[totalguy]

i scoured the web and this forum for information on how to install my double din pioneer head unit. For reference the model number is AVIC-F77DAB.

Anyway i didn't find much information here for aftermarket head unit install's, most of it is for the OEM stuff or upgrading to a better system using OEM kit. So i went to youtube and sure enough, everyone was saying you need a permanent live to the fusebox or battery..... WRONG!

What you actually need is an ignition live how do i know? because I wired to a permanent live and after following wiring diagrams, pinouts, measuring with a multimeter, and swapping the red and yellow wires to see if I could make it work properly but nope didn't work.

there is actually a permanent live on the car side of the wiring and its pin 15 (see photo for reference) it took me a while to figure out which connector and table to look at as everything looked backward or the wrong way around but if you flip the car connector over by turning the top towards you and down it makes sense.

the pinouts I found that were right are on this website https://www.tehnomagazin.com/Auto-ra...-Connector.htm what your looking for is under the title "BMW Models after 2000" which is what matches on my 2006 pre lci 320d.

So anyway i went for an ignition live from the 12v socket in the centre console I actually connected to the car side, not the socket side luckily I didn't need to do any splicing I used a small male spade connector and jammed it in the center pin at the back of the connector it's in there really tight but just to be sure i put a cable tie on it so that's all good.

I know its working properly because if the unit is off and it loses power it will start the setup of the head unit as soon as you turn it on and it's not doing that now. So there you go don't need a permanent live you already have one you just need ignition live to the red wire on the iso adaptor and the yellow wire is already going to a permanent live on the radio connector.


hope this helps someone out in the future and saves them the frustration of trying to get it done and coming across hurdles like this.

all i need to do now is figure out how to get the under seat subs working and find out if i need the parking sensor button plugged in or not.

[mweisdorfer]

What wiring harness did you use?

Metra, Connects2 or PAC?

[ctuna]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ight=head+unit

Front doors and Floors wired in parallel in the base system see links in other thread .

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1867376

First three links in other thread for general knowledge and
last one of in depth insight into the base system.

[totalguy]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

What wiring harness did you use?

Metra, Connects2 or PAC?

a bong box https://incartec.co.uk/product/25-51...tone-interface

[totalguy]

well apparently i was also wrong and im really pissed off now! checked the car today put the ignition on and damn setup came up on the head unit!

i dont know what to do now because if i put the wire back into permanent live in the fusebox the head unit is on all the time. i cant have it running for god knows how long after ive exited the car and locked it

[Ali-E90]

I had to rewire both the constant and the ignition back to the fuse box.
In many cases, the constant wire behind the HU actually goes to sleep after 30 mins of lockdown. Hard to confirm since that wire behaves like a constant unless you leave the car for 30 mins lol.

[totalguy]

Originally Posted by Ali-323i

I had to rewire both the constant and the ignition back to the fuse box.
In many cases, the constant wire behind the HU actually goes to sleep after 30 mins of lockdown. Hard to confirm since that wire behaves like a constant unless you leave the car for 30 mins lol.

yeah i had that problem so even with the key off my head unit was still on and no way to turn it off! if the wire on the harness is indeed an ignition live and goes off after some time its going to leave my stereo on a long time which i dont want.

but you have given me an idea what if i put the constant back into the fuseboard and then unpin the ignition live on the iso adaptor and wire it to the 12v socket that should work i think because it seems to shut off pretty much straight away

wiring it like your supposed to which is the harness to the radio harness and constant to the fuse board is no good to me especially if the head unit is staying on after the car is shut down

[Ali-E90]

Originally Posted by totalguy

yeah i had that problem so even with the key off my head unit was still on and no way to turn it off! if the wire on the harness is indeed an ignition live and goes off after some time its going to leave my stereo on a long time which i dont want.

but you have given me an idea what if i put the constant back into the fuseboard and then unpin the ignition live on the iso adaptor and wire it to the 12v socket that should work i think because it seems to shut off pretty much straight away

wiring it like your supposed to which is the harness to the radio harness and constant to the fuse board is no good to me especially if the head unit is staying on after the car is shut down

If the HU is staying on after removing the key, it's likely because the ignition and constant wires are mixed up at the HU.

Constant being live 24/7 is what you want so you don't lose settings and time etc.

ignition not cutting power off when turning car off is the issue you're currently having, and it might be simply because you have the constant wire going to the ignition input for the HU.

Switching the ignition to tap your 12v socket can work too but in my case the harness had the same remote, only the lack of a true constant was the issue.

