Radio Installation

[Gary Panarotto]

Hi Guys
I'm one of the new kids on the block and will need all the help I can get. I have just acquired a 72 Gt and the current radio is not working properly and may need replacement. This is my first Opel and I am not very familiar with them. I haven't really had a good look but initially it seems that the radio housing is integral with the rest of the dash. Does the dash have to come out to get to the radio? If thats the case I'm sure it will just add to the joy of "classic" ownership. And I thought British cars were wacky!
Gary P.

[nobody]

Welcome

You do realize that is an am only radio. If you are going to remove it the dash and steering column will need to be taken out and down. The radio is an old school type, the Knobs hide the nuts that hold it in place.

Nice lookin car by the way.

[mjewell]

alot of how you proceed depends on what kind of stereo you plan to install. a newer am/fm/cd/mp3 player, for example, will require cutting a larger opening to install. you may be able to find an am/fm/cassette that would not require cutting at all. some people will leave the original radio installed, and install a new stereo, cd changer, etc. in a hidden part of the car, then mount a removable faceplate on the visor, or run it through a remote. it kind of depends on how far you want to take it.

i recently installed an am/fm/cd player in the stock radio position. i had my instrument panel out for repair when i installed it, which made it very simple to cut the larger hole and install the din mount that newer radios use. the stock radio had a ground wire attached to the back of it that would be pretty tough to get at if the panel is installed. i don't think the wire is long enough to allow you to pull the radio out the front. besides, if you have a stock radio in it now, i think you HAVE to get it out from behind. pulling the panel isn't that bad, and it gives you a chance to get to know your opel.

good luck,

mike

[Willy_g77]

ive been trying and trying to get mine working. i've cut the dash and installed a cd player. well my cd player has a short in it so i have to return it and get a new one. hopefully it will work for more then two days... . now that i understand how to hook it up, hopefully it will work next time... if you have any hook up questions ask oldopelguy.....

[Jim Branham]

Hi Gary, glad to see you are using the site here. This is a wonderfull place to get your questions answered. In short, the answer to your question is yes. To replace the radio, the gauge panel has to come far enough away from the dash to be considered out, you won't have to unplug it from the fuse panel tho. I don't think you'll have to remove the radio to get it working again tho. I sent you an e-mail about it.

[Matt M240Z]

Hey, sorry to bring back an old post but it is kinda on topic. I'm installing an amplifier in my opel now and im about to hook up the "remote wire" and was wondering if there is a place on the fuse box or another good place on the car that only has power once the motor is running.

[namba209]

Matt, the 3 outside fuses, where there are four fuses side by side in the fuse panel are all switchable, that is hot when the key is in the run position. The inside one is hot all the time and the three by themselves are only for the lites. HTH.

[opelwasp]

Uh... the remote wire is not for hooking up to the fuse box. It is to be hooked up to the remote wire on the head unit, typically blue. You don't want you amp always on even when your not listening to the stereo. The purpose for that wire is to turn it on when the head unit gets turned on. The remote wire on the head unit is also where you would wire the turn on lead to a power antenna, if you so desired to install one.

[Dan-MI]

I put in what is called a secret audio system (manufacturer's name for it). The whole thing (radio and 10 cd changer) went into the back behind the vinyl curtain that hides the spare tire. It runs off of a wireless remote control. The whole thing can be done without touching the dash at all. If your car has the original AM radio you could install a whole new system in the back and leave the dash looking stock. You can check out the system at customautosound.com

[jvandyke]

I took my stereo off a switched source to unswitched (to be able to listen to it with the key off) The thing is lit up like a christmas tree (even when off). Now I'm wondering if I"m going to drain the battery. Any one know if this would be a problem in a car that gets run at least 4 times a week?

[OriginalOpelGTOwner]

Storage batterys are rated in amp-hours. Example, if the battery is fully charged and it is rated at 100 amp hours and you apply a 2 amp load the battery will be discharged in 50 hours or 2 days. You need to measure the amp draw of your radio when it is off or in standby mode. Once you know the amp draw divide the amp hour rating of your battery by the amp draw and you will know how long it will take you radio to discharge your battery.

