Swapping red & yellow wires

[hogweed]

As anybody who's bored enough to read my ramblings recently will know, I'm going through the pain of installing an ERISIN Android head unit


One its more boring features is the length of time taken to boot up. It takes something like 40 seconds after turning the key before I can use it, which is a pain if you're trying to listen to a radio programme etc.


I've read various suggestions to swap the +12 and Accessory wires, and wonder if this leaves the unit constantly powered up, but kind of on standby, like when I turn it off with its own button (while leaving the power from the car on)?


If so, does this use much power? Might i run my battery down...?


Thanks

[ceedy]

Basically yes, unless you use the car every day ,the battery will go flat fairly quick..
My ZT will go flat inside 10 days if not used

C

[Dorchester2]

It looks weird in your case.
Mine has exactly the reverse symptom!

Mine is switching on as soon as I've turned the key even I've not asked for it by pushing on the Erisin button.
Nevertheless I'm pushing on the button every time before switching off the engine. I don't understand that oddity but I don't care now.

Regarding the feed I'd just bought an ISO to BMW wire and connected to the ERISIN. No brainer.

[Briodyjl01]

I fitted a new Erisin one not too long back and about a week after fitting it the dam thing crashed and I had to reset it. Loosing some features and now it’s rubbish!

[hogweed]

Originally Posted by ceedy

Basically yes, unless you use the car every day ,the battery will go flat fairly quick..

Wow... I'd have thought, with it turned off at the button, it would have sipped only a tiny amount of power... so thanks for the heads up


Thanks for your thoughts, everybody. The further I delve into this little device, the more disillusioned I become.


Still, if I forget all the amateurish touches, I quite like it. The sound is rather better than my Sony stereo, and the screen's quite nice. If the rear camera ever gets delivered, and I can get it wired in without destroying my number plate lights, I'll probably live with the hassle

[hogweed]

OK. The 45 second delay in booting every time I stop the car for a minute is really starting to wind me up - plus the fact that the radio starts with a hiss on 87.50, and I have to hit a favourite button manually. Small thing, I know, but there you are. Also have to manually switch the RDS/AF function on every time.


So I started thinking about swapping the wires again, and had a good look at the main loom which goes from the ISO plug to the stereo. There is no red (constant +12V) to it (blue line), though there is a small red wire to a much smaller plug which has various accessory connections... I don't know if that connects internally to the main power circuit, or not.



No matter how I configure the stereo sleep settings etc, I get the long cold boot. Do you reckon, with no red to the main plug, it simply cannot receive power with the ignition off?


If so, then swapping red & yellow is the only option, I guess

[clf]

Originally Posted by hogweed

OK. The 45 second delay in booting every time I stop the car for a minute is really starting to wind me up - plus the fact that the radio starts with a hiss on 87.50, and I have to hit a favourite button manually. Small thing, I know, but there you are. Also have to manually switch the RDS/AF function on every time.


So I started thinking about swapping the wires again, and had a good look at the main loom which goes from the ISO plug to the stereo. There is no red (constant +12V) to it (blue line), though there is a small red wire to a much smaller plug which has various accessory connections... I don't know if that connects internally to the main power circuit, or not.



No matter how I configure the stereo sleep settings etc, I get the long cold boot. Do you reckon, with no red to the main plug, it simply cannot receive power with the ignition off?


If so, then swapping red & yellow is the only option, I guess

Do not switch the wires, a permanent live will invariably lead (as mentioned) to a rapid draining of the battery, draining at a similar rate to a boot light left on.

In 'the olden days' pre ISO connectors, and Japanese and Euro cars having differing stereo wiring set ups, we had to correct this all the time.

First confirm which one is permanent live on the car side and which is switched (forget about colours). Also important is to confirm any lighting wire, as this will normally appear to be an earth when the lights are off, and if there is, it is not being used in any way as an earth. (I do not think this is an issue, as they generally will blow the fuse, and switch off the stereo, but I do not know if the LSM will give protection against this though - my experience is 30 years old lol). The reason for mentioning this, is on some ISO adapter cables, there is a populated lighting wire/prong, and I imagine this could possibly create an issue (ie hopefully rule out an issue or confusion with wiring).

Once these wires are identified, next confirm the ISO adapter corresponds to the wiring diagram/instructions of the stereo itself. Looking out for the electric aerial/amp switched wire - I have seen these wired incorrectly within an adapter cable (not an ISO).

check that there is no blown fuse in the positive wires or on the back of the stereo.

If the wiring and fuses all check out, then it is safe to assume the unit is faulty (or rather a component within it - some will have a button cell within them too, which may have died and they are not normally serviceable without breaking the warranty seals).

The fact that it retains the favourites memory is throwing me, but these could be due to an app storing them instead. But even then, I would imagine it to lose all memory and stored info each time it was switched off.

-----------------------------

As for the speed of start up, this was a reason why I have never been tempted to fit one myself. I would have assumed this to be normal (think of mobile phone start up times). Even ten seconds is a long time when moving off.

[hogweed]

Thanks for all that info Alan – for once, I’ve actually worked most of it out myself over the last couple of weeks

Originally Posted by clf

First confirm which one is permanent live on the car side and which is switched (forget about colours).

Yeah, first thing I did – because I didn’t know which should be which. Confirmed red is +12V, yellow switched (I think – have to look at my notes!)

Originally Posted by clf

Also important is to confirm any lighting wire, as this will normally appear to be an earth when the lights are off, and if there is, it is not being used in any way as an earth.

Don’t think there is a light wire, as the illumination comes from the screen (of what is effectively a computer/pad). Unless you mean the one which dims the display when I turn the car’s lights on? Present and working OK…

Originally Posted by clf

Once these wires are identified, next confirm the ISO adapter corresponds to the wiring diagram/instructions of the stereo itself. Looking out for the electric aerial/amp switched wire - I have seen these wired incorrectly within an adapter cable (not an ISO).

