constant wire, memory, impossible problem

Hello, I have been wiring my own stereos for 12 years. This is a problem I have never encountered. I own a Volvo 850 - 1995 I have everything wired correctly, I tested the constant 12V wire in the harness and it is good, fuses are all good, inline fuse in the stereo's 12V constant is all good. I get power, and it turns off and on with the ignition. Upon restarting, it has lost all memory as if the constant and igntion are swapped. But they are not. I heard that Volvo's may have this flaw as the factory stereos would only get power from that wire when the ignition is switched over...in which case every time I power down it loses the connection to the battery? I am absolutely pulling my hair out and am hoping someone out there knows what the hell is going on... Thanks. -Vinny

i am an idiot wrote: What kind of radio is it?  Have you tried to run wires directly to the battery to see if there is a problem with the cars wiring?

Ya I have, and it works fine now and worked fine on my previous car. It's an ALPINE CDA-9813. 20A Inline fuse circuit

Would a pinched wire somewhere along the way cause this? No...right?

Do you have +12V on the constant power wire with the vehicle turned off and no key in the ignition?  If you do, then there is likely a defect or possibly a blown fuse inside the head unit itself.Support the12volt.com

So it turns out that although I thought I had tested the 12V constant, I guess I must have messed up. The whole time I had thought the problem was the 12V and the ignition wires were mixed and it turns out I was right. In a Volvo, the 12V constant is a RED wire, and the ignition is a YELLOW wire. Completely backwards from Japanese cars and the Japanese head unit I own. So the yellow wire out of my inline fuse box goes right into a red wire...seems insane. Thanks for the help, guys. -Vinny

volvo850 wrote: So it turns out that although I thought I had tested the 12V constant, I guess I must have messed up. The whole time I had thought the problem was the 12V and the ignition wires were mixed and it turns out I was right. In a Volvo, the 12V constant is a RED wire, and the ignition is a YELLOW wire. Completely backwards from Japanese cars and the Japanese head unit I own. So the yellow wire out of my inline fuse box goes right into a red wire...seems insane. Thanks for the help, guys. -Vinny

Glad you figured it out.  A lesson for all installers: even if you've been doing it for years and know the standard color codes like the back of your hand, there's no substitute for metering. 

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