Ive managed to get hold of a brand new Ford oe electric aerial for my mk3 xr3i resto, same as he knackered one that came off it.. so ive got two wires red, white... and instructions say red to radio live terminal and white to radio unit.. thats it......

read through a few old posts and am I right in thinking I need a perm live and a ignition live and the aerial earthed by mounting on the body ? so no clue as to where the white wire should go ? ...

Cheers Gaz

 

Although the aerial gets a earth from the serated edge of the connector part under the body work this is only for reception, not motor operation.
Normally lecky aerials have a permanent live as well as rad/cas live to make it go up down when turned on.
tabetha

 

cheers mate - read thru a few of your old replies on this subject, cant suss it out !!. been on it today and tried every configuration of wiring, but wont go up and down on the radio on off, was wondering with the mk3 xr3i if the antenna went up on the ignition start... ie key position 1 seems the only way I can make it go up is red and white together on a perm live then to make it go down - swap red white over then it retracts...

I can raise it on key turn to ingnition switch live but when key turned off it stays up , - until swap the wires over ? doing me bloody head in lol !

 

I'm confused, it must be getting it's earth through the aerial as you suspected then.
red and white on live make it go up, which is ok, but then you "swap" them around, but they would still be both live!!
Try making the red permanently LIVE, then touch the white on live and watch the aerial go up, removing this White should make it go down, this(white) is the aerial or amp feed from the stereo, so it is only live with the stereo on.
If this doesn't work try it with White permanently live and switch the red on/off.
tabetha

 

That's an odd one, when I've wired them up in the past, it has a permanent live and earth, then a switched live from the radio so the aerial goes up when the radio is turned on.

 

cheers guys will have a play later... my point tho, red is perm live as distructions say and white is what ? earth or switch live ? and it doesnt extend retract on the stereo knob so how to extend and retract wihout physically touching swapping wires etc... ?

will get back to you after ive messed about wih it...

 

From what you say, what I would do is put red to permanent live, earth it to the bodywork (I presume it has a ring connector or a metal mounting bolt hole etc for this). Then to test it, put the white wire also to live. It should now go up. When you remove the white wire from the live the aerial should go down.

If it works then you can put the white wire to a wire that comes live when the ignition is turned on, or some headunits have a live output, so aerial is up when raio is on, but not when a cd etc is playing.

 

yeh, think ive sussed it... red - perm live , now the ignition live on this xr3i is yellow, now when white is connected to that it goes up , but whats happening is the unit itself is staying on , ie when the on off knob is turned the radio goes off green back light stays on and red power light on front of unit stays on also... sepaarate the yellow and white wires and the antenna goes down.....this is where the confusion is ... if the unit itself went off i think the antenna would retract... but all i have on the rear of the unit is one live terminal and an earth terminal... wonder if it needs a neutral also... surely live and earth equals power... thats it .. ??

 

Not quite sure i'm with you on that one.

On a radio you have 2 lives and an earth. One live is permanent and one is switched. The permanent is there to keep the unit always powered on, if not you would loose your radio station presets and your bass / treble settings etc everytime you turn it off. The switched live dos just that, switches it on and off.

The aerial does the same thing, 2 lives and an earth, so when the switched live turns off, the aerial still has power from the permanent live so it can wind itself down.

 

yep get that ... bearing in mind that this unit has no memory as its a push button orignal oe radio cassette, and all functions are by turning knobs !! lol.. but my point is that the unit is staying on perm, if i turn the radio o off button off , the radio does go off but the unit is still back lit and the red light on, not sure if this is normal for these units, but im also pretty sure that the tape player ( If theres a tape in ) still turns even when the on off knob is off.. ? so maybe the unit is at fault somehow... but cause the nit is in effect still on this was why I couldnt get te antenna to retract ? unless i separate the wires manually... which when all wired in obviously isnt practical...

 

Do you not have a amp output wire, usually blue or blue/white as this will only be live with the stereo in the on position.
tabetha

 

Hi - no it hasnt ... only four terminals on the rear apart from the speaker pins... one live one earth, the other two - not sure as they doent seem to do anything... tried all configurations...