[totalguy]

Thankyou for your reply ive answered in bold below....

If the HU is staying on after removing the key, it's likely because the ignition and constant wires are mixed up at the HU. The unit is powering on and staying on without the key at all. also i tried swapping the wires around it does the same as mentioned by another member the ignition live which appears to be pin 15 (not permenant as i previously thought) is acting as a permanent live and its not switching off for a very long time and my head unit cant be turned off.

Constant being live 24/7 is what you want so you don't lose settings and time etc. Yes i agree but with the ignition live acting as constant its leaving my head unit on without the key. i even locked the car and it was still on. i think im best taking that pin out of the iso adaptor and wiring it to the 12v socket because that goes off pretty quickly after taking out the key like it should......do you think thats a good solution?

ignition not cutting power off when turning car off is the issue you're currently having, and it might be simply because you have the constant wire going to the ignition input for the HU. It is not because i have the ability to swap the wires on the stereo harness and i did that and still the live from the radio harness (supposed to be ignition/switched) doesnt go off in a reasonable time and swapping the wires around doesnt help

Switching the ignition to tap your 12v socket can work too but in my case the harness had the same remote, only the lack of a true constant was the issue Seems you are lucky with that. i think im going to go ahead and ignition live off the 12v socket and run the permanent live back into the fuseboard seems like my best option now

[Ali-E90]

Originally Posted by totalguy

Thankyou for your reply ive answered in bold below....

If the HU is staying on after removing the key, it's likely because the ignition and constant wires are mixed up at the HU. The unit is powering on and staying on without the key at all. also i tried swapping the wires around it does the same as mentioned by another member the ignition live which appears to be pin 15 (not permenant as i previously thought) is acting as a permanent live and its not switching off for a very long time and my head unit cant be turned off.

Constant being live 24/7 is what you want so you don't lose settings and time etc. Yes i agree but with the ignition live acting as constant its leaving my head unit on without the key. i even locked the car and it was still on. i think im best taking that pin out of the iso adaptor and wiring it to the 12v socket because that goes off pretty quickly after taking out the key like it should......do you think thats a good solution?

ignition not cutting power off when turning car off is the issue you're currently having, and it might be simply because you have the constant wire going to the ignition input for the HU. It is not because i have the ability to swap the wires on the stereo harness and i did that and still the live from the radio harness (supposed to be ignition/switched) doesnt go off in a reasonable time and swapping the wires around doesnt help

Switching the ignition to tap your 12v socket can work too but in my case the harness had the same remote, only the lack of a true constant was the issue Seems you are lucky with that. i think im going to go ahead and ignition live off the 12v socket and run the permanent live back into the fuseboard seems like my best option now

Use a DMM to confirm the ignition wire you're using is going dead when you remove the key. Sounds like whatever your ignition source is tapped to isn't the right wire, it should go dead at key removal, and back live at start button.

Good luck! Figure that one out and I think you'll be in good shape.

[totalguy]

what is DMM?

its pin 15 on the photo i put here initially.

[Ali-E90]

Originally Posted by totalguy

what is DMM?

its pin 15 on the photo i put here initially.

DMM = Digital Multi Meter, a $20 tool that is super useful to have around, check how much current, voltage, ohms, and a number of other things you can do.

Essentially you can use that tool to see if/when a wire gets hot (to confirm it's a good ignition/trigger source) - and in future will still be helpful if you want to check the coils of your speakers, set amp gains (unless you have better tools like an Oscope) and probably a bunch of other non-car audio uses too.

[totalguy]

oh right well if you had said that id have told you i got one i thought it was short for one of the modules in the car or something. i have a multimeter i did mention iused it in the initial post

i found that pin 15 is on for a very long time after the key is out which isnt good enough for me so ill be using the 12v socket wiring to get ignition live and taking the pin out of the car end of the iso wiring adaptor.

its as someone mentioned before its acting like a constant live when its not supposed to be. but i know it isnt a constant live because it does eventually go off i can tel lthis because if i powered the radio on and off it wouldnt come up with the setup menu but having left it overnioght it did come up with the setup menu the next day. part of the reason for that is i had 1 wire in the radio harnesses supposedly ignition live and 1 in the 12v socket's ignition live.

but i will run the permanent live to the fusebox like i did originally and completely bypass the supposedly ignition live on the radio connector because its just not good enough for me i dont want to be leaving the car and having it running for 30 minutes or so. id rather tap into the 12v socket which goes off instantly when ignition is off

