switched wire under dash

[pmicaza]

hi,

i added a serius radio to my 97 ssei and used the cigarette lighter for power. well this is not switched and i killed the battery. what is a good switched wire for power?

tia,
peter

[sonoma_zr2]

any red wire is hot at all times
any yellow is switch/retained

[pmicaza]

any red wire is hot at all times
any yellow is switch/retained

is this true for a range of gm cars and years?, eg 2004 lasabre
thanks, this is useful
peter

[crash93ssei]

any red wire is hot at all times
any yellow is switch/retained

The wiring under the dash for the airbag system is all done in yellow wires, DO NOT CUT INTO THOSE!!!


What about the wire that supplies power to the factory stereo?

[sonoma_zr2]

Correct, there is a yellow jacketed wire pair by the steering column that is for the air bag. The rest of the plain yellow wires supply switch power to interior lamps, instrument panel, lamp switch, radio, sunroof relays, etc.

[phoenix_flame220]

Not ALL yellow wires are for switched power, theres a yellow starter wire A lot of little orange wires are constant, but dont go from a thin wire for your sirius. Either use the yellow from the back of the deck, or the Orange wire coming from the ignition switch. Almost every GM product uses the same ignition wiring colours. Its a switched accessory, you can even send that wire to the lighter socket and disconnect the constant one, so you can have switched power for anything you want. Make sure you fuse any wire that you tap into.

[Bugsi]

Don't randomly cut into your wiring. Just put a fuse tap on Instrument Panel Fuseblock Fuse 8D.
It's hot in Run, Accessory, and Retained Accessory Power modes, and among other things is the "on while hot" that goes to the radio. Use a fuse tap, the kind that holds two mini fuses. Move the factory 10 amp fuse from fuseblock position 8D to the main holder in the fuse tap, and add a new fuse to protect the circuit that you're adding.

As you look at the instrument panel fuse block there are five columns of fuses, from left to right (with some circuit breakers on the farthest left side). The five rows from left to right are A,B,C,D, and E. The numbered fuse positions start from the bottom and go up, so go to column D and go up 8 fuse positions (since there's 9 rows, it is the second from the top). Those fuse tap gadgets cost around $14 or so at auto parts stores.