What wire?

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02-25-2005, 06:13 PM

huricansplyr2

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What wire?

Ok i am trying to hook up my sat radio to turn on when my car turns on. I need to know what wire to tap into. This would be great if i could find what wire to hook up up at. Thanks

02-25-2005, 06:21 PM

SCI_TC_GUY

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you can use anything that works only when the car is turned on......such as the cig. lighter.....

02-26-2005, 12:59 AM

dgHotLava

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moved...

02-26-2005, 01:03 AM

MotoMan_YZ400

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umm with my XM, it says DO NOT CONNECT TO SWITCHING POWER!! they do this cuz when your car is off, it still needs to connect to the sat so it can get the data such as (subsciption on/off) and such..... They dont draw that much power at all, so you dont have to worry about draining the batt..... but if you do put SAT radio in on a switching power.... when you activate, just go for a long drive ;) otherwise, it'll take possible days to weeks for it work kick in.... (min was 7min, but i've heard stories) i think cuz XM send the "activate" signal once every 30min for 30days or something like that... i could be wonrg

02-26-2005, 07:37 AM

huricansplyr2

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cause now my XM goes right to my batt. ANd when it is off it is lit up blue. There is enough power to make screen turn blue when it is off. So any advice onthat one?

02-26-2005, 08:39 AM

bB86gts

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which xm do you have, maybe i can help....do you have a direct tuner or portable,?? i deal with these day in and day out and am sure i can help....respond or pM me...
jP

02-26-2005, 01:58 PM

SCI_TC_GUY

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^^^^as long as you don't work at best buy

02-27-2005, 04:18 AM

bB86gts

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does it matter???? ^^^^^^ I just happen to know car electrical and am MECP cert...not to mention a car enthusiast....i like to do things the RIGHT WAY....the first time.....like i said...what unit do you have and possibly i can help....pm or post model of sat radio and ill let ya know how to do it...
mah .02
jP

02-28-2005, 04:10 PM

SCI_TC_GUY

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yeah.....usually it does matter....

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilman4210

Quote:

Originally Posted by reign

Get one of the ones with the cig lighter adapter and cut it off. Just need to run a power wire from a 12V and you're good.

You dont want to do this because there is a fuse inside the cig. lighter. Another option is to leave on the cig lighter plug and use speaker wire to make it hard wireable. (I think I made up that word) All you need to do is take the positive end of the speaker wire and stuff it down the end of the cig lighter (nipple) and take the negative speaker wire and put it on the side bars of the cig lighter. Then secure it all with electric tape and you can wire the other end into a 12v source. It should look like a dog terd when you get done with it. We use this method at Best Buy which is where I work when we hard wire a SAT radios.

03-04-2005, 03:55 AM

#10

bB86gts

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ok...guess i didnt make myself clear enough, so ill let you guys in on how to do this properly...
first, go out and buy a cigarette lighter extention...yeah the ones with male and female on both ends. Chop of the male end, your gonna be using the female end for this application...and strip the ends of the wire, making sure to check polarity...which wire is positive, and which is negative. You can do this by using a DMM...digital multi-meter...plug the male end into the power outlet and measure voltage....if your DMM shows a negative value, ie -12.4v, then you have reverse polarity, the negative is touching the positive lead and visa versa....take note of this.....then what you want to do is test the wiring behind the cigarette lighter...same way...test the leads to verify which is positive and negative.....
now that this is done, strip the wires inline, do not break the circuit, this is done with inline wire strippers....and tap the wires with the correspoding extention wires...positive, to positive and...so on...
solder and tape, making sure you have a good solder joint,(no clumps with a nice shiny smooth surface)
then you just plug your CLA ( cig. lighter adapter ) onto the extention, route the wire where you want it and, there you have it...hardwired sat radio....
if you arent sure if the fuse in the cig lighter can handle the extra current your sat radio will be pulling, you can tap into the accy wire in your steering column..
positive is blue/red, located within the ignition harness and ground, of course is chassis ground..
hope this helps and dispells any doubt in my work..
any questions,
Pm me,
Jp

03-04-2005, 04:03 AM

#11

bB86gts

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and as for you sci tc guy....don t make any assumptions, the guy you are talkin about may be able to help you out in the future...called kharma.....
ask about my experience first before assuming im a hack...
no hate intended, but nextime ask about my experience before you make assumtions...aight..
jP