no power to radio when using remote start
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Security and Convenience
Forum Discription: Car Alarms, Keyless Entries, Remote Starters, Immobilizer Bypasses, Sensors, Door Locks, Window Modules, Heated Mirrors, Heated Seats, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=135694
Printed Date: July 14, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Topic: no power to radio when using remote start
Posted By: alsstraight6
Subject: no power to radio when using remote start
Date Posted: January 02, 2014 at 12:44 PM
Hello all, I recently installed a viper 4103xv in my 1989 F150 (go ahead and yuck it up, I like to let this old truck warm up before driving off), the remote start works flawlessly but I noticed today that there is no power to the radio until I turn the key to the ON position. The same holds true when I turn the viper on while the truck is running and pull the key out ("errand mode", for lack of better terms). Frankly it doesn't quite matter as I don't use the radio until I am actually in the truck and turn the ignition on and drive off, however, it's one of those things that is going to bother and pester me and make my OCD flare up. The sytem advertises use of accessory while in remote start mode so I'm curious as to why it doesn't work. Also, I want to ensure that the system is working correctly and not partially which could more than likely lead to some issues down the line. The radio is aftermarket (I bought the truck with the radio already in it). I suspect that it may have something to do with how the radio was wired during installation.
I connected the Vehicle Accessory Wire (+): Gray / YELLOW from the Ignition Switch Harness to the ORANGE (+) OUTPUT TO ACCESSORY CIRCUIT from the system harness as directed.
Before I start fiddling around with the viper and radio wiring I was hoping maybe someone had come across something similar to this and could lend their expertise. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Best Regards,
Al
Replies:
Posted By: chev104275
Date Posted: January 02, 2014 at 1:38 PM
IGNITION 1 RED / LIGHT GREEN (+) @ IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
IGNITION 2 BLACK/ LIGHT GREEN (+) @ IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
ACCESSORY /HEATER BLOWER 1 GRAY / YELLOW (+)
Can you list out your connections for us. Are all . Above wires powered up during remote start?
------------- If i Can't Install it I Don't need it Joe
Posted By: alsstraight6
Date Posted: January 02, 2014 at 2:32 PM
The following diagram is the one that I used. Items that are "striked through" were not used. Either because they did not apply, or because there was no corresponding wire on the viper system harness to connect to. Also, forgot to mention, this is a manual, I bypassed the clutch safety switch long before I installed this remote start, yes, I'm lazy. And btw the heater does work while the truck is in remote start mode. The parking lights turn on. Pressing the brake pedal shuts the truck off if the ignition is not in the ON position. Everything else works just fine. Thanks for the reply.
"1989 Ford F150 Remote Start Wiring Diagram
Vehicle Battery Positive Wire (+): Yellow Vehicle Battery Positive Wire Location: Ignition Switch Harness
Vehicle Ignition Wire (+): RED / Light Green Vehicle Ignition Wire Location: Ignition Switch Harness
Vehicle Second Ignition Wire (+): N/A Vehicle Second Ignition Wire Location: N/A
Vehicle Accessory Wire (+): Gray / YELLOW Vehicle Accessory Wire Location: Ignition Switch Harness
Vehicle Second Accessory Wire (+): N/A Vehicle Second Accessory Wire Location: N/A
Automobile Engine Starter Wire (+): RED / Light Blue Automobile Engine Starter Wire Location: Ignition Switch Harness
Automobile Second Engine Starter Wire (-): N/A Automobile Second Engine Starter Wire Location: N/A
Factory Anti-Theft System: None Factory Anti-Theft System Type: None
Car Key Sense Wire (-): BLACK/ Pink Car Key Sense Wire Location: At Steering Column Harness
Car Neutral Safety Wire (+): N/A Car Neutral Safety Wire Location: N/A
Car Tachometer Wire (-): Dark GREEN/ YELLOW Car Tachometer Wire Location: At Ignition Coil
Car Speed Sense Wire: GREEN / WHITE Car Speed Sense Wire Location: At Wire Harness from Transmission
Car Parking Lights Wire (+): Brown Car Parking Lights Wire Location: At Vehicle Light Switch
Car Brake Lights Wire (+): Green Car Brake Lights Wire Location: At Brake Switch Above the Pedal
Car Reverse Lights Wire (+): BLACK/ Pink Car Reverse Lights Wire Location: At Gear Select Switch on Transmission
Car Horn Wire (-): N/A Car Horn Wire Location: N/A"
Posted By: blanx218
Date Posted: January 02, 2014 at 3:36 PM
The truck doesn't require any other connections. The radio gets power from the 2nd ignition wire. I have an 02 Dakota thats the same way. i powered all the "necessary" ignition and accessory wires but my radio, wipers, etc. dont come on till the keys in and on. Its actually nice in case of a radio left turned up loud or wipers left on and an icy windshield. Although I'm sure the icy windshield part may not happen all that much in NC as it does in PA.
