Scuba Steve

I need 4 wires for my radio:
500mA / hot all the time - will tap into clock power
500mA / lights for radio - will tap into one of the many dash lighting wires... probably ashtray light
ground - easy, just run one to an existing ground point

the problem:
10A / main power for the radio
I'm having problems finding a wire that's on a fuse at least that high since it seems like almost everything in there uses an 8A. Anyone know of somewhere I could tap into without blowing anything? The instruction manual says that fusebox location 5 has a 16A fuse in it and that nothing is connected; is this right? Any way to get at it without making a huge mess of everything?

944_S_TYPE

Kinda off topic, But if you have an in glass antenna, Dont forget to hook up a power wire to it with the new raido....

Scuba Steve

How about the stock power antenna? I had planned on replacing it with one in a local yard if they don't want an arm and a leg for it. Mine has a broken mast, I wish I could just replace that part but then again I don't know what shape the rest of the assembly is in. I assumed that it drew power from another source and somehow went up when the radio is turned on.

Edit: I don't know what the PO did with the radio wiring, my guess is he cut it somewhere that I can't see since none of the wires have power or are grounded. He also cut the wires at the radio harness. The front speaker wires are ok at least... don't know about the rear ones.

ernestedward

Cigarette lighter should have enough power..

Scuba Steve

Will the stereo blow the fuse if I have it on while powering something (like an MP3 player) from the lighter? The label on the fuse holder on the radio calls for a 10A fuse, but I'm not sure how much these head units typically draw.

RMills944

Are the stock radio wires not there or did I just miss why you aren't using them?

If you are using stock wiring, then just do a search for "radio wire colors"

Mouthpiece

Based on my experience, I would expect that it would blow a fuse. I installed a new radio in my P-car last year and it blows a fuse anytime the bass boost is on or the volume is turned up too high.

sm

Sorry I can't help, but I've been wondering if our radios use a relay for power?

Zero10

No relay.

You should be fine unless you turn it all the way up.
You could just run a 14 gauge wire over to the 16A un-used fuse, and just wire into the back of the fuse panel. I don't know what the back of a 924's fuse panel looks like, so I'm no help there.

Scuba Steve

Two reasons - the stock radio fuse is 8A, and this head unit has a 10A in-line fuse. I'm concerned about the radio drawing more power than the stock one and blowing the fuse. The other reason is that the stock radio wires are cut somewhere, location unknown. None ground, none have power. One of those previous owner things...

Probably the same as an early 944, but it's a whole lot more wires than I'm used to (think: early '70s cars here) and I'm not totally sure how run the wire over there without making a huge mess at the fuse box unless it winds up a whole lot more open back there than I'm expecting it to be. Other cars I've worked on have been absolutely terrible when it comes to getting at the back of the fuse panel. This may be the safest option though as far as not overloading anything.

Ben Z.

It's probably not the same for the 924S, but AFAIK all late 944s had the option for an equalizer/amp from the factory and even the cars without the amp have a heavy wire there to supply it. I used this wire for my 60X4 amp alpine unit and haven't blown any fuses. Sorry if this doesn't help.

RMills944

Do your self a favor - find the previous owner and smack him upside the head with the radio while letting him know he's a dumbass!

83na944

Did you look at the back of the head unit to see what power it needs? The 8 fuse on the stock wire may be big enough. If you hooked up to that, the worse that would happen is that you would blow the 8A fuse. And its already switched like it should be.

Scuba Steve

He already did that enough - he blew the timing belt twice! It took me awhile to sort out the wiring issues. He left half the plugs in the console unplugged and cut out others (ashtray light, rear wiper switch, stock radio harness). At least he taped them up. He also took out the rear wiper, cut the wires, and taped them. Not like he removed them, just cut and tape on both ends (like both ends are hot or something... especially after the switch is cut out!?)

Tried, the kind folks at Nakamichi didn't put that on the unit. The wire leading out the back with the inline fuse holder with 10A on it looks to be the same size as the stock power... I'll try and bring the old radio wires back into service, wire it up and see if everything works out ok since that will probably be easiest and I don't blast the radio anyway. There's no relay from what I read so I guess that's ruled out. I'll follow the wiring back and look for the electrical tape saying "Chris was here!"

Scuba Steve

Update: the two larger wires at the radio are yellow and brown/yellow stripe. I can see the yellow one just behind its fuse and it has power there when the ignition is on, but not at the radio. Maybe it's broken somewhere? It's next to impossible to trace it so if this is the main power to the radio I'm just splicing in a new section unless someone knows where it runs.

The other one is brown with a yellow stripe. No clue where this one goes. Does it have something to do with the power antenna? The antenna I have no idea how to factor in. How does this get wired into the system?