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Constant Power Only - Aftermarket Stereo

C

Chad Gervais

New member
Hello,

I purchaced a JVC KD-R530 at best buy, the guy told me I would not need a special wiring harness for my GP and that it was as simple as unplugging the stock head unit and plugging in the JVC, I would just need the single DIN dash kit which i purchased. Well, I found that to be incorrect, the plug did not fit the back of my new HU. It seems pretty straightforward to strip the wires and match them to the harness that came with the JVC, but ive heard that the 04-08 GP does not have switched 12V power source. Im not comfortable tapping the ignition wire, and i dont have enough knowledge to mess with the fusebox.

If i were to substitute the switched source with a constant source, im assuming the radio would be "ON" all the time. If i were to power off the HU using the button on the radio, would that put a high drain on the battery? Assuming my battery is in decent shape, how long could the radio remain powered but turned off before making the car impossible to start?
 
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Please, do yourself a favor and go get the wiring harness, not from the moron that said you didn't need one though. Hit metraonline.com and search by your year/make/model and options and get the part number, then go shopping. And smack the first idiot you talked to - ALL cars need a harness, not a single one of them can plug right into the new head unit.
 
Looked it up, the part i need is another hundred bucks. I could care less about the chime and onstar.

I am doing this without the harness, i just need to know how it will affect the battery if i run a constant to the HU instead of a switched. I drive the car daily, will it discharge overnight?
 
If the 04-08 are anything like the 97-03 you can do what I did and t tap the red wire off the extra harness that's hanging in the stereo bay into the red wire on your stereo harness...not sure if it's the same tho
 
how about a wire from the other plug that i wont be using, i think it goes to the onstar, would that work, or does the onstar pull its power from the HU?
 
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