philthismax

I like to know if its ok to just leave the radio on and just sut the car off and on. Is it safe for the stareo and the amps.

pocketrocket

iTrader: (1)

I don't think it's too good coz:
1) You've got a power antenna and when you have the radio on while you start the car, power is interrupted to the antenna signal (coz your headunit power is killed), so your antenna starts to retract into the down position.

Throw in a difficult start scenario where you've got to crank a few times and you've got an antenna that's all over the place like a Maxima on McD trays

I don't think it's good for the antenna, nor it is good for my in-dash changer or my headunit (if it were playing a cassette - you'll end up with tape slack I think) so I'd just take the extra trouble and shut it off before I start the car.

That's what I do, and I cannot justify if any harm will come from leaving it on while you crank the motor ... but think: McD TRAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tifosiv122

iTrader: (2)

I have never shut my radio before shutting my car in my 5 years of driving. My max has a 5 channel amp powering my speakers and 2 12's. I have never had a problem with my headunits or anything that would result from just shutting the car.

Erik

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

yea, i never really care about that either.. although i don't listen to the radio much.........

BRIGBOY

...who listens to the radio anyway. My antenna is always down. The power button is off, and the CD player begins playing when I start the car.

Thats what in line fuses are for.

puremax

jus turn it off then.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

If an aftermarket stereo is grounded and all around wired correctly, this will never cause any real problems. Maybe some excess wear on your antenna, but that's it.

And the antenna is the last thing I think will go on your car.

IanS

ny96max

Dont worry about it, ABSOLUTLY NOTHING will happen!!

black019

stereo on + weak battery = poor start conditions

otherwise its ok. ciao.

AndyXXL

Yep, if you have a good battery then don't worry about it.

hockeyghst

how did u make it so teh antenna does not go up with ur cd player??? i ahve an aftermarket cd player and my antenna is always up.......i would liek to knwo how to have my cd player on and my antenna down......if u could tell me how you did it......what wire did u not hook up???

pocketrocket

iTrader: (1)

My antenna doesn't go up when I use my in-dash changer

Benefits of staying with the stock system

(I've got a non-Bose 1-DIN full-logic cassette, added the OEM 1-DIN in-dash changer used in newer Nissans to the open pocket below, niceeeeeeee. The headunit and changer are made by Clarion btw, but almost eveyone knows that by now!)

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

If the unit is hooked up correctly your antenna will go down when CD's or Tapes are played. Unless you got a POS unit.

hockeyghst

my antenna stayed down when i put my fisrt aftermarket cd player in which was a sony xplod.....after i got rid of that POS i got the pioneer and i noticed my antenna goes up with the cd player,which i found out was strange, i wanted to figure out why this occured.....but then i was to lazy to take out the center counsole again so i jsut left it alone........so now since i have my cd player out of my centyer counsole i want to know how to do this so i can fix it b4 i put my cd player back in........thanx guys

hockeyghst

i had a $270 pioneer HU i knwo price doesnt mean its good but honestly its not a POS and i know everyhting is hooked up right so.......???? i donno man

Cumalot

iTrader: (8)

It's simple, just disconnect the power plug of the antenna. You can find it near the factory jack location. You have to take off the panel and remove the jack assembly for easier access. I did to mine and the antenna no longer goes up when I'm playing my cds. Btw, I have a Pioneer HU too.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

It's quite simple. Whoever installed your deck wired the antenna to the ACC Power, so that your antenna is up whenever the deck is on, regardless of whether or not it's CD or Radio....

It needs to be rewired to the "ANT +" lead out of the back of your deck. This may be labeled on the wire itself or you may need to find the manual for your deck.

I believe with Kenwoods (my deck), this is a Blue Wire with a Black Stripe (as opposed to amp remote wire, which is either just blue or blue/yellow).

Your going to have to take your deck out, find the manual to your deck, read it, and rewire accordingly.

Every aftermarket deck, even the POS ones, have an ANT lead on them nowdays. Unless your deck was made in 1985 or something.

