radio powered by leisure battery - which wires to switch?

[rapiddescent]

Am part way through an installation of a Beat600 double din TV/DVD/Radio etc thing.

My radio is powered from the leisure battery so that the radio can be played whilst the engine is off etc. However, the BEAT600 doesn't have the facility to switch off fully. It leaves lots of pretty LED's around the facia switched on, even when the unit is powered off.

the iso wiring loom has:

• Black: ground

• Red: 12v (fused): which i think is meant to be wired to the ignition in a normal car but on my bongo is wired through the LB instead. i.e. always on.

• Yellow: 12V permanent (fused): which I think is wired direct to the battery (for clocks, 'memory' etc)

So I've got a suitable toggle switch so that i can switch off the unit properly. However, before I make the first incision, just want to double check that I should run the red line through a simple toggle switch so that I can fully switch off the unit.

(I will add photos of the install when the double din chassis arrives. I am also wiring in solar panels and an inverter - handy for multi-day mountain bike races where there is no hookup.)

[miker]

Your logic sounds good, test it by removing the red from the leisure battery but leave the others connected, if that works as you want then add your switch to the red wire......job done!

[apole]

Hi there,

I'd also drop a line to the supplier to find out if it should fully switch off as to me that sounds like a bad idea to leave lights on, advertising to thieves.

Another thing you could consider is to wire up a relay instead of the switch, couple more wires to connect but it does it automatically then with the ignition.

Let us know how you get on with the unit, I've looked at those before and they seem to be very good for the money.

On my ISO loom the red and yellow wires have insulated bullet connectors. This is to allow easy swapping around of those wires as many cars have those reversed and you find the radio looses all the settings.

[MrU]

Hi,

My head unit was exactly the same.....I couldn't fully turn it off when wired to the leisure battery.

I took a similar approach but used a switch in conjunction with a relay. This means that a couple of things come on when the radio is off and vice versa. Use the red wire for the radio and leave the yellow permanently connected. It is not wired through the ignition as I wanted it independently switched (ie I want the ability to have the radio on without the ignition on)

[g8dhe]

Quite a few radios will have a setup menu which will enable it to be turned off completely other than for a few milliamps to maintain the memory.
In Sony sets click the OFF button, then Press and hold for a few seconds the Main Knob, this will then give you a Menu, and one setting is a delayed Auto turn Off, the choices range from 30 Seconds to several minutes.

If you want to check the FUSE locations hover your Mouse over the green coloured Fuses below (Squiggle with a black dot at each end) and a picture will appear.
(This only works on the 1995 Manual at present, the 1997 Manual will be done shortly)

[rapiddescent]

Wired up the switch on the red wire and it works well. actually that's not entirely true. it worked fine with the radio on my lap in the passenger seat and then when I shoved it into the dash it lost power each time. So I've taken it all out again, double checked all the connections and will try again another evening. I think it's basically because I have Bongo connections -> mazda2ISO -> Beat wiring loom and there's not an awful lot of space back there for everything because of the size of the unit. I cut off the auto-antenna, reversing cam and amp wires to trim some fat off the wiring loom. It has it's own fuses for the 2x 12V input lines in a wee box.

The Beat 600 radio is pretty good, but the unit is going to need quite a bit of config to get the TV etc to work. The USB connection is not the pendrive type - it is one of the little USB connectors and I haven't tried the SD card yet - I don't think it is SDHC so probably will only support up to 2Gb. will verify.

Another discovery was that the hole in the bongo dash isn't double din. It is double din and a bit. (1cm). but that's ok, because the facia plate almost covers it.

Have taken photos and will upload once I've got it working.

[rapiddescent]

does anyone know a good place to get an earth near the stereo? I am thinking of drill and tap the big black bar that runs behind the facia?

To get the TV to work, I ran the pink "brake light" cable from the stereo and grounded it on the radio unit casing. not a great idea because the reason that I've been losing power on the beat600 is that the (red, non-permanent) fuse keeps blowing. I've just blown the third one and a trip to a shop will be required before I go breaking anything else!.

