aftermarket headunit help

Imp · **Posted:** Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:50 pm

I just recently tried to put in my kenwood double din in my 08 kk. I'm having wiring issues. I have no idea where to run the yellow radio memory wire too from my kenwood to my kk. I have my red positive to the yellow/red positive right now. But I can't find a sutiable wire for my radio memory as there is none there from the factory. I have ot running to my cigarette lighter just so it turns on and off with key like the factory headunit but I lose the memory everytime I turn it off. Any help where to run the memory wire would be great

dgeist · **Posted:** Fri Mar 15, 2013 3:10 pm

The factory radio harness almost certainly has an battery-power (as opposed to ignition-on power) lead in it. You can test them with a voltmeter or test light.

Get in and shut the doors and don't put the keys in the ignition. Test each of wires in the vehicle harness against the body ground. It's probably a warm color (red/yellow/orange, etc) and probably not a wire with black on it. The one that gives you ~12v with everything else off is the one you want.

BTW, it may save you a lot of time to use an aftermarket harness adapter. They typically have all the wires labelled, make it easier to change things later, and prevents you from having to hack up the inside of your wiring. They're typically in the $10-$25 range.

Dan

Imp · **Posted:** Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:16 pm

I did purchase an adapter but it does not wire it correctly. It runs the positive and memory on one wire to the yellow-red striped wire on the jeep. That kept headunit on all the time. But it did come with a lone red wire for a seperate battery positive. There is no other wires on the factory harness for any battery options, just the one yellow-red striped one. The rest are speaker and negative. There are 2 cream-colored striped wires that plug into nothing on the aftermarkrt. I tried running the memory to both individually but got no power to tue headunit. Should I run the positve to an always hot red wire and the memory to the yellow-red striped wire or keep looking.

dgeist · **Posted:** Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:24 pm

It may be that the factory radio is getting a trigger off the communications bus (likely one of those unknown wires). If the red/yellow is always on, then you can use that for the battery-power (memory) lead. It doesn't draw much power. The line to the cigarette lighter that's only key-on would be good for the main power. Be careful with it, as the lighter circuit isn't really rated to provide that much juice. You might be better off running a new line to the fuse panel for however much the head unit is rated and putting in a new or piggy-back fuse holder in. Otherwise, you'll likely blow a fuse if you're listening to music and plug in a power adapter into the lighter plug.

Dan

Imp · **Posted:** Fri Mar 15, 2013 5:03 pm

Alright thanks for the help. Ill find another wire for the key on power. I was just confused about the memory wire. I've never run into that before. I just didn't know a good wire for it. As I am waiting for my new dvom from snapon since my old blue point crapped out I don't have much to be able to check on wires with

NewOldTimer · **Posted:** Fri Mar 15, 2013 6:28 pm

These types of things are exactly why I get all my head units from Crutchfield.
They include an adapter harness and wiring diagram for the unit and the vehicle.

Makes things so easy. You can connect the headunit wiring to the adapter harness outside
the vehicle, verify all the connections prior to installation.

Makes installing a new stereo headunit about a 10 to 15 minute job.

Works first time, every time.

They do sell the harness adapters seperately. Just order for your vehicle.
I think they're only $10.00.

Imp · **Posted:** Sat Mar 16, 2013 1:26 pm

Thanks dgeist for the help. Got it all hooked up and working correctly. I've had this head unit in 2 other cars and never had that issue.

dgeist · **Posted:** Mon Mar 18, 2013 12:20 pm

You're welcome. I highly recommend sourcing (however your searching finds it) a pdf copy of your factory service manual. All the wires in every connector are identified and it helps a LOT with stuff like this.

Dan

himynameisscott · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 12:04 am

I had the same issue with my liberty (05) I ended up running my switched 12v off the window switch harness. I tested all the leads in the oem harness and came up with nothing.

Works great!

aftermarket headunit help

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