So i wired up a hidden switch on my jeep that switches battery power to the radio's non-constant power wire.

This allows me to turn my car off (or go from acc to on) without my radio turning off..
the reason this is a big deal is because it takes about 3min for my head unit to load all of the music directories from my mp3 player (40 gigs) and if it loses power for even a split second it has to re-load them and its annoying as hell.

as a side bonus my power windows are apparently run off that same line and also work when the switch is turned on... sweet.

the switch is mounted low on the dash and matches the color of the dash exactly it actually looks like it is supposed to be there thanks to jeeps low quality factory switches.

6/29/2006 9:07:52 PM

congrats.

6/29/2006 9:08:40 PM

did you use a relay

6/29/2006 9:09:55 PM

nope..

didn't need too the switch is rated for 30 amps and its only a signal wire anyway on kenwoods no real amperage goes through it.. it is also fused at 25 amps at the interior fuse block.
but i guess when the windows work it would be drawing current

6/29/2006 9:13:55 PM

did u use diodes?

6/29/2006 9:27:01 PM

i thought about that... but then the windows wouldn't work.
it basically is the line that gets power when the car is turned to ACC

6/29/2006 9:34:38 PM

what head unit do you have? i need a new one and have been looking at the new kenwood's w/ usb port.

6/30/2006 8:10:23 AM

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/products/ListProduct.aspx?k1=2&k2=46&k3=172&pr=2359

kdc-x590

6/30/2006 7:11:00 PM

nice!

3 minutes would indeed be annoying

6/30/2006 7:50:52 PM

damn, that's the head unit i was looking at, i don't think i could stand that 3 minute to load the info.

7/1/2006 9:35:56 AM

i think that is exaggerated and i also think its partially because my mp3 player sucks

usually it kicks on within 5-7 hundred feet of leaving my house
but it is a little annoying

7/1/2006 12:00:38 PM

oh, i'll be hooking it up to an external hdd if i get it. maybe that'll be better.

7/1/2006 5:18:09 PM

who makes and external hd with a dc adapter

i mean aren't hds 12 volt anyway.... is it ok to tap one into the
12 volts on the car?

7/1/2006 6:58:00 PM

no need for an adapter, get a 2.5" external hdd that is powered by usb only. or you can pick up an enclosure and a hdd that requires less than 500mah. pretty much any 5400rpm hdd will work.

7/1/2006 7:04:31 PM

the stereo usb has a limit... i don't know what it is but there is one on it.

7/1/2006 11:04:42 PM

thats the 500mah limit

7/1/2006 11:05:23 PM

well kick ass... go for it..
mine sucks

i might buy one of those drives than soon.

7/1/2006 11:10:18 PM

head unit arrives today, hdd tomorrow. i'll know by saturday evening if this works or not

7/13/2006 1:13:25 PM

cool yeah let me know how well it boots i'm still thinking about swapping my mp3 player for one

7/13/2006 6:07:49 PM

I have one of these http://www.shentech.com/dmp1.html

It's pretty badass. I had to buy a $13 disc changer input -> rca adapter for my head unit, but that was it.

7/13/2006 6:42:04 PM

works great off of a CF card and reader, but it's not reading off the hdd. gonna call kenwood monday and see what they say, the hdd is within their specs.

7/15/2006 3:09:43 PM

HDD are 5 volt

7/16/2006 10:18:02 AM

yeah, i know that. i'm thinking of rigging up a 12v to 5v converter to supply extra power to the hdd. The head unit is supposed to provide enough amps for the hdd but obviously it's not.

7/16/2006 11:17:09 AM

picked up a variable 12v converter and it works great now, "reads" for about 3-5 seconds and starts playing. ACDrive is a cool feature for when you have all of the directories and can't remember the order.

7/16/2006 1:16:04 PM

^ agreed... i friggin love it

or if you forget who a song is by so you just push the button to artist

"now browsing artist _________"

7/16/2006 1:39:26 PM