[jvandyke]

That makes sense. My multimeter (cheap digital) doesn't read any amp draw at all for just the lights when stereo is off. Of course it's using SOMETHING but not enough to register I guess (on my equipment) I can always detach the face plate.

[namba209]

You could use the milliamp scale on your VOM and hook it up in series with your radio to get the power draw from it. I doubt it draws more than 1 amp in the off position. The other wire from a "hot all the time" source is for the memory chip inside to keep track of the time and pre-loaded stations. HTH.

[jvandyke]

Originally Posted by namba209 You could use the milliamp scale on your VOM and hook it up in series with your radio to get the power draw from it. I doubt it draws more than 1 amp in the off position. The other wire from a "hot all the time" source is for the memory chip inside to keep track of the time and pre-loaded stations. HTH.

This is what I did but I only have the one 10A DC setting. Read 0.00 when in series and the stereo lights were lit so some current was going through it but it didn't show it. I didn't think to actually turn on the stereo when it was hooked up, that would have probably told me that the meter was at least working. Oh well. I'm tempted to take this as meaning the stereo is drawing precious little for the lights and it would not likely tax the battery enough to notice between recharges. Taking off the face plate means it's drawing virtually nothing as the lights are obviously gone now but I never pull the face off normally.

[OriginalOpelGTOwner]

If you still have the specification documents that came with your radio, they may state the standby current. I would guess the standby current draw is very small maybe less than 0.100 amp. If the lights that remain on are leds they draw very little current. My guess is it may take your radio at least a month to draw down the battery charge assuming you have a good battery state of charge.

[gr_diver]

Is it a Sony unit? Most Sony units have that "feature" with the display and lights staying on when turning them off. Repressing the "off" button, and (maybe) holding it depressed for a couple of seconds usually makes everything go off...

[jvandyke]

Yep, it's a cheap Sony so I'll look at that. Or just wire it up again switched. Minor. The documentation with the radio is pretty weak. It was only $80 though and I like it well enough so no complaints.

[kwilford]

Many radios have two power supply wires, one that is switched and the other that needs constant power to maintain station memory settings. Did this radio have both?
From what you describe, I would be concerned that the power draw will kill the battery.

[newman27]

Originally Posted by gr_diver Is it a Sony unit? Most Sony units have that "feature" with the display and lights staying on when turning them off. Repressing the "off" button, and (maybe) holding it depressed for a couple of seconds usually makes everything go off...

My Sony unit works like this (hold down the power button to turn off everything including the clock display). However, it also has a menu setting that will do the same thing automatically after a certain amount of elapsed time. I have mine set to 30 seconds. Thus, after turning the radio "off", the display (clock, etc.) also shuts off after 30 seconds of non-use. Check your owner's manual - you may have the same setting available.

[jvandyke]

Yep, mine has the same settings, at least the book says it does. But it didn't seem to work like that. Of course it may have reverted to defaults as I've had it off power several times while tinkering. I'll fiddle with it. Now if someone has a solution to suppress the noise when my iPod charger is charging, that'd be good too!

Just checked it out. It does have the "all power off" if you hold the button in (not mentioned in manual that I saw) Good call!!
Also has the shut off after predetermined time. I've set it to 30 minutes in case I forget to hold the button in although I doubt it would drain the battery very quickly anyway. Thanks for the tips. Should be all set on that for a while!

[gr_diver]

Glad I could help!

[jak133]

need help with stereo, went to best buy to look at stereos the guy mentioned a wiring harness do i need one or do i hook right into fuse block.

[opelwasp]

You will have to wire it to the fuse block. I would recommend using a relay though to limit the amount of current that draws thru the block. Activate the relay with an acc circuit on the fuse block.

[newman27]

Originally Posted by jak133 need help with stereo, went to best buy to look at stereos the guy mentioned a wiring harness do i need one or do i hook right into fuse block.

I have my radio wired directly to the fuse block to one of the "always powered" connections and use the "auto off" feature of the radio to prevent the radio being left on by accident. This enables the radio clock to be viewed even with no key in the car and I can also view menus and change option settings with no key inserted. My amp has a "wake up" lead (not the correct term "remote power" maybe?) wired to a switched connection. Thus, when the car is started, the amp powers up (sensing the car has been started) and when the car is turned off, the amp shuts down.

HTH

Matt