Shawn Stanford

I'm upgrading to a new head unit and I pulled out a lot of really ugly wiring splices to get down to what you see here. The car has front and rear speakers, but it looks like the original radio only did left and right, not front and rear.

But that's not my question. I know the left and right plugs, I've found the switched and unswitched power, and the antenna lead is back there. But what is the white wire with the square connector?

Wisconsin Joe

Note: Going off of memory. Could be correct, could be waaaaay out in left field.

Since I don't see any other wires, my first guess would be illumination.
But that should be blue w/black stripe.

Next guess would be "Amp turn on". You don't see 'front/back' coming out of the head unit because you likely had the amp under the passenger side 'between seat and door' spot. The front/back was controlled by the **** by the parking brake, and ran through that amp.

Last guess would be antenna amp. Mine is a thin black wire that runs along the antenna coax, but my understanding is that some cars had a white wire for that.

jpitman2

I had a tin box labelled Hirschman under the left rear quarter cover, with input from the aerial, and a coax out, and I think power, but dont quote me. Box had cobwebs, rust and dirt in it, so I binned it, and fed aerial to the front with new leads, as the original was broek internally. Amp turn on is highly likely.
jp 83 Euro S AT 57k

Rob Edwards

soontobered84

Shawn,

Did I miss the thread where you picked up another car?

Is there a link to your new to you car thread?

I'm glad you are still in the fold.

The Forgotten On

The car only has 2 channels of stereo. They are split up by the fader **** next to the drivers seat to power 4 speakers. Porsche added the amps to the later cars to power the rear speakers. The fronts were still fed from the head unit.

Anyways, the white wire is a signal wire for the antenna so the head unit can tell it to go up and down. Just connect it to the power antenna out on your head unit.

Shawn Stanford

Thanks for the ideas, everyone.

I'm pretty sure this car has a windshield antenna. There's definitely a wire embedded in the glass (I looked), but it never occurred to me to check if there was also a vestigial power antenna in the rear. I'll check on my way out this morning.

I don't believe this is for lights, as I I checked to see if there was any power in the wire when I turned the lights on, and there isn't. I'm going to tap either the ashtray or gear indicator light for that.

The other suggestion, and what I think is the most likely at this point, is amp turn-on. The white wire forks in the console, one trace going into the stereo wiring bundle and the other heading up toward the dashboard. I'll have a look and see if I can figure that out. Maybe a turn-on signal for a power booster for the antenna?

Thanks, but not my car. I'm babysitting a friend's car, doing some tinkering and occasionally driving it. It had an ugly Sony CD player in there that would cut out, and I had a CDR-220 laying around.

My car is still here. I started pulling the damaged suspension (passenger front) last weekend. Everything is off but the upper control arm. I'm still planning on raiding my friend's parts car and trying to get my car back on its wheels, but looking at how the front mounting point for the lower control arm is out of line, I'm afraid my car will cost far more to fix than it's worth. I'm eyeing an early car up near my brother that is in very rough shape - pretty much ready for the crusher, frankly. But that's okay, I'm interested in an LS swap.

I'll own an early 928 until I die!

Shawn Stanford

Thanks, Rob, but sadly I can't make heads-or-tails out of wiring diagrams. A colossal failing on my part, considering that I passed a test on reading them when I studied radars a few years ago.

drscottsmith

Shawn Stanford

Yes, this makes sense. The lead was connected to the Sony, and the radio pulled in stations pretty well, so I assume it was working as designed. I'll hook it up to pin A5.

Wisconsin Joe

I have a lower-to-mid level Alpine head unit.

I used the antenna power wire to power the antenna amp.

I don't know how it works without it hooked up, but it pulls in distant stations fairly well as it is.

The Forgotten On

I thought the car was your 82

If it is a later car (85+) then it has that white wire power the antenna amp.

Hooking it up to the power antenna wire is what is recommended so you're just fine

Shawn Stanford

And on to the next issue: I have the power hooked up, but the CDR-220 I'm planning on installing won't turn on. All I get is the red blinking light. I have a CR-220 from my '99 Boxster that works fine: When I power up the car it turns on and asks for the code. But the CDR-220 just sits there. The fuse is good, and I've done some poking on the internets, but the suggestions so far haven't been effective:

• Wait an hour or two for the unit to reset internally.
• Remove the faceplate, clean the contacts, reinstall.
• Press and hold the radio band button for 2 seconds.
• Press and hold the TP button for 10 seconds.

This isn't a known good CDR-220. I don't know that the seller had it working, either. I only spent $50 on it, and I can get a CDR-23 out of a Cayenne (very similar unit) for $50-$75, but the one in the hand, y'know?

Urg...

drscottsmith

Sounds like the switched 12V from the ignition switch is not working?

Shawn Stanford

I'm sure that's all correct. The CR-220 I have works just fine, but the CDR-220 does not.