Just removed original 'Dance' radio from our 2009 Fabia,plugged in an Autoleads PC2-75-4 Harness adaptor  and was surprised to find the 'new' radio powered up when I plugged it in, I then swapped the red/yellow lead around to get a 'switched' power supply from the ign switch and found that the supply was still 'live'.

I then removed the Autoleads adaptor and checked the car harness plug with a multi meter and am finding that the large red wire is supplying 12v all the time with ign switched off and key removed - is this normal ?

I am more used to having a switched supply for radios,our 2002 polo has switched supply for the radio but with constant 12v supply for radio memory.

 

thanks baz

Yes it's normal. Modern cars use CANBUS and the car's computer just tells the radio when to switch off. It's always live.

There is no switched live behind the radio any more.

 

You can however take a feed from a switched live on the fuseboard like the rear wiper and wire that the adapter.

Thanks Sam - that info much appreciated

As you can tell - I am more used to older cars LOL

 

rgds baz

21 hours ago, softscoop said:

 

 

You can however take a feed from a switched live on the fuseboard like the rear wiper and wire that the adapter.

Just been mulling this option over - how easy would it be to do that Sam ?(I mean access-wise).

 

cheers baz

With modern cars you cannot use these cheap simple iso adaptors anymore. You need ones which are designed to create a switched live from the canbus system.

 

I believe this is what you need but i'd advise you to contact connects2 and ask

 

http://www.connects2.co.uk/Product/ProductItem/CTSSK003.2

 

 

Thanks Ryan - I had looked at that connector but because our car does not have any steering wheel controls I had thought it was a little over complex,but of course at that time I was assuming that the radio would have a switched live.

The radio works fine using  the Autoleads PC2-75-4 Harness adaptor so perhaps a switched live would potentially be the cheapest solution,does anybody know how easy it would be (access wise) to take a switched live from the fuse box ?

 

 

That route, all be it the bodge route, is possible. 

Just find a switched live and use a fuse tap. 

 

I dont have steeringwheel controlls but still went for the more pricey option as i prefer it to the switched live from the fuse box method

Sorry Ryan - I had meant to update this post on sunday night.

I bought a piggy back fuse and used the rear wiper fuse posn as suggested by Sam in post #2

Result - We cannot now leave the stereo switched on by mistake when leaving the car.

I still cannot see why VW changed from the configuration where you could switch off the engine,leave the ign key 'in' and still have radio power - seemed sensible to me.

Older cars of course used to have an 'aux' posn on the ign switch so one could listen to music with the engine off. 

You can still do that with the factory radio, infact you can actually turn them on without the key, and they'll stay on for 30 minutes then turn off automatically.

 

Everything is controlled by the computer these days. The radio always has full power available, the CANBUS system just sends a signal to the radio to go into standby when the key is removed. If the ignition is not on, then the radio detects that it can't communicate with the car and powers down automatically after 30 min.

Hi Sam

Yes I understand all that - but  fitting an older aftermarket radio would probably mean that the power would stay on if we forgot to turn it off when leaving the car,which is why I prefer to have it manually switched off.

Many thanks for your earlier suggestion about the fuse - I had never  heard of a piggyback fuse before I looked into the fusebox option : )

 

cheers baz

53 minutes ago, YS53 said:

Yes I understand all that - but  fitting an older aftermarket radio would probably mean that the power would stay on if we forgot to turn it off when leaving the car,which is why I prefer to have it manually switched off.

 

You just need a CAN-bus adaptor for your new stereo, for example something like this: http://www.connects2.co.uk/Product/ProductItem/CAN-02

 

That will generate the switched live (and illumination etc) for your aftermarket stereo, simples

Hi Langers

The radio works fine using  the Autoleads PC2-75-4 Harness adaptor  - this cost less than £8,any of the canbus adaptors were much more expensive LOL

All useful info for the future though in case the pioneer ever goes on the fritz

 

rgds baz