I had been quite successful the other day (with no TV) and then discovered that the beat600 has a safety feature to stop you watching telly whilst on the move. The problem is that my radio is on a leisure battery so this system has to be fooled into thinking that the vehilcle has the handbrake on. SO the first thing I tried it on was the stereo casing and the TV burst into life.

I think I need to try a better ground

[dandemann8]

Hi, try removing the plastic panel by your left foot and under there is a ready made earth position for your predicament

[daveblueozzie]

does anyone know a good place to get an earth near the stereo? I am thinking of drill and tap the big black bar that runs behind the facia?

To get the TV to work, I ran the pink "brake light" cable from the stereo and grounded it on the radio unit casing. not a great idea because the reason that I've been losing power on the beat600 is that the (red, non-permanent) fuse keeps blowing. I've just blown the third one and a trip to a shop will be required before I go breaking anything else!.

I had been quite successful the other day (with no TV) and then discovered that the beat600 has a safety feature to stop you watching telly whilst on the move. The problem is that my radio is on a leisure battery so this system has to be fooled into thinking that the vehilcle has the handbrake on. SO the first thing I tried it on was the stereo casing and the TV burst into life.

I think I need to try a better ground

Underneath the radio at the side of your left leg is a plastic cover, take that off and you will find two bolts ,perfect grounds. just extend the wire from the radio to one of these bolts.
As for the tv being fooled, yes the pink wire just needs to be fixed to the radio body to work.

[dandemann8]

does anyone know a good place to get an earth near the stereo? I am thinking of drill and tap the big black bar that runs behind the facia?

To get the TV to work, I ran the pink "brake light" cable from the stereo and grounded it on the radio unit casing. not a great idea because the reason that I've been losing power on the beat600 is that the (red, non-permanent) fuse keeps blowing. I've just blown the third one and a trip to a shop will be required before I go breaking anything else!.

I had been quite successful the other day (with no TV) and then discovered that the beat600 has a safety feature to stop you watching telly whilst on the move. The problem is that my radio is on a leisure battery so this system has to be fooled into thinking that the vehilcle has the handbrake on. SO the first thing I tried it on was the stereo casing and the TV burst into life.

I think I need to try a better ground

Underneath the radio at the side of your left leg is a plastic cover, take that off and you will find two bolts ,perfect grounds. just extend the wire from the radio to one of these bolts.
As for the tv being fooled, yes the pink wire just needs to be fixed to the radio body to work.

That's what I said I think

[daveblueozzie]

Yes just what we both said.

[g8dhe]

does anyone know a good place to get an earth near the stereo? I am thinking of drill and tap the big black bar that runs behind the facia?

To get the TV to work, I ran the pink "brake light" cable from the stereo and grounded it on the radio unit casing. not a great idea because the reason that I've been losing power on the beat600 is that the (red, non-permanent) fuse keeps blowing. I've just blown the third one and a trip to a shop will be required before I go breaking anything else!.

I had been quite successful the other day (with no TV) and then discovered that the beat600 has a safety feature to stop you watching telly whilst on the move. The problem is that my radio is on a leisure battery so this system has to be fooled into thinking that the vehilcle has the handbrake on. SO the first thing I tried it on was the stereo casing and the TV burst into life.

I think I need to try a better ground

What's wrong with Pin 8 of the ISO connector, it is Earth ? It should be connected to the three Earth wires in the Mazda loom;

The first one is the Black wire and then also the two Black with Red stripes (Note its Black with Red stripe not the Red with Black stripe that is on ISO pin 6).

If you want to pick up a Handbrake signal then that is in the Mazda Loom as the Green with Blue stripe.

[rapiddescent]

The radio casing isn't a great earth for some reason - probably because the radio is a bit cheap and crap. I'm going to try using the ISO earth instead, failing that, will try the proper earthing bolt behind the panel. (this time with a handful of fuses)

I don't think the brake line wire will work because it won't work when the ignition is off.

thanks for the tips!

[g8dhe]

I don't think the brake line wire will work because it won't work when the ignition is off.

Well the brake switch will provide an earth whether the ignition is on or off, its a simple switch to earth nothing about it requires the power to be on.