So in my old 99 S80, I wired one wire to the radio fuse and the other to chassis ground and my V1 worked as expected - i.e. it went off with the ignition. With my 05 S80, the exact same setup is (apparently) powered on all the time, even though the radio goes off with the ignition! What am I missing here? Any suggestions? Thanks...

 

Well....newer cars usually have two power leads to the radio. One is the constant battery lead that is typicaly fused with a 20 amp fuse through the fuse pannel. It stays on so there's enough power to your unit to retain the preset memory. The other is the 12 volt accesory wire that acts like the remote wire you'd hook up to an amp. It's function is to flip the relay in the radio that will allow the battery connection to power the stereo. Now, I'm not saying the 99 didn't have both of those power leads....just that the one fused off the pannel was probably the accesory wire. The 05 probably has both of those power leads fused off the pannel. I'm not sure what a "V1" is but in any case, it sounds like all you need is a 12 volt signal that ties into the ignition...what's your cigarette lighter doing these days?

 

Ah ... I think I get it now, thanks for clearing that up. Sorry a V1 = Valentine 1, my radar detector. I really didn't want to get into pulling things apart too much, since i dont want my dealer giving me crap over modifying the wiring and voiding warranties! So if the radio one is out, I suppose that I could just pick another fuse/connection that goes off with the ignition. Time to get the multimeter out I guess!

Thanks for the help, much appreciated!!

 

OK, so I have a followup question. I tried the sunroof, RTI and telephone fuses and they *all* seem to be on all the time. I'm a bit mystified. Theres the other fuse box, underneath the steering wheel, with mini fuses; thats a possibility, but finding a ground close by will be tough. Has anyone else out there seen this?

The dealer wouldn't do the wiring for me, and I'm hesitant to go to circuit city where they really don't *know* Volvo's (Best Buy wouldn't even touch it).

I suppose my last recourse would be to find a high end car stereo place or something, but I'd like to be sure that I have tried everything else before I get that desperate.

- hywel

 

Have you looked for Switched power on the fuses with a test light or meter?

A ground wil be very easy to find under the dash.(Any metal)

 

Ah HAA! It all makes sence now! I thought you were talking about the fuse box inside the car the whole time! You should be able to tie into the radio fuse inside the car....it should be the same fuse that the accessory wire comes off. Here's a little food for thought though. When I hard wired my radar detector into the 240, I piggy backed both the power and ground leads from the cigarette lighter. After all, typically a radar detector is pluged into the cigarette lighter anyway.

The next step is to dismantle the radar detector, install the display into the dash and put the unit in your grill...."what radar detector officer? Do you see a radar detector in here?" lol....I never got a ticket.