[totalguy]

in hindsight i think the supposedly ignition live on the car radio harness is infact not ignition live its probably setup to turn off after half an hour or so because a lot of cars will allow you to use the radio for 30-60 minutes on oem head units so thats probably whats going on i expect. but thats not something i want on my double din especially because it has no off button and i shouldnt have to shut it off anyway

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by totalguy

well apparently i was also wrong and im really pissed off now! checked the car today put the ignition on and damn setup came up on the head unit!

i dont know what to do now because if i put the wire back into permanent live in the fusebox the head unit is on all the time. i cant have it running for god knows how long after ive exited the car and locked it

You have to run a power wire with a fuse on the end of it back to the positive side of the battery.

People have tried to use a fuse tap into the fuse box & 99% of those people have not bee successful with this attempt

[totalguy]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

You have to run a power wire with a fuse on the end of it back to the positive side of the battery.

People have tried to use a fuse tap into the fuse box & 99% of those people have not bee successful with this attempt

i can see why because i put it back to there and low and behold the bloody thing goes off ffs! its really pissing me off now!

guess ill be pulling the drivers seat up again ugh!

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by totalguy

i can see why because i put it back to there and low and behold the bloody thing goes off ffs! its really pissing me off now!

guess ill be pulling the drivers seat up again ugh!

You just have to pull off the trim and pull the carpet back a little.

If you are running multiple amps & a DSP, too should use a fuse distribution box like the one below. Then you only need to run one wire to the positive post of the battery.

https://www.jlaudio.com/products/xd-...n-blocks-90462

[totalguy]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

You just have to pull off the trim and pull the carpet back a little.

If you are running multiple amps & a DSP, too should use a fuse distribution box like the one below. Then you only need to run one wire to the positive post of the battery.

https://www.jlaudio.com/products/xd-...n-blocks-90462

i had an easier idea for getting the permanent live as i know it lies under the trim at the driver's side door (uk) and my idea might be a bit stupid i dunno but failing doing this i will just run a wire to the battery fused of course its gonna be a pain to do that so if i can avoid it i will but also want to be safe.

my idea is this put a slit in the side of the big cable and jam a wire in there maybe with a spade connector then tape it all up. it will of course have a fuse. But as i say might be a stupid idea but i cant see why as usually you would do something similar to tap into wires (rather than cutting them) anyway, but im no expert!

for amps its a bit easier i can put everything under the carpet in the boot and going to the battery. I will of course need a special fuse for that and any other fuses needed. I've got a fuse distribution box but its a fair bit bigger rather not use it if I don't have to but only time will tell..

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by totalguy

i had an easier idea for getting the permanent live as i know it lies under the trim at the driver's side door (uk) and my idea might be a bit stupid i dunno but failing doing this i will just run a wire to the battery fused of course its gonna be a pain to do that so if i can avoid it i will but also want to be safe.

my idea is this put a slit in the side of the big cable and jam a wire in there maybe with a spade connector then tape it all up. it will of course have a fuse. But as i say might be a stupid idea but i cant see why as usually you would do something similar to tap into wires (rather than cutting them) anyway, but im no expert!

for amps its a bit easier i can put everything under the carpet in the boot and going to the battery. I will of course need a special fuse for that and any other fuses needed. I've got a fuse distribution box but its a fair bit bigger rather not use it if I don't have to but only time will tell..

It's your car, personally, I think you might opening up a can of worms. Is just run through yellow wire back to the battery & be done with it.

Just my 2 cents

[ctuna]

There are examples in the threads here of people just using and add
a circuit to some of the unused unswitched fuse slots on the main cabin fuse board.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ight=head+unit

[totalguy]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

It's your car, personally, I think you might opening up a can of worms. Is just run through yellow wire back to the battery & be done with it.

Just my 2 cents

fair enough

The way i see it its a can of worms getting it to the boot under all the trim/carpet its a pain of a job.

[totalguy]

Originally Posted by ctuna

There are examples in the threads here of people just using and add
a circuit to some of the unused unswitched fuse slots on the main cabin fuse board.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ight=head+unit

yes but there is a problem ive already tried a few there already. Also in my fuseboard there are a lot of fuses missing and not just fuses either the pins in the fuseboard are also missing.

the other problem is i cant leave a door open and latched and let it goto sleep for 30-40 mins its just not convenient enough to do so outside my house and i cant get it in my garage for a few more weeks