Stereo Headunit keeps loosing memory

[Vega$ NSX]

I installed an Alpine CDA-9833 and everything works great, except everytime I power down (turn off the car) the head unit loses all its presets and memory. It won't turn on when the key is out, but will power up if I've got the key in so I'm thinking I've got the power turn on lead wire correct (I think I used the blk/yel wire for that.)

What wire should I be using (what color) for the main power to the head unit, the one with the in-line fuse? The Alpine headunit has two power wires, the power on (this one seems to be ok for now) and the fused power wire. I need to know which one goes to the fused power wire. From the NSX service manual it appears that it would either be the wht/yel (constant power) or the yel/red (main power) but which one? Sorry I forgot which wire I used for the main power. But which ever one it is, it doesn't keep power after the car is turned off.

Below is a picture of my set up in case anybody wanted to see it. Thanks in advance!!

 

[Malibu Rapper]

Hi,

You should have used a wiring harness so you didn't have to cut into the factory harness. Metra 17-1720 harness would have made life a lot easier. You would have only needed to match the wire colors to the harness since they are EIA standard.

White/yellow is the constant power wire. That needs to go to your Yellow wire on the Alpine unit.

Any red wires from the Alpine need to go to Yellow/Red on the NSX harness.

If you didn't replace your door speakers, you might also want to wire in a set of RCAs to the speaker wires from the car and connect the line outs on your Alpine to the RCAs. The reason is the factory speakers are amplified and if you send them an amplified signal, it will not sound as good and can actually be bad for the factory amps.

 

[Vega$ NSX]

Thanks Rapper. I knew you or Ken would chime in with a great answer. Thanks for tip, when I have chance to take the dash apart again, I'll try your suggestion. I'll let you know how it goes.

I agree about the harness, but I was already replacing a chop job done from the previous owner. Imagine the look on my face when I was faced with a bundle of wires and electrical tape connections. The worst part was that they had cut the wires down so short I was trying to crimp little nubbins of wire :frown: It was not a very easy task. It turned a one day install into a two day install.

But I got everything in and aside from the power loss problem, everything sounds great. I replaced everything (as mentioned before the previous owner did a hack job) so the doors got new RF 6.5's and tweeters cut in. Amp was installed in the tool area in the trunk and I just ordered the SOS sub box. In fact, I used yours and Ken's posts as a 'bible' for my install, right down to door speaker baffles and me willing to wait excruciatingly patiently for the SOS sub box because of your Andy Buzz box horror story. I must have read all of your posts about a million times! :biggrin:

Thanks again!

 

[Malibu Rapper]

You're welcome. What I'd suggest since they did a hack job on your original harness, if you ever have the time, wire in the Metra 71-1720 to give you your factory plug back again. Then you can take a 70-1720 and wire it to any aftermarket units. It's not super important to do this, it just makes it nice if change head units every once in a while.

Looks good so far, you're almost there! :biggrin:

 

[D'Ecosse]

Rats! - Malibu beat me to that one!
Actually that is probably the most common wiring error - expecting the red should be the constant as opposed to the yellow.
Congrats on your almost-complete install - know what you mean about the hatchet job, mine had suffered previously before I got to it too.

... Amp was installed in the tool area in the trunk and I just ordered the SOS sub box. In fact, I used yours and Ken's posts as a 'bible' for my install .. I must have read all of your posts about a million times! :biggrin:

Soo..... if you were paying attention in class like you say you were, did you take care of this with your amp in the tool section?

Give us your feedback & more pics on the final result. Hopefully it's all you expected!

 

[Vega$ NSX]

Ha! You guys are great! :biggrin: You guys own this section of the forums. It's like if you take one part guru, one part DIYer, one part forum nazi, blend well and make two of them. :biggrin:

Soo..... if you were paying attention in class like you say you were, did you take care of this with your amp in the tool section?

Give us your feedback & more pics on the final result. Hopefully it's all you expected!

I actually read that post. :smile: It stuck out in my head because MR has the exact same exhaust as me (the RSR). But I didn't do it because I cut some corners here and there. I didn't dynamat the doors, skipped the wiring harness, kept the stock door speaker wires (which you said should be ok :wink: ), and didn't heat shield the trunk. But I figured I'm running the amp pretty cool (4 ohm loads so far) and I hooked up some fans in my amp box for some nice convective cooling. I'm know I'm just pushing hot air around, but I did a 1+ hour run in about 90 deg weather and no tripping out yet. I think all I have left is to put the SOS sub in and I'm done! :biggrin: It not the best install in the world but I think all said and done I spent a total of about $1,000 and that includes the sub (though it didn't hurt to get some killer deals off of eBay).

 

[Big_nate]

Below is a picture of my set up in case anybody wanted to see it. Thanks in advance!!
[/QUOTE]

Vega$, looks very nice, congrats! I have the same console replacement piece and am trying to decide what do about the lighter/power socket. I'm not sure if I want to try some sort of flush mount or just extend it into the center console. If you wouldn't mind could you take a little closer shot of what you did there and maybe some detail on how you did it? Also any advice on cutting that console piece would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Nate

 

[Vega$ NSX]

Vega$, looks very nice, congrats! I have the same console replacement piece and am trying to decide what do about the lighter/power socket. I'm not sure if I want to try some sort of flush mount or just extend it into the center console. If you wouldn't mind could you take a little closer shot of what you did there and maybe some detail on how you did it? Also any advice on cutting that console piece would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Nate

Thanks! Yeah that's the Dali Carbon Fiber Dash, it was very nice in that I didn't have to paint it or bother with color matching the rest of the dash.

I need to pull apart the dash this weekend to fix the above said problem, so I tell you what, I'll take a lot of pictures of how I did my install so you can get an idea of how I put it together. It was certainly a learning experience and there are few tricks I learned along the way.

If you can hang tight for a couple of days I'll give you a nice write up with some close up pics. :smile:

 

[Big_nate]

If you can hang tight for a couple of days I'll give you a nice write up with some close up pics. :smile:

NO!! NOW!!!!

Just kidding, yeah that would be great any advice is always greatly appreciated. I just this very minute finished installing my speakers and wiring up the h/u. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am with the improvement in sound quality for a really minimal investment.

My next steps are tweaking the speaker plates to get the door panels back on, securing the head unit,trimming out the Dali console, and relocating the power outlet. Its all going to have to wait till next week though when I have some time, so no rush on the pics. Thanks for the help. :smile:

Nate

Oh yeah, also out of curiousity did you use an antenna adapter or did you just plug the single lead into the back of the h/u?

 

[Vega$ NSX]

White/yellow is the constant power wire. That needs to go to your Yellow wire on the Alpine unit.

Any red wires from the Alpine need to go to Yellow/Red on the NSX harness.

Actually that is probably the most common wiring error - expecting the red should be the constant as opposed to the yellow.

Just an update for you guys, both of you were exactly on target. I had both wires switched. When I swapped both wires, everything worked out perfectly. I'm very pleased with the results. Thanks again for the helpful advice!

 

[Vega$ NSX]

NO!! NOW!!!!

Just kidding, yeah that would be great any advice is always greatly appreciated. I just this very minute finished installing my speakers and wiring up the h/u. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am with the improvement in sound quality for a really minimal investment.

My next steps are tweaking the speaker plates to get the door panels back on, securing the head unit,trimming out the Dali console, and relocating the power outlet. Its all going to have to wait till next week though when I have some time, so no rush on the pics. Thanks for the help. :smile:

Nate

Oh yeah, also out of curiousity did you use an antenna adapter or did you just plug the single lead into the back of the h/u?

It's all done! Click here to check it out. Hope it helps!