Hah! If only. They only identify the wires on the auxiliary sockets. The amp wire goes to the little aux socket, as with the illumi one above, and is also working OK. But the ones going to the main socket of the stereo are pretty much as I’d expect, except that there’s no constant +12… if there should be…

Originally Posted by clf

check that there is no blown fuse in the positive wires or on the back of the stereo.

Check.

Originally Posted by clf

If the wiring and fuses all check out, then it is safe to assume the unit is faulty (or rather a component within it - some will have a button cell within them too, which may have died and they are not normally serviceable without breaking the warranty seals).
The fact that it retains the favourites memory is throwing me, but these could be due to an app storing them instead. But even then, I would imagine it to lose all memory and stored info each time it was switched off.

I speculate that the permanent +12 that goes to one of the auxiliary sockets is used to retain basic settings on power down, but that doesn't help with the long boot etc. There is no +12 to the main socket, only switched 12V.

Originally Posted by clf

As for the speed of start up, this was a reason why I have never been tempted to fit one myself. I would have assumed this to be normal (think of mobile phone start up times). Even ten seconds is a long time when moving off.

Beginning to think you’re right, mate. Having just driven some modern hire cars lately, I really fancied updating the old tractor to have satnav, reversing camera etc. But maybe more bother than it’s worth

[clf]

Originally Posted by hogweed

Thanks for all that info Alan – for once, I’ve actually worked most of it out myself over the last couple of weeks


Yeah, first thing I did – because I didn’t know which should be which. Confirmed red is +12V, yellow switched (I think – have to look at my notes!)

Don’t think there is a light wire, as the illumination comes from the screen (of what is effectively a computer/pad). Unless you mean the one which dims the display when I turn the car’s lights on? Present and working OK…

Hah! If only. They only identify the wires on the auxiliary sockets. The amp wire goes to the little aux socket, as with the illumi one above, and is also working OK. But the ones going to the main socket of the stereo are pretty much as I’d expect, except that there’s no constant +12… if there should be…


Check.


I speculate that the permanent +12 that goes to one of the auxiliary sockets is used to retain basic settings on power down, but that doesn't help with the long boot etc. There is no +12 to the main socket, only switched 12V.

Beginning to think you’re right, mate. Having just driven some modern hire cars lately, I really fancied updating the old tractor to have satnav, reversing camera etc. But maybe more bother than it’s worth

I figured you would likely have checked all the wiring, sometimes obvious stages can be overlooked in the heat of the moment. (Yes the lighting wire = the illumination one you mentioned - you have noise the number of faulty installs i had to correct in the mid nineties because of this lol, it was a new thing back then)

Looking at wiring diagrams.of.other double dins, they mention handbrake (assuming for safety) and reversing wires. I am.guessing these are either fly leads from the unit or sockets in it.

I haven't had a chance to read the original post through (nor this one fully yet), but I assume your car is iso compatible, and you are using an iso adapter, which then goes to the loom of the stereo. If so, follow the switched and perm lives to the plug of the stereo, then it's corresponding pin on the unit, to confirm it is not damaged and actually there lol.

If you switch the stereo off, by its knob/button, before turning the key of the car off, does it retain its memory then I wonder? Another thought too, is that instead of a built in battery, I wonder if there is a capacitor inside to store power, and this hasn't been fully energised/charged (not sure of the term.for charging a capacitor lol). To which, it may work as expected after a long drive. Am.clutching for solutions before condemning the unit, I am.afraid.

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[hogweed]

Originally Posted by clf

I figured you would likely have checked all the wiring

NEVER a safe assumption with me, mate

Originally Posted by clf

Yes the lighting wire = the illumination one you mentioned - you have noise the number of faulty installs i had to correct in the mid nineties because of this lol, it was a new thing back then)

I remember a company car I got in 1992 (Astra GSI 16V – real fun) had both that and the other one which made the volume speed-dependent – when I discovered them, I thought I was a spaceship pilot

Originally Posted by clf

Looking at wiring diagrams.of.other double dins, they mention handbrake (assuming for safety) and reversing wires. I am.guessing these are either fly leads from the unit or sockets in it.

Yes the fly leads from the unit include handbrake, reverseing light sensor to trigger the rear camera etc, but I haven't connected any yet, as I don’t want to complicate things – and my camera hasn’t been delivered yet. Orange and blue fly leads are for illumi and amp, but they are duplicated in the Rover-specific harness they made me buy, so I haven't connected them. They do work – radio quality is very good, and the device dims when I put the lights on.

Originally Posted by clf

I haven't had a chance to read the original post through (nor this one fully yet)

No, you don't want to, trust me – have a nice cup of tea instead.

Originally Posted by clf

but I assume your car is iso compatible, and you are using an iso adapter, which then goes to the loom of the stereo. If so, follow the switched and perm lives to the plug of the stereo, then it's corresponding pin on the unit, to confirm it is not damaged and actually there lol.

And that just MAY be the problem – permanent live only goes to the little aux harness with all the other fly leads etc, and not to the main plug into the stereo from the ISO connector, so I do wonder if the unit is simply getting no power when it’s supposed to be sleeping. I’ve asked Erisin, but not holding my breath for any kind of intelligible answer – more like “Hi hope your fun day is shining, yes when you connecting the wires, is light good!”

Originally Posted by clf

If you switch the stereo off, by its knob/button, before turning the key of the car off, does it retain its memory then I wonder?

Thought of that one too

The more I mess with it, the more I think it’s either a firmware problem, or the lack of permanent power to the stereo. But as they don’t provide a wiring diagram for the main socket, I may never know…