General Power to stereo with no ignition

[MultiPa]

Our s/h multipla has an aftermarket stereo in it, but it doesn't work unless the engine is running or the key is turned to position III (where all the dashboard lights come on)

Is this normal? I quite like listening to the radio in the car when I'm cleaning it, or camping, and it's annoying if you want to listen to the last few minutes of the news when you get home and you have to leave the engine running. On my Fords the radio turns off when you turn the engine off, but you can turn it back on again, From memory the Alfa was the same.

Hopefully it's not normal and there is just a wire loose at the back of the stereo? Can someone with a standard stereo let me know if it works without the key in? Thanks.

 

[joipalli]

Yes mine works (Orginal Fiat, Blaupunkt with tape) without the key, but I have to power the stereo on after I've shut the engine down.

 

[Zundapp]

My original FIAT stereo worked without the key being turned, but the aftermarket stereo I fitted doesn't. It's a bit of a nuisance at times, but that's just the way it is I'm afraid.

 

[MultiPa]

Cheers, I'll whip mine out and see if I can work out what's wrong in that case.

Edit - Zundapp, your reply wasn't there when I started typing. I presume Fiat don't use the standard ISO connector because I remember having to buy an adapter for the Alfa. Is is possible the adapters we are using are wired incorrectly?

 

[matt8772]

right, what you have to do here is find the permanent live feed to the radio at the vehicles wiring loom.

once youve done that, depending on the radio manufacturers wiring they use, in this case im gonna use sony, solder/scotchlock/bodge together the yellow and red wires (eg the accessory live and the permanent live) of the sonys wiring loom and join it to the vehicles live feed.

this will make the radio work with no keys in the ignition.

some radios you just need to move the fuse across, some will have the wiring code on a label on the back of the unit etc.

 

[Pandabloke]

Yep, Matts got it basically. Also I'm sure I've seen this posted a couple of times on the ICE forum. Might be worth a look there and all.