Car stereo troubles

June 19, 2004 5:23 PM

My Bro-in-law installed my new car stereo for me, and all was good except every time I turned the car off, all of the settings reset. I figured out that it was because the memory (or constant) wire wasn't connected right, and I believe that he got it mixed up with the power antenna connection (which wasn't being used.) I switched it, and I think it is good now (it doesn't reset anymore), but how can I be absolutely sure I have done this properly? What can happen if this is messed up somehow? I have no experience with this kind of thing at all.
posted by Quartermass to Grab Bag (4 answers total)

What happened is that he hooked your "memory" wire (the wire that supplies the head unit with electricity even when the key is off) to a switched power point (where the power is cut when the key is turned off).

As long as the wire you've connected has its own in-line fuse (which most do) you should be just fine.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:49 PM on June 19, 2004

Seems to me that if Bad Things were going to happen, they'd have happened within milliseconds of turning it on. So IMO, don't sweat it.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:52 PM on June 19, 2004

Response by poster: Ask-Me RULES!

Thanks guys.
posted by Quartermass at 6:54 PM on June 19, 2004

In almost all car stereos (I've put in three in the past month: for two of my cars and one in a friend's car), the three power wires are: black is ground, yellow is switched hot, red is constant hot. Some stereos will have the same colors *out* to an amplifier; if there's a power antenna lead in the "out" bundle, it will be blue or blue with a white stripe.

If you'd messed something up, besides the way that your bro-in-law had it messed up, it wouldn't have worked at all.
posted by notsnot at 8:05 PM on June 19, 2004