ignition scene cable

[bucknut937]

I recently got a newer vehicle and the fuses all stay at 12.6 volts when the vehicle is not running. I contacted my kenwood dealer and they told me i need an ignition scene cable for 79.00. is there anyway around this 79.00 fee. Im installing an 8360 into my service van. I just wanna be able to have the radio turn off when the car is not running.

Thanks
ZAC

 

[WA0CBW]

That's an ignition "sense" cable. It is connected to a point of 12 volts that is controlled by the ignition switch and the other end goes to the radio. The radio is connected to a constant point of 12 volts and the ignition sense wire tells the radio to turn on or off with the ignition.
BB

 

[mmckenna]

The Kenwood KCT-18 ignition sense cable has a list price of $13.70, the dealer pays less than that for it. I'd hope the $79.00 they quoted you included the install and programming. If not, you need to rethink your choice in dealers.

The KCT-18 cable is nothing more than a female "bullet" type connector, a couple of feet of yellow 18 gauge wire, a fuse holder and a 3 amp fuse. Building your own could be done for a couple of bucks easily.

The radio will need to be programmed to respond to the ignition sense signal. This is pretty easy to do. You can program the radio to turn on/off with the ignition, turn off after a delay of a time you set, or to turn on/off with the ignition and the power switch.

Finding an ignition switched circuit would likely be the hardest part of this. There are often more than one fuse box in modern vehicles. See if there is another one under the hood.

 

[bucknut937]

Okay only was able to find the ignition coil that was controlled off/on but it also controlled the ac unit and some relays. I'll tap e sence cable to that and see if it works I didn't feel comfortable tapping my power leads to that 20amp fuse. I figured if you had the ac on and transmitting it could cause problems.

Thanks
Zac

 

[mmckenna]

The ignition sense circuit only uses a few milliamps. It's unlikely it's going to pop a fuse on it's own. The main power for the radio still comes through the normal DC input.