Car radio cassette wiring

[ronnietucker]

I'm trying to replace the old radio cassette player in my boat with a bluetooth thing with built in speakers.

The one I'm wanting to put in only needs ignition (?), battery +, battery -, and antenna.

I can see the antenna on the old one (far right on the photo below) but the old one has one wire with 1A (red) and one wire with 5A (blue) on them. Would they be the ignition and battery cables? There are also three white wires (far left). I've no idea what they are, or where they go. The two wires with the red electrical tape on them are, I believe, wires that used to go to speakers. God only knows why they used electrical cable...

I've had a look for the radio cassette wiring on Google (Clarion CRH20), and came up empty-handed.

Once it's out if anyone wants it (for free) lemme know.

[Paul C]

Probably, based on the rating of the fuses. They probably used electrical cable because speakers use electricity to work, yes there's speaker cable but they probably didn't have any lying around at the time and "normal" cable will do the job.

Unless the stereo is really ancient, then it probably has an ISO connector which standardises this - you could simply unplug the connector, then plug the new one in and it should work (if they've wired up the connector properly). It would need to be something like 30+ years old not to have an ISO conector, and even then its probably DIN or Japanese.

[ronnietucker]

1 minute ago, Paul C said:

Probably, based on the rating of the fuses. They probably used electrical cable because speakers use electricity to work, yes there's speaker cable but they probably didn't have any lying around at the time and "normal" cable will do the job.

Unless the stereo is really ancient, then it probably has an ISO connector which standardises this - you could simply unplug the connector, then plug the new one in and it should work (if they've wired up the connector properly). It would need to be something like 30+ years old not to have an ISO conector, and even then its probably DIN or Japanese.

1

Nope. No ISO connector. All the wires go into the back of the radio cassette. As in, inside it.

[13-10]

Buy one at Halfords and pay for fitting (just don't tell them its to fit a boat)

[Paul C]

Sounds like its been cut off then. I would recommend getting the relevant (ie car side) connector and pins, and making up a standard connector so its easy to remove-replace or upgrade later. 

1 minute ago, 13-10 said:

Buy one at Halfords and pay for fitting (just don't tell them its to fit a boat)

You do realise their fitting is done in the car park/workshop bay at Halfords, they don't make a visit to fit them?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-Pin-Female-ISO-Car-Stereo-Radio-Wiring-Harness-Connector-Adaptor-Block-Loom/222893494819?hash=item33e57cd223:g:iqoAAOSwh-1W4VZ4

[13-10]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/112087897257?chn=ps&dispItem=1&adgroupid=54713458289&rlsatarget=pla-413909056476&abcId=1133936&adtype=pla&merchantid=113374550&poi=&googleloc=9046874&device=c&campaignid=1057753394&crdt=0

 

Ronnie, if it helps any, when I put a CD player into an old London Taxi the guy that wired it in used something similar to this

[ronnietucker]

8 minutes ago, 13-10 said:

Buy one at Halfords and pay for fitting (just don't tell them its to fit a boat)

 

7 minutes ago, Paul C said:

You do realise their fitting is done in the car park/workshop bay at Halfords, they don't make a visit to fit them?

Either way, I don't want Halfords anywhere near my boat! Dodgy mob...  

4 minutes ago, 13-10 said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/112087897257?chn=ps&dispItem=1&adgroupid=54713458289&rlsatarget=pla-413909056476&abcId=1133936&adtype=pla&merchantid=113374550&poi=&googleloc=9046874&device=c&campaignid=1057753394&crdt=0

Ronnie, if it helps any, when I put a CD player into an old London Taxi the guy that wired it in used something similar to this

 

Yeah, that's an ISO connector (I think) neither the old, nor new, have said connector.  

[Scholar Gypsy]

I bought a ISO (or was it DIN) harness to connect to the back of my new radio. I connected both battery and ignition to the 12V supply - can't see any reason on a boat why you would not want to.
One slight downside is that the memory is lost when the electrics are turned off at the isolator, but I prefer that to having loads of live wires running around the boat when it is not occupied.

[13-10]

Your stereo was used in the Lotus Elan, have a look on the lotus forum there's a few articles where folk have explained how to wire in an ISO connector

[Paul C]

2 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

One slight downside is that the memory is lost when the electrics are turned off at the isolator, but I prefer that to having loads of live wires running around the boat when it is not occupied.

Well, it would be 1 live wire (unless you're adding 1 to the existing number of live wires) but I don't think you could validly claim that a stereo memory was allowed to bypass the isolator anyway, in BSS, not that its massively important except when trying to get a BSS certificate. Or not starting an electrical fire etc but those are rare and unlikely (and you could fuse it at 1A or possibly even less, near the battery). I did consider it, but decided that it should be isolated on mine - and that the isolator switch didn't need to be turned off when the boat is left unattended.

[pearley]

15 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

I bought a ISO (or was it DIN) harness to connect to the back of my new radio. I connected both battery and ignition to the 12V supply - can't see any reason on a boat why you would not want to.
One slight downside is that the memory is lost when the electrics are turned off at the isolator, but I prefer that to having loads of live wires running around the boat when it is not occupied.

