1G 12v power sources

[El Cuervo]

Hi guys.
I'm having a little problem here in regards to finding some power source wires.
I'm looking for a Constant 12v power source and an ignition only 12v source for some electronic gauges.
I found three 12v wires with my multimeter. They are 1 red wire that connects to the radio, 1 yellow wire that also connects to the radio and the blue with white striped wire with a green connector that connects to the actual cigarette lighter.
Here is my problem.
With the battery connected and with the car turned off, I placed the negative lead of the multimeter to the metal frame behind the radio for ground and the red lead to each of these wires.
Well, they all show about 12 volts. The cigarette lighter and the 2 wires that go to the radio.
It seem like these are constant 12v wire sources because the car was off with no key.
So how do I find an ignition only 12v power wire?
I thought that the cigarette lighter was an ignition only power source. I tried using the cigarette lighter with the key off and it did not work. So I turned on the car all the way to start but did lot started the car and tried using the cigarette lighter again. This time it did work. This is when I thought that I had found my ignition only 12v power source.
Well, when I diconected the wires from the cigarette lighter and checked for voltage with the car off, I got 12v or so of power with the key off and with the key turned on. I thought that I was only going to get a reading of 12v with the ignition on and NO voltage with the key on.
Am I doing something wrong here?
How can I tell from a constant 12v power source and an ignition only 12v power source??

Thanks guys.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Go over to the drivers side, under the dash to the fuse box. You will find switched 12v power over there. Really one power wire for the radio shoud be switched.

 

[El Cuervo]

Go over to the drivers side, under the dash to the fuse box. You will find switched 12v power over there. Really one power wire for the radio shoud be switched.

Thanks Marty.
Please tell me, what a m I doing wrong here?
For example. The cigarette lighter thing. Isn't that supposed to be a switch or ignition power source? Why does it only work when the ignition is on but not when the ignition is off, yet I'm able to get a reading with my multimeter with the ignition on or off??
I'm very confused here.

Because the LC1 needs to be connected to an ignition switch power source, same with the wideband gauge and one of the wires from the Defi racer boost gauge but one of the wires from the same Defi gauge has to connect to a constant 12v power source.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Honestly I have 1 hot coming from the battery thru the steering column boot and power my LC2 with it and tap the fusebox for the ignition 12v source. Your ECU and TCU (if automatic) have a battery source. Look at ecu pinouts for your car and it will tell you. I just didn't piggyback any and ran a dedicated wire.

 

[El Cuervo]

Ok guys. Update.
Ugh.. stupid me. Well, you lean as you go.
What was happening is that I would turn the ignition on. This would sent power to the wires that were of course, in this case 12v sources. My problem was that the ignition switch 12v only wires, still had voltage in them while I was testing them and did not give them time to drain properly. It's like when you turn off your car and the radio and some accessories stay on for a Little bit. Then they eventually turn off. Well, this was the case but I was not taking that into account and thought that the wires would get the power cut off drain instantly. Well.... .
So:
Here is for future reference for any one that runs into my same problem and of course, for those that are looking for a constant 12v power source, an ingnition only 12v power source and a light switch/gauges 12v power source for your dumb electronic boost gauges and the wideband, etc.
This is for a 1g. Maybe for a 2g as well. Don't know for sure.
The cigarette lighter is in fact an ignition switch 12v power source. This is the blue wire with a white stripe and green connector.
The red wire that connects to the radio. It's red on the radio side of the harness but it's blue on the car side of the harness.

For constant 12v power behind the radio.
It's the yellow wire from the radio side of the harness and it's red with black on the car side of the harness.

There is it guys.
Marty. Thank you very much for the helping me and for the quick response. I appreciate a lot man.

I would post pictures but I don't know how.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Most folks that have put an aftermarket stereo in these cars can verify those also. I run a Kenwood single din unit and all of my needs for it were right there just like any other car. The 12v constant is usually ALWAYS there to keep the clock and radio presets set. The ignition source will power up the stereo when you turn on the key, so you see, there are multiple sources in the cabin but you have to dig for them sometimes.
Glad that you got it all figured out so the car can get its upgrades.

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[El Cuervo]

Ugh. Darn. That's strike 2 for me today.
Hahaha.

Ok here are some pictures.
This yellow wire that I'm pointing with the red multimeter lead is the constant 12v power.

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This red wire is ignition switch 12v power.

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This blue with white striped wire that connects and powers the cigarette lighter is another ignition switch 12v power wire.

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These green wires with the light bulbs are to illuminate your cigarette lighter and the cigarette Ash tray. Either of those. They are light switched powered wires. You can tap into these to illuminate your electronic gauges or your mechanical gauges.

For a ground wire, you can ground into the chassis like such.

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[JPenny]

R.A.P retained accessory power is the issue you ran into like you mentioned this is used as a convenience for accessories like the radio and some vehicle functions that need to go to home position before powering off.
I like to use a relay tied into an ignition source instead of an accessory source for my lc1 WB because acc loses power while cranking where as ign keeps power which I was having trouble with my WB going in to startup again if my car didn't start first crank and would take considerable longer time to "catch up" and start reading.
Sorry for long msg
Thank you, Jason Penny

 

[El Cuervo]

R.A.P retained accessory power is the issue you ran into like you mentioned this is used as a convenience for accessories like the radio and some vehicle functions that need to go to home position before powering off.
I like to use a relay tied into an ignition source instead of an accessory source for my lc1 WB because acc loses power while cranking where as ign keeps power which I was having trouble with my WB going in to startup again if my car didn't start first crank and would take considerable longer time to "catch up" and start reading.
Sorry for long msg
Thank you, Jason Penny

Jason, thanks for the information. Yup, that's exactly what I had going on and confused the heck out of me. It's good to know about it.