have any of you guys installing new stereos had problems getting power? i just bought a kenwood unit for my 90 f150 and i bought the harness and all. hooked all the wires like they are supposed to be and no power. had to connect the yellow and red together then it got power but it will not keep any memory what so ever. any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

I believe red is the accessory power (only on when the ignition is turned), and yellow is constant. Check you harness adapter diagram. If you are not holding memory, the yellow wire (constant) is to blame. Do you have a circuit tester? If not, go spend the $5 to get one and make sure you are getting power constantly to the yellow wire. If you aren't you can either trace it back to find where it is wrong, or run another power wire from the fusebox. Constant power is easy, you don't have to fish for something. If the accessory power was off, then you might be looking at putting in some relays.

If for some reason both power wires are OK, check the black ground wire. Between those three that is all you have for power.

 

well we hooked it to my friends civic and it was fine but with the truck only way it worked was join the red and yellow. think running the yellow to the cigarette lighter would work?

 

Like mentioned before, the red is the constant power to keep memory and settings. The yellow is usually thicker and the one that only is powered when the truck is on. Sounds Like an issue with the acc power wire and where it gets power from. They should not be put together and that is causing this issue.