I've got an 84 berlinetta and im putting an aftermarket stereo in it

but when the stereo is on (it sounds great by the way) i'll turn the lights on and the stereo turns off

idk what the problem is i tried running it through a new hot wire and it still did it

What should i do??

 

did you hook up the ground and ignition signal wires correctly? there is 2 power and one ground. one power is for memory, the other is for useage. also, i know there is a wire in mine for the dimmer to dim the factory stereo. that should be left disconnected

 

yeah the ground is all good but im not sure whats goin on with the accessory wire nor the power wire because i've tried hooking them up a couple different ways so im thinking their might be an overide of some sort .... idk for sure though just may be that its going through the headlights to get its power.... im stumped

 

Does anyone know how to use a multi meter anymore? You can buy em for less than 10 bucks now! HXC....did you use one when you were finding your hot and ground? Im telling you, a 10 dollar tool can avoid most of your wiring mistakes and its very easy to use.

 

Mine has always done something similar. When I dim the lights, the sound cuts out for a moment. The radio is still powered up but no sound comes from the speakers. Then it comes back on and works fine. I never felt like exploring it any further...

 

yes ive used a multi meter and it still got me no where thanks for the useless input

 

Useless input? Listen up cowboy, you obviously didnt use the multimeter correctly or you wouldnt be having these issues. So let me school your wise ***.

Use the multimeter to find a hot lead with no power fluctuation with the lights on or off....thats the hot lead you want to use. Where are you drawing your hot? Off the fuse box, or did you just grab any old hot wire from under the dash? What kind of voltage are you running with the key off...or with it running...or with the lights on?

Before you run your mouth again, maybe you should remember that you are a guest here. Im trying to help you....

So let me try this again.....HXC, it sounds like your power source is either fluctuating or maybe you have a grounding issue. Did you use a multimeter and test your hot wire under keyed off, keyed on, and headlight on? It sounds like the hot wire you grabbed may be tied to your dimmer circuit. How well does your instrument dimmer work? There are a lot of variables here, we gotta narrow down that hot wire.....

 

Alright "cowboy" the point of the thread is to get help not be criticized and judged on what you know. I appreciate your input but it's pretty pointless to play big man over an internet thread regarding a stereo and how to install it. In my previous post all i was saying is that questioning skill is a useless input. I wasn't saying your input is useless. I thank you for your attempts to help but I've solved the issue.

The headlights were pulling all the power from the deck because they ran through the same circuit witch i found out using a multi meter. so I ran a new hot wire and it works great now.

 

Well, you came back, so Ill give you a point for that. Yer still a condescending ******* but I can deal with that. And it appears you used the multimeter after my explanation so maybe you learned something. So nows your chance. Tell us about your ride, what yer good at and what you plans are for the car. Im going to need a guy to give me some pointers on my system (my sub box is rotted to **** and my amp is like 500 years old so maybe you can give me a few pointers along the way. )
Welcome aboard you cocky bastard. You just earned yer first star here.

 

haha thanks... I think..

Well I got an 84 Berlinetta that is currently all stock (except for the stereo) I purposely bought a V6 because i figure people wont drive it like they stole it like they would with a V8. So I'm planning to drop a V8 in there and a couple mods. The car was in amazing shape when I bought it and I'm a simple guy so I plan to leave the car relatively the way it is. It's gonna need new paint soon so i'll do that, i'm think black and grey 2 tone or i've been leanin towards a nice blue not sure yet though.... the stereo system is not yet complete either i want to put 2 kicker 10's in the trunk then do an upholstered cover so i can still use the truck and the subs are low profile so no one will see them unless i show them. but right now i have the aftermarket deck and kenwood speakers all the way around. i had to custom make an enclosure for my deck so for now i made one out of wood and covered it in a fleece like material to match the rest of my interior but eventually i'm going to make one out of fiber glass. i also plan to get a nice set of rally rims to wrap in some nice meaty tires and that about wraps it up

and if you need help with systems i've done quite a few and this is the first one i've ever had a problem with so feel free to ask