Posted By: alsstraight6
Date Posted: January 02, 2014 at 3:58 PM
blanx218 wrote:
The truck doesn't require any other connections. The radio gets power from the 2nd ignition wire. I have an 02 Dakota thats the same way. i powered all the "necessary" ignition and accessory wires but my radio, wipers, etc. dont come on till the keys in and on. Its actually nice in case of a radio left turned up loud or wipers left on and an icy windshield. Although I'm sure the icy windshield part may not happen all that much in NC as it does in PA.
Ok, I guess it's nothing to lose sleep over, just wanted to make sure that I had wired everything correctly.
Definitely no where as bad as PA, but there are plenty of mornings that the windshield ices over and needs heat in order to drive safely. Now my lazy ass doesn't hafta walk 25 feet and crank it up in my underwear while I'm scurrying around tryna get ready in the morning. LoL
Thanks for the reply.
Posted By: Ween
Date Posted: January 02, 2014 at 6:26 PM
Hi,
The BLACK/ light green needs to be powered up. It can be connected as an accessory circuit, because that's what it is.
Mark
Posted By: alsstraight6
Date Posted: January 02, 2014 at 7:29 PM
Ween]H wrote:
, The BLACK/ light green needs to be powered up. It can be connected as an accessory circuit, because that's what it is. Mark
Hello Mark. Interesting. So there is a BLACK/ light green wire in the ignition harness (not doubting you, I just definitely don't recall seeing one)? Also, the various wiring diagrams I found online were all the same and none of them mentioned a BLACK/ light green wire. The wiring diagram that I posted above and that I used said "N/A" for Ignition 2. Is this the ignition 2 that chev104275 mentioned?
chev104275 wrote:
IGNITION 2 BLACK/ LIGHT GREEN (+) @ IGNITION SWITCH HARNESS
And then I would wire that along with the heavy gauge accessory wire from the viper system? It's ironic, I tried to pull up the instruction manual that was resident on this site and it seems to have been taken down. I have a copied saved but not at the computer that I'm currently at.
Best regards,
Al
Posted By: alsstraight6
Date Posted: January 02, 2014 at 8:17 PM
Alright, so I found the factory guide for the wiring. Everything with strike throughs was not wired. Everything in bold is where I wired them to on the truck. Maybe this will shed some light on the subject? Thanks again to all who have replied.
➢ Primary harness (H1) wiring diagram
H1/1 LIGHT GREEN/ BLACK FACTORY ALARM DISARM H1/2 GREEN / WHITE FACTORY REARM H1/3 YELLOW (+) IGNITION OUT (TO ALARM) H1/4 WHITE/ BLUE (-) ACTIVATION INPUT H1/5 ORANGE (-) GROUND WHEN LOCKED H1/6 BROWN (-) HORN OUTPUT H1/7 RED / WHITE (-) TRUNK RELEASE OUTPUT
H1/8 BLACK GROUND Grounded (correctly) behind kick panel H1/9 WHITE (+/-) LIGHT FLASH Car Parking Lights Wire (+): Brown @ Vehicle Light Switch
➢ 4-pin satellite harness diagram
1 BLUE STATUS OUTPUT 2 ORANGE (-) ACCESSORY OUTPUT 3 PURPLE (-) STARTER OUTPUT 4 PINK (-) STARTER OUTPUT
➢ Heavy gauge relay wiring diagram 1 PINK (+) (30 AMP) OUTPUT TO IGNITION CIRCUIT Vehicle Ignition Wire (+): RED / Light Green @ Igintion Switch Harness 2 PURPLE (+) (30 AMP) OUTPUT TO STARTER CIRCUIT Automobile Engine Starter Wire (+): RED / Light Blue @ Ignition Switch Harness 3 ORANGE (+) (30 AMP) OUTPUT TO ACCESSORY CIRCUIT Vehicle Accessory Wire (+): Gray / YELLOW @ Ignition Switch Harness 4 RED (+) (30A) HIGH CURRENT 12 INPUT Vehicle Battery Positive Wire (+): Yellow @ Ignition Switch Harness
5 PINK/WHITE (+) PROGRAMMABLE OUTPUT FOR ACCESSORY OR IGNITION
6 RED (+) (30A) HIGH CURRENT 12V INPUT Vehicle Battery Positive Wire (+): Yellow @ Ignition Switch Harness
➢ Door lock harness, 3-pin connector (I have manual locks but am actually looking into swapping in factory power locks)
1 BLUE (-) UNLOCK OUTPUT 2 EMPTY NOT USED 3 GREEN (-) LOCK OUTPUT
➢ Remote start harness (H2) wiring diagram H2/1 BLACK/ WHITE (-) NEUTRAL SAFETY SWITCH INPUT Grounded (truck is a manual, bypassed the clutch safety switch) H2/2 VIOLET/WHITE TACHOMETER INPUT WIRE Car Tachometer Wire (-): Dark GREEN/ YELLOW @ Tach Harness (barely any wire exposed at coil) H2/3 BROWN (+) BRAKE SWITCH SHUTDOWN WIRE Car Brake Lights Wire (+): Green @ Brake Switch Above Brake Pedal H2/4 GRAY (-) HOOD PINSWITCH SHUTDOWN WIRE At Hood Pinswitch (installed the one that came with system)
H2/5 BLUE/WHITE (-) 200mA 2ND STATUS/REAR DEFOGGER OUTPUT
Posted By: Ween
Date Posted: January 02, 2014 at 8:21 PM
Connect module Pink/White to vehicle BLACK/ Light Green. Go into programming, change to accessory output.
