Battery drain - car with radio on, ignition on & off. New radio wiring

JustAnotherSaver

Last week my wife had a new head unit fitted in her car.

Before this was done she had the standard unit that came with the car. She likes to get to work early (in order to guarantee a parking spot) and then sits there for 45mins listening to the radio etc before going in to work. She could do this with the ignition off.

First day at work today after having the new unit fitted. Turns the ignition off as per usual but the head unit powered off also.
She needed to have the ignition on - so all the dash was lit up too, the blowers were on (turned them off) and the dash cam then powers up and starts recording also.


Main question here is why it's doing this and can it be changed back (with the new head unit)?



Secondary question is does having the ignition on drain the battery a lot more? Let's say the blowers remain off but the dash cam will now be running as well as the dash lights being on. The dash cam itself could be powered off but that's all a bit faffy powering it on & off all the time.

ROY47

Main question here is why it's doing this and can it be changed back (with the new head unit)?

Yes it's been wired wrong
It should be wired into auxiliary position on ignition
Take it back and explain problem

JustAnotherSaver

So what will that be a case of then Roy? Just switching a couple wires around or is it more than that?

I wonder if i could've maybe part-caused this.

I was at work on the day it got fitted so left a note with my wife to ask a question to the guy regards the dash cam. We've both had one fitted. It's the same forward facing unit but hers also has a rear cam (Mine is the MiVue 618 & hers is the 698).
My camera will record with the ignition on. So i park up, turn engine off but leave the key in and it'll continue to record.
Hers only records with the ignition on. So basically i left a note for her to ask why this is. Is it a setting in the camera itself, is it the way it's been wired or what.

Well i should've text her the question because she left the paper in the car didn't she - in plain sight for him to see which he did because when she picked the car up and was about to ask him he brought it up.

So i don't know if that will have prompted him to wire up the radio differently or what.

ROY47

When you say your camera works when you turn off but leave key in
what happens when you take the key out ?

I still say take it back
If you want cameras to record when the car is locked and empty
it needs power direct from battery via an in line fuse and cut off switch
If you leave camera running and leave car at airport etc, for 2 weeks with camera running you got a flat battery thats why you need cut off switch for camera

consumers_revenge

If its got parking mode on the camera it may be like mine and not need a permanent feed. When I turn the ignition off the dashcam goes off. However if the car feels a bang then it powers up using the internal battery for 20 secs or so. enough time to likely get a number plate.

JustAnotherSaver

ROY47 wrote: »

When you say your camera works when you turn off but leave key in
what happens when you take the key out ?

I still say take it back
If you want cameras to record when the car is locked and empty
it needs power direct from battery via an in line fuse and cut off switch
If you leave camera running and leave car at airport etc, for 2 weeks with camera running you got a flat battery thats why you need cut off switch for camera

The one fitted in my car?

If i take the key out then after about 5 seconds or so the camera powers off and stops recording. I can see this from the screen and also i've tested it out by plugging the card in to my PC to see footage. So with my own car once i've been driving i have to physically remove the key for recording to stop.

With my wifes car she simply needs to just turn the engine off. She doesn't need to remove the key.


On a side note, i did think about having it record permanently but i think that'll be more hassle than it's worth so decided against it.


The two (dash cam and radio) wont be linked in any way will they? Or will they?

I'll get in touch with the guy. I'm guessing he may not be happy about it but really my wife doesn't want to leave the ignition on just to listen to the radio.

consumers_revenge wrote: »

If its got parking mode on the camera it may be like mine and not need a permanent feed. When I turn the ignition off the dashcam goes off. However if the car feels a bang then it powers up using the internal battery for 20 secs or so. enough time to likely get a number plate.

Interesting. I have something in the settings that says parking something-or-other. I'll take a look.

AdrianC

Does it not work with the key in the auxiliary position?

molerat

What car is it and what make of radio ?

It has not been wired incorrectly, if it had then it would either work all the time or need retuning every time the ignition is turned off. The stay on when ignition turned off is a function of the manufacturer's unit that is not available on the majority of aftermarket units. It should stay on in the aux position which is the norm but may be a function of the car wiring so possibly may not work without some rewiring or can quite simply be adjusted to stay on and have to be physically switched on and off each time.

Le_Kirk

Does depend on car and radio type. My radio goes off when stopping car (using STOP button, I don't have ignition key) but then if I want to listen to radio I just press the radio button and it powers up for one hour or until press radio button again.

System

Aftermarket radio it'll just need the yellow wire on the back swapping position. Most wiring harness adapters give you a choice of two positions to put it in depending on whether you want to be able to have it functioning in the AUX position or just the RUN position on the ignition key. 5 minute job depending on how hard it is to get the stereo out.

JustAnotherSaver

Car is an Astra H. Old radio was the CD30 or whatever it's called. New one is an Alpine CDE-178BT.

Called the chap who installed it this morning to explain what was going on.

Basically he mentioned things to do with the canbus system on these Astra's & the steering control stalk adapter etc. To be honest he lost me a bit because i'm certainly an electrical dummy but i do remember him mentioning the canbus system as well as the steering control adapter. Something else too which i forget.

He said once you start deviating from the canbus system (i was talking about having it operate like the old radio) things can get messy.
And to be honest we just want things plain sailing. No hassle.

So fair enough, we decided to leave it as it currently is. He said the dash cam recording with the ignition on wont put a huge drain on the battery so that's ok.

Hope this clears things up?