IanS

Anachronism

If the antenna was wired to the ACC power than it would be up whenever the car is on, even if the head unit is off.

All aftermarket Head units I have seen (including 'High End' ones) have a power antenna output that is on whenever the head unit is on, including when it is on to listen to CDs. Since the power antenna output is usually also used to turn on amps this would make sense.

If you want your antenna to go down when you listen to CDs you could put a switch on the power antenna signal wire, someone on the board has done it.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

No, most decks now have a SEPERATE output from the remote amp output, so that when you change to CD's, then the antenna lead turns off.

Now that I think about it, it depends:

If your antenna goes down when the deck is off and the car is on, then they tied the antenna into your amp remote lead - rewire to the antenna lead. i used to have a Pioneer deck, and it had this, so yours should too.

If you turn off your deck and the antenna stays up until you turn off the car, then the antenna is plugged into your ACC, and needs to be rewired.

if your antenna is ALWAYS up, then it is plugged into +12v constant power, and DEFINATELY needs to be moved.

Either way, he needs to rewire.

IanS

hockeyghst

thanx guys!!!!!!!!!

Anachronism

I stand corrected, I did not mean to imply that I was a car audio expert, just that I have installed several head units and amps for myself and friends over the years. Now that I think about it, the last time I installed a high end unit was a few years ago but I am pretty sure it had just a power antenna out and not a separate amp turn on lead. I have installed a couple low end head units (best buy stuff) in the past year or so and these only had 1 output labled power antenna and the manual say to use it for the power antenna or amp turn on.

So I would guess that high end units (and some low end units) have added separate power antenna and amp turn on wires in the past few years.

zboy

iTrader: (2)

When I bought my max used, it had an aftermarket Sony CD player in it, and that was the the first time I ever noticed a stereo keeping the antenna down when a CD was playing. So when I swapped in my JVC CD/MD deck, I ran the antenna lead off the unit through a switch, so I can cut the power to the antenna whenever I want (ie, antenna stayed down most of the time cause i usually listen to MDs)

Doesn't take much of a switch to do the trick either, and it's a nice effect (too bad more stereos don't do it out of the box...kudos to Sony)

j-95G

[QUOTE]i had a $270 pioneer HU i knwo price doesnt mean its good but honestly its not a POS and i know everyhting is hooked up right so.......???? i donno man
[B]

it's simple. pioneer has a wire on the back that's labeled "acc". this is not an auto ant wire. it's simply a direct lead to the switched turn on that turns your radio on. pioneer doesn't have an antenna wire. in fact, the only company i can think of that does have a dedicated ant lead is sony. (and that sucks b/c i have a $700 clarion 9575 head unit that won't operate my power antenna. )

if you want it to go up and down, you can put a switch on the power ant lead just like zboy said. just be sure to put a 5 amp in line fuse before the switch. there should be no problem.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

That's incorrect.

All Kenwood decks have an ANT lead, as do most other brands.

I have a Kenwood Z828 in my car, that has ANT, my buddy has and Alpine, that does also, my old Sony did, etc, etc....

IanS

Zack_Rad

I agree, I've installed at least four brands of aftermarket decks. All of them had ant. leads (usually blue). They were noticable because all of the POS cars that I've had didn't have power antennas so the wire didn't have a home. Of course I have no idea if they would have come on with the deck or just radio.

-Zack

j-95G

okay, a lot more companies do have ant leads than i could think of, but usually it is on the more upper line units. also, if you check them out, some of the "antenna leads" are actually just remote turn ons that do not function with the tuner. they simply turn on and off with the key. ant leads can are usually the blue wire with the white stripe as opposed to a solid blue wire. lower level kenwoods, pioneers, fosgate, clarion, etc. don't actually come with a dedicated antenna lead.

RedMax95

ya the only time the radios on is when an elder is in the ar cuz they usually dont like my music, and i have a bose tape player that i dont even know if it works bc ive never used it