed in car ICE losing setting when ignition turned off

[ranj]

Hi

 

i have just tried to install a in car Mp3/CD player in my car. The installation has seemed to have gone ok, it works when I turn it on and can listen to music through the speakers and even my in car phone kit is all working :-)

 

The only problem I am having is when I setup my preset stations and clock settings when the ignition is turned off it loses all the settings. I have checked the back of the cd player and ensured that all of the connections are correct.

 

Is the problem with the back of the headunit, or could it be something under the bonnet such as the battery not being connected to the radio? Whats odd is if I leave it for a few moments it keeps the settings but if its off for hours thats when it loses the settings.

 

The car is a 06 Ford Focus so any advice would be of great help. Many thanks

[contink]

I belueve this is caused by two wires that have to be swapped because of some quirk in wiring configs for some car manufacturers

[Andrew_C]

There are two +ve power contacts in the multi-pole connectors. One is always live, and the other only with the car switched on. I'd guess that you've got these transposed. Easy to do, but without detailed wiring note or a multimeter, a bit challenging to sort out!

[synaesthesia]

Red and Yellow on a standard ISO setup. Swapping makes a permanent live.

[maniac]

It's not a vauxhall or a Saab by any chance is it?

 

Certain cars have a plug which looks like, and fits the 'Standard' ISO plugs which most car stereos use, but as stated above the permanent live and switched live are wired the other way round on some. These are ususally coloured Red (switched live) and Yellow (Permanent live) on the stereo loom, but could be any colour on the car loom.

 

There's two ways round it - if the ISO plug from the car goes straight into the back of the stereo, then you'd have to start chopping your cars loom around - not a good idea so in that instance I'd recommend buying the Autoleads harness adapter, which will cost you about £12 - I know a total rip off just for the sake of two wires, but it will just plug together then.

 

If the cars loom plugs into another short section of wire which then plugs into the stereo, then you can just chop and swap round the red and yellow wires on the short section of wiring, and it will solve the problem. Use some crimp connectors or soldier and shrink tubing if you do thou, as the last thing you want is it coming undone behind your dashboard.

 

I used to fit car stereos, amps (and pratically anything else related) in a previous job, so I'm pretty familiar with them and all their quirks, and the problem you describe is pretty common.

 

Mike.

Edited December 12, 2009 by maniac
Spelling as usual! Doh!