Not all car stereos loose their memory when power is removed. 

[ronnietucker]

So do you guys think that as long as either the 1A or 5A lines are 12V I can connect the new ignition and battery+ wires to the one 12v wire and it won't' blow anything up?

[WotEver]

1 minute ago, pearley said:

Not all car stereos loose their memory when power is removed. 

If his new one requires +12V and Ignition it would suggest that it is one of those which does. 

1 minute ago, ronnietucker said:

So do you guys think that as long as either the 1A or 5A lines are 12V I can connect the new ignition and battery+ wires to the one 12v wire and it won't' blow anything up?

Battery goes to the 1A fuse and Ignition goes to the 5A fuse. 

The white wires are probably speaker cables. 

[ronnietucker]

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

If his new one requires +12V and Ignition it would suggest that it is one of those which does. 

Battery goes to the 1A fuse and Ignition goes to the 5A fuse. 

The white wires are probably speaker cables. 

Thanks. I'll give that a go.

I'm interested to see where those white wires go as there are no speakers on the boat.

[WotEver]

Just now, ronnietucker said:

I'm interested to see where those white wires go as there are no speakers on the boat.

Do check before removing the radio. They might just be coiled up and taped but best to know. 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

No one has mentioned a ground connection yet. Almost certainly a black wire. Won't work without it.

Jen

[OldGoat]

Very few (IME) car radios - even of Elan age retain their memory. I had to refit an old Firrips VHF set because I got fed up with not only retuning all the stations but wading through the setup options.

The memory save facility takes no discernable power at all and you're worried about leaving live wires floating while you're off the boat, how about putting a very high resistance between the battery and the feed wire? Thus even if there should be a short circuit no damage could be done. Alternatively what about wiring in a 12v dry battery such as this type-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5Pcs-27A-12V-Alkaline-Battery-Dry-Batteries-for-Remote-Control-Flashlight-Toy-HQ/162925307880?hash=item25ef1ae7e8:g:RqEAAOSw6GJaFOiD 

 

Indeed thanks for stimulating me to do a bit of research; I'll go and see if I can do the same thing for my two radios on the boat!!!

I've had a quick look and found loads of battery containers from China and HK, so it's a do-er - provided your happy with a soldering iron 

 

Edited March 31, 2018 by OldGoat
Addition

[WotEver]

53 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

No one has mentioned a ground connection yet. Almost certainly a black wire. Won't work without it.

Jen

OP did in post 1

“Battery -“

[Jen-in-Wellies]

10 minutes ago, WotEver said:

OP did in post 1

“Battery -“

Didn't spot that.

Thanks, Jen

[pearley]

3 hours ago, WotEver said:

If his new one requires +12V and Ignition it would suggest that it is one of those which does. 

 

2 hours ago, OldGoat said:

Very few (IME) car radios - even of Elan age retain their memory. I had to refit an old Firrips VHF set because I got fed up with not only retuning all the stations but wading through the setup options.

Many years ago Jeannette and I were taken to Mauritius on a Sales Conference/Freebee holiday where Philips launched the DC751 car stereo which used an EAROM, Electronically Alterable Read Only Memory. You could shove the unit under the work bench fof months and it would still retain its memory. Some stereos use a light current ignition feed to switch the junction unit on with the permanent feed supplying the heavier current required to run the unit. 

My previous JVC DAB unit kept its memory when the battery was disconnected as does my current Pioneer. 

Edited March 31, 2018 by pearley

[ronnietucker]

Why didn't (or don't) manufacturers put in a 'coin' battery like PCs do for keeping BIOS settings?

[Paul C]

All the ones I've owned have needed the ignition feed to preserve their memory. It makes sense, since cars always seem to have a battery which is more than capable of this task. And with memory being more expensive in non-volatile form, would make sense for car stereo makers to do it this way too. But I guess it would be possible to do it a different way.

[WhiteSuit]

Wired a Panasonic radio into my old boat with a single positive and loved it. Woke in the morning to hear the fridge failing to fire up properly. Turned out the radio drained two 110 amphr batteries in a matter of hours keeping the station memory working. Wired a switched live into it to act as the ignition. I am about to change the radio in current boat, there is a constant feed to the existing positive (fused) and the existing Sony has a mode to take a single feed which shuts off the power live when switched off. The Panasonic I am putting in will have two positives the power one I will again incorporate a switch to mimic ignition supply 

Edited March 31, 2018 by WhiteSuit

[ronnietucker]

So if the 12V (battery+) cable is to supply power to the radio, what is the ignition cable for?

[Paul C]

1 minute ago, ronnietucker said:

So if the 12V (battery+) cable is to supply power to the radio, what is the ignition cable for?

It indicates when the car's ignition is on or off. Most stereos will turn off (as in, display goes blank and they produce no sound) when the ignition is off and if they were on when the ignition was switched on, come on again when the ignition is turned on again. But there also needs to be a permanent (eg battery) +12V connection to keep the memory.