The purple French tail lights and thirty inch fins are next
August 27, 2017 12:22 PM

I'm looking for some help on connecting a new cable to my car stereo so I can charge my phone.

I have a Pioneer DEH-P5800MP stereo in my car. When I initially set it up, I had an iPod classic, so I had a 30-pin connector. My iPod classic has died, so I got a new Lightning cable, which also allows me to charge my phone (allegedly). The new cable looks like this, but with a lightning connector instead.

I was able to get the aux in part of the installation to work fine, by plugging it into this device but I'm having some difficulty with the charging portion. Here's what I did: I got the audio part to work, and then disconnected the battery. I found the cables that went from the stereo to the battery, and connected the red wire (shown in the picture above) to them. Then, the black wire with the clip at the end I connected to an arbitrary screw. When I reconnected the battery and tried to turn the car on, the dash lights came on for a moment and then went out, and I couldn't start the car. I disconnected the wires and tried again, car still wouldn't start. I had someone jump me and everything worked fine.

It seems to me like just connecting the cable drained the battery, but it wasn't connected to anything so that doesn't make sense. Is there somewhere specific I need to connect the black cable? Is there something I have overlooked? Should I bypass the iPod adapter (3rd picture) and just plug the new cable directly into the back of the stereo? The iPod adapter has a power in as well, is it an issue that there are essentially 2 power sources? I can provide additional pictures if necessary.

I'm aware that my system is horribly outdated but don't want to throw any money at this car as I will be buying a new one sometime soon.
posted by sacrifix to Technology (1 answer total)
I am not a car person or a stereo person, but cables are surprisingly finicky and I have a *little* experience with them.

The only thing I can think of is that the cable you are trying to use to perform function (A) is meant to perform function (B) and so, your selected cable not being meant to perform that function in that particular way, that selected cable is draining your battery. I know, duh, but what I am saying is that maybe look at what the cables you are using and the hardware you are trying to wire it to can actually handle, in terms of signals sent and so forth.

Your description of the dash lights coming on reminds me of someone I knew who had who wired his sound system through the part of his truck that played the doorbell "ding ding ding" bell." Which in turns make me think you perhaps wired something completely incorrectly and should look into that as well.

I am sorry I don't have the exact answer you need. This is all that comes to mind.
posted by Crystal Fox at 6:34 PM on August 27, 2017


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