Posted By: alsstraight6
Date Posted: January 02, 2014 at 8:26 PM
Ween]C wrote:
nnect module Pink/White to vehicle BLACK/ Light Green. Go into programming, change to accessory output.
Thanks Mark. I'll try to get under the steering wheel tomorrow and see if I can find BLACK/ Light Green at the ignition switch harness.
Best regards,
Al
Posted By: Chris Luongo
Date Posted: January 03, 2014 at 7:13 AM
Ween is right, and you will definitely find the wire there.
If you fail to reprogram the pink/white to be an accessory output, and just leave it as Ignition 2, everything will probably still work OK since this is an older car. But it is best to reprogram it, so it'll drop power during cranking just like when you start the engine with the key.
And yes, it's your car, so your preference, install this system the way you want.
I usually leave the radio unpowered whenever I can, figuring this way, remote-starting the car in early or late hours won't disturb the neighbors.
I did have one customer who said she has a child with a mental disability, and uses the remote starter in pit-stop mode to keep the radio on while getting out of the car to run an errand. In this case, I made sure to connect all accessory wires.
Also, I've heard that on some Fords (late 90s Explorer, and also the Panther cars), that the BLACK/ green also provides power to the air conditioner compressor, and that the AC won't work during remote start without it. I'm wondering if the same might be true for your F150.
PS: Do be aware that if you power up the radio circuit during remote start, and you were listening to some kind of pre-recorded music (CD, cassette, iPod, USB drive), you will "miss" a song or two because it'll be playing even while you're in the house with the remote starter on.
Also, if the radio has Bluetooth, and you're in the house talking on the phone, the car might be close enough to the house that the car radio will pick up the phone call even though you're outside the car.
Posted By: alsstraight6
Date Posted: January 03, 2014 at 9:19 AM
Chris Luongo wrote:
Ween is right, and you will definitely find the wire there.
If you fail to reprogram the pink/white to be an accessory output, and just leave it as Ignition 2, everything will probably still work OK since this is an older car. But it is best to reprogram it, so it'll drop power during cranking just like when you start the engine with the key.
And yes, it's your car, so your preference, install this system the way you want.
I usually leave the radio unpowered whenever I can, figuring this way, remote-starting the car in early or late hours won't disturb the neighbors.
I did have one customer who said she has a child with a mental disability, and uses the remote starter in pit-stop mode to keep the radio on while getting out of the car to run an errand. In this case, I made sure to connect all accessory wires.
Also, I've heard that on some Fords (late 90s Explorer, and also the Panther cars), that the BLACK/ green also provides power to the air conditioner compressor, and that the AC won't work during remote start without it. I'm wondering if the same might be true for your F150.
PS: Do be aware that if you power up the radio circuit during remote start, and you were listening to some kind of pre-recorded music (CD, cassette, iPod, USB drive), you will "miss" a song or two because it'll be playing even while you're in the house with the remote starter on.
Also, if the radio has Bluetooth, and you're in the house talking on the phone, the car might be close enough to the house that the car radio will pick up the phone call even though you're outside the car.
Awesome info. Thanks Chris! I was actually just re-reading the programming of the wire and since I'm too cheap to buy whatever little nifty device that would make it simple to program, I'll just use that little black button and press it 700 times and count the LED flashes and what not. I currently get heat, no A/C though, because this damn thing rolled off the line in 1989 without a compressor! Haha!   And actually yes, that's probably the one time that I would want the radio to work, during pit-mode. My iphone plugs directly into the radio so it's convenient for it to be charging and what not if I put the truck in pit-mode.
Thanks again to everyone for your input! It is greatly appreciated! I will post update once I complete this, should be super quick, though it's supposed to be cold down here this weekend. I guess we're catching a blast of some of that cold weather you guys are having up north.
Best regards,
Al
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