Stereo Wiring question

[Incantation]

Hey guys,

I installed a completely new system.. a couple amps, new speakers all 'round etc.. sounds amazing. Anyway.. for some reason my cd deck doesn't remember the settings or the cd position as it was playing prior to turning the car off. (so that when i turn the car on, all the presets are erased..)

Any ideas?

[Phil M]

there should be a wire to connect that keeps a bit of power to the deck so it remembers the presets. check in your manual for you deck and see what color the wire on in your deck harness and then on the e34 website theres a wiring diagram and tells you what color the wire is in the bmw harness. i remember when i installed my clarion, i had the same problem. good luck


Hey guys,

I installed a completely new system.. a couple amps, new speakers all 'round etc.. sounds amazing. Anyway.. for some reason my cd deck doesn't remember the settings or the cd position as it was playing prior to turning the car off. (so that when i turn the car on, all the presets are erased..)

Any ideas?

[Shaun]

Like Phil said, you've missed a wire or maybe connected it to the wrong source. There's usually a yellow "memory" wire on the stereo harness that needs a *constant* 12 Volts, even when the car is off.

This wire usually matches up to a yellow or red wire on the vehicles factory harness. An even better idea would be to get an adapter harness from the likes of Scosche or Metra, and use their install guide (they, like most aftermarker stereo manufacturers, have adopted a standard color scheme for wiring harnesses... mostly). These usually run from $7 to $15. I got mine for $12, I think. If you already have one, make sure you read the install guide and find the Memory/+12V Constant wire to hook your deck up to.

[Incantation]

nice, thanks guys