hi iv always wired in my own stereos without problem and iv just wired in a new alpine headunit (always use alpine) and it works great as usual and the sound is awsome compaired to the old sony one i ripped out.
out of all the alpines iv wired up i have never wired in the illumination (orange wire) because all it does is make the face brighter correct?
basicaly i just want to know what to do with it? should i live it from the batery with a fuse and ground it with a switch so when i want it bright i cn flick the switch or should i wire it to the excisting 12v

the reason i ask this is because i always connect the red and yellow together on the alpines so it keeps memory and they love the extra power from the battery.

help

 

Probably already done this but anyway, the illumination is to dim the headunit when you turn the lights on if i'm correct. Basically you connect it up to your sidelights and it works off them.

 

cheers for the info dude.

 

I have an Alpine IDA-X200 or 300 unit in my car but the aerial needs power to work. (Not a motor just an amplifier)
Can I use the Blue power antenna cable from the back of the unit?
Or should I find a switched 12v cable to tap into?

 

If the power antenna is factory fitted i'd of thought it would just be picking up a feed through the blue wire on your ISO block, check to see if the blue wire on the HU ISO correlates to the cars wiring harness and leads up to the antenna. If not find out where the power antenna wires up to normally, if it goes to the ISO block on the cars wiring loom and it's a different pin you may (very unlikely this is the case and a bit random) need an ISO adapter. What car is it, as this will help no end!?

If not i'd just splice into the blue wire yes, but think it through first and try and replicate the factory wiring positions as best as possible

 

The car is an XR4i with a 1991 XR4x4 loom.

The head-unit and aerial (shark fin type so no motor, just an onboard amplifier) are both aftermarket items Without power the radio reception is worse than useless.

My question, I guess, should be whether that blue power antenna cable is able to supply power constantly for the aerial amp or just to activate/retract an aerial motor?

 

Right, that's cool then, just splice straight into that blue wire and it should be fine.

That's a good question, but iirc it's a constant 12v so you should be ok. I 'think' you can use it as a remote feed for an amp aswell if you dont have one on your HU, bit of a bodge though for an amp as it will only normally come on with the radio.

I'm off out to fit my Alpine IDA-x100 later, so i will test the feed for you if i get it all fitted and update later as to whether it's a constant!