So I got a 94 Accord, and put in a new head unit, it works, but I have one small problem.

The original ingnition wiring along with some other things had been ripped out and rewired with some standard wiring and is no longer color coded. They had run the clock and the power to the head unit off of the ignition switch wire. Which makes the clock and the head unit not have a constant power wire, so they both reset.

Can anyone point me in the right direction of finding a constant power source for these two things, or tell me if they should be hooking up somewhere else. If I can't figure it out I'll make a trip to a junk yard and tear one apart and try to figure it out.

Thanks,
Rich

 

I don't know what part of the original wire harness is left, so you could try to find the original constant power source from the radio wiring harness.

If you go to a junkyard, you may be able to pick up the entire wire harness to make things less confusing.

The spoon link I put in the online manuals thread in the DIY section has a 94 shop manual as a pdf that will have all the original wire colors.

 

Ok cool, thanks. I'll check out the PDF. The whole wiring harness appeared to be there, I'm not starting to fear that the head unit problem is coming from something deeper. Don't think there is a fuse for that, but I guess I might as well check.

Thanks,
Rich

 

i recommend running a 12 awg wire from the battery (fused for 20A within 12" of the battery terminal) to the head unit. don't mess with wiring you don't trust.

This is a very common solution. Hell, I did it just to bypass the wiring in my dash to avoid any possible induced noise/voltage drop.

further, i used a relay who's coil is powered from the car's ignition wire. so the head unit receives constant direct from the battery and ignition through the relay from the battery. it's a slick way to bypass the car's wiring.

ideally, you'd use yellow wire, but red is sufficient.

 

Thanks for the advice keep_hope_alive.

I actually had the exact same thought, when I got to thinking about how my amp was hooked up. Would that cause any trouble to do it that way with my amp hooked up at the same time?

If not, I got a yellow wire with a built in fuse sitting in my closet and this could be a quick fix.

Thanks,
Rich