Draining the battery

[mr_b3n]

What can i do to stop my stereo draining my battery. Even with the face plate removed it still does it which i dont really understand. Obviously the power for the stereo isn't isolated when the ignition is turned off so is it just a case of wiring it to a power supply that is ie the ignition?
I dont really know much about vehicle electrics so any help would be appreciated.

Cheers Ben

[mr_b3n]

Anyone?

[Jeremy_VTR]

As long as you turn it off before you remove the face plate it'll be ok. It needs to take a small current from the battery permanently (and will be wired that way) to preserve radio settings, CD track position, volume, clock etc. If you isolate it completely it'll forget these and need resetting every time you turn it on.

If it's discharging your battery, it's either faulty, wrongly installed (both of which are unlikely) or your battery has failed (won't hold charge, needs replacing) or your alternator isn't charging it properly.

My battery is approaching 5 years old and recently the car needed jump starting after being left unused for a week.

[mr_b3n]

You cant turn it off before remove the face plate because it has to tilt the screen so you can get to get to the release mechanism. At first i thort it was my battery so i repalced it for a higher spec one and it still drained it. at the moment i've put my old one ( sony cdx-gt710 ) back in and its not giving me any problems at all, but obviously i wanna sort out my new one ( JVC KW-NX7000 ) or it will just sit in my room collecting dust.
Think i may just have to pay someone to fit it for me.
Ben

[Jeremy_VTR]

Hmm; sounds odd. Have you got the Citroen harness that adapts the power supplies (switched and permanent)?

[Ghostjon]

I'd get it sent back under warranty if possible as if the Sony isnt giving you any problems which suggests the wiring is OK - check it first though particularly the earth (try making a decent earth rather than the one on the ISO block) as a lot of stereo problems are normally due to a bad earth or the permanent and switched live being round the wrong way, and if thats OK and it still does it, then the JVC unfortunately sounds like a duffer.

[Den]

or it could be that the wiring is different on the jvc? emily had a jvc that doesnt like turning off in her car

[Ghostjon]

Hard to say really, most of the JVC units I've seen (the missus has got a KD-AVX2 in her C3) all seem to be wired the same as every other aftermarket, they just occasionally have the perm and switched lives disconnected on the loom so you can swap them round if need be.

There's a lead for Volkswagens which I know fixes a lot of problems with Citroens with aftermarket stereos fitted, I'll see if I can find the part number for it, and the other possibility might be that the electric aerial feed (if connected) from the stereo is continually draining the battery as I think that connection needs to be wired to a seperate aerial booster.

Just a couple of things to look at that might be causing it.