Radio battery drain

[Twinturbo120]

Alright guys, I know the drill. Have done it before. My old radio was the cause of a battery drain I was getting. After a year of having no radio I decided to buy one and hook it up. My sister drives the car and shes driving me insane about having no radio Anyway, bought a harness so I don't mess with the factory one.

Then I would just connect them. So I plugged the radio in the car to see if it works etc, and it does. Works great! So I had to leave for 5 days because of work and today when I went to crank the car, dead battery. So the drain is YET AGAIN caused by the radio. I wired it right, heat shrink all the wires individually, looks professional Any ideas? Maybe my battery isn't big enough, I don't know

 

[dsmotors95]

well if the wiring is good like you say it is it might be your battery..i had this exact same problem with an old car of mine..but instead of the stereo draining my battery it was an amp and sub that i hooked up..i had tought i messed up with the wiring but i bought a new battery and it was fine from then on. never gave me a problem.

 

[Twinturbo120]

well if the wiring is good like you say it is it might be your battery..i had this exact same problem with an old car of mine..but instead of the stereo draining my battery it was an amp and sub that i hooked up..i had tought i messed up with the wiring but i bought a new battery and it was fine from then on. never gave me a problem.

Can't be the battery, had it replaced 4 months ago. Practically new =/

Any other ideas?

 

[dsmotors95]

maybe you connected the igniton wire to the 12v witch will still work but once you turn the car off the stereo will remain on and maybe that drained your battery

 

[DammitCoby]

Try putting red with yellow wire. That way it will only have power with the key in the on position.

 

[boarderlib]

Try putting red with yellow wire. That way it will only have power with the key in the on position.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but doing it this way you'll lose all of your settings (bass, mid, high, clock, and radio presets) once you turn the key off. One of those wires is for a constant power. The constant power is a full time power lead. Designed so your radio remembers your preferences. It needs to be basically a direct line to the battery.

If you know for sure its the radio draining your battery, then I would start by tracing that constant lead to find the short.

 

[DammitCoby]

With my first talon that was the only way the radio would power on. It worked in my case even tho later on in its life the cd quit ejecting but that was just it being a crappy head unit i hope. That was horrible think about starting your car everytime and the same song coming on.

 

[boarderlib]

Come to think of it, I think I did that way back in the day. However it didn't bother me to bad then, because I didn't listen to the radio and that was when you tuned your bass and treble with two knobs. Man, I feel old sometimes.

 

[DammitCoby]

Yeah not saying I feel old some people get mad if I would say that ha! But I had that car 7 years ago, time flies.

 

[Ghost_92TSi]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but doing it this way you'll lose all of your settings (bass, mid, high, clock, and radio presets) once you turn the key off. One of those wires is for a constant power. The constant power is a full time power lead. Designed so your radio remembers your preferences. It needs to be basically a direct line to the battery.

If you know for sure its the radio draining your battery, then I would start by tracing that constant lead to find the short.

Yes you would loose all your settings, there is no ground wire on the harness?, I would try a better ground. If it has a factory ground splice it off and ground it again, possible the wire got broken.