Aftermarket Stereo - Have I opened pandora's box?

xs2man · 10 Apr 2018 at 00:14

Should be pretty easy to wire up. Plug and play as they say.

Never used one myself though. I just put up with the stereo not being on without the ignition.

TechMinerUK · 10 Apr 2018 at 13:59

xs2man said:
Should be pretty easy to wire up. Plug and play as they say.
Never used one myself though. I just put up with the stereo not being on without the ignition.

Welp after emailing the support for Connect 2 it seems it must have some sort of ignition live turn on

"Unfortunately the aftermarket radio will only power up with full ignition. The aftermarket radio will not work like the OEM radio, unlike the OEM radio the aftermarket radio also requires an 'Accessory / ignition supply feed' for the aftermarket radio to power. As there is no 'Accessory / ignition feed' on the vehicle harness as this is not required for the OEM radio to power up, our interface generates this 12v accessory / ignition feed for the aftermarket radio to power up. This Accessory feed is generated from the CAN-BUS signal and this CAN-BUS signal is only active with full ignition. Therefore the radio will only power up with full ignition."

xs2man · 10 Apr 2018 at 15:45

TechMinerUK said:
Welp after emailing the support for Connect 2 it seems it must have some sort of ignition live turn on

"Unfortunately the aftermarket radio will only power up with full ignition. The aftermarket radio will not work like the OEM radio, unlike the OEM radio the aftermarket radio also requires an 'Accessory / ignition supply feed' for the aftermarket radio to power. As there is no 'Accessory / ignition feed' on the vehicle harness as this is not required for the OEM radio to power up, our interface generates this 12v accessory / ignition feed for the aftermarket radio to power up. This Accessory feed is generated from the CAN-BUS signal and this CAN-BUS signal is only active with full ignition. Therefore the radio will only power up with full ignition."

The correct leads does exist. I came across a video while looking for the best solution for hooking up BT for my B6 A4 with Bose. I was looking at a lot of semi-relevant videos, but there was one from Enfig in the states that showed an aftermarket radio coming on without ignition, steering wheel controls, dash integration, the lot. I think the lead was around $99 though, so not exactly cheap. But it does do exactly what you would want, so the ability to do it is there.

Here is a video I found. I have started it from where he shows the aftermarket stereo turning on and doing it's thing. He then goes on to show how it stays on even after the ignition is turned off.

The adapter he uses is this one: https://enfigcarstereo.com/ENFIG_SRWH_AUD2_HILO.html

Not sure if there will be a UK supplier, or how much it might cost or whatever. But for proper aftermarket integration, that looks like the way to go. If I'm sitting for any length of time though in the car, I usually just listen on my phone, so my battery doesn't drain and I cant start the car (this happened once). But then I'm usually listening to Radio 4 or Scotland, so generally just chat. So don't really need it pumping through my speakers. I do that to save spending $99 or whatever on an adapter that allows me to do otherwise.

TechMinerUK · 10 Apr 2018 at 20:09

xs2man said:
The correct leads does exist. I came across a video while looking for the best solution for hooking up BT for my B6 A4 with Bose. I was looking at a lot of semi-relevant videos, but there was one from Enfig in the states that showed an aftermarket radio coming on without ignition, steering wheel controls, dash integration, the lot. I think the lead was around $99 though, so not exactly cheap. But it does do exactly what you would want, so the ability to do it is there.Here is a video I found. I have started it from where he shows the aftermarket stereo turning on and doing it's thing. He then goes on to show how it stays on even after the ignition is turned off.
The adapter he uses is this one: https://enfigcarstereo.com/ENFIG_SRWH_AUD2_HILO.html
Not sure if there will be a UK supplier, or how much it might cost or whatever. But for proper aftermarket integration, that looks like the way to go. If I'm sitting for any length of time though in the car, I usually just listen on my phone, so my battery doesn't drain and I cant start the car (this happened once). But then I'm usually listening to Radio 4 or Scotland, so generally just chat. So don't really need it pumping through my speakers. I do that to save spending $99 or whatever on an adapter that allows me to do otherwise.

Damn, to be honest at $99 and excluding import tax/delivery I think I might just prat around with the ignition live and latch it onto the stereo circuit so it stays on for five minutes after the car has turned off