Radio Cages!

[Cabletwitch]

Yay! I have another problem, but for once, not related to the engine... in a way.

So, I have what I would imagine is the original cage for the radio and a nice shiny new head unit to install. So, I dutifully pulled the old one out, and went to fit the new cage... aaand it's a little bit too long, and butts up against the support tray further back.

Woo.

So after pulling the centre console to bits, and thus deciding "Bugger this, I'll reuse the old cage", I've found that yes, it'll fit but doesn't lock anything into it. So less of a problem, more an embuggerance... has anyone found a solution to use more modern style cages without the faff of dismantling half the worlds least practically designed centre console?

P.S. - Oh yes, I mentioned it was tangentially related to engine issues... screwing around with the damn thing the other day cost me a flat battery and the price of a replacement while sitting in Halfords car park... radios really shouldn't DO that, no?

[Robsey]

I suppose it depends what you have connected up to the radio. - big amp or speakers.

Also the state of the battery. They take a hammering at this time of year.
The cold weather hits the battery hard and then there is running the hot air blower, lights, radio and rear window demister.

I drive a lot of miles, and so that battery gets a good charge.

Any of these issues affect you.?

Regarding the radio...
You do find a lot of 80s and 90s cars and vans have the heater blower casing butted up close behind the radio.

The only easy way out is to have a deck-less unit.
These are very shallow units.

[Cabletwitch]

Well, brute force and a minor hulk-like rage managed to get the cage fitted... somehow, they DO slide into that horrible black tray behind it all, and even more surprisingly, the unit still slid into it, despite it looking a little less than square. And amazingly, I managed to not screw up the wiring and it all works both ignition on and off!

But I WILL say this... whoever designed the stupid aerial connector needs to be slowly murdered with one, as I found they have this annoying tendency to not stay connected moments after you just finish wiggling the unit into place...

But, one less thing that doesn't work now! Woo!

[Envoy CDX]

The radio in the cav should only come on when the ignition is in position 2. Not before unless you have made some modifications to the wiring.

[Robsey]

Depends upon the radio make.
Some use ignition live as a control signal.

Earlier radios would only come on with the ignition on.

Unless of course the wiring on pins 8 and 2 have not been crossed.

Original vauxhall radios -
Pin 2 ignition live
Pin 7 battery live.

Aftermarket radios -
Pin 2 battery live
Pin 8 ignition live