Car Stereos: pioneer car cd player, pioneer car cd player, car cd player

Question
i have a pioneer DEH-P4100UB car cd player.i want to know if the orange and white wire is a positive or a ground wire? and what is a lighting switch terminal? and how can i stop the cd player from draining my battery? thanks

Answer
Hi Jeremiah,

The orange/white is meant to be connected to a positive illumination wire.  In other words, it should have +12 volts on it whenever your parking lights are turned on.  There's almost always a wire of this type in the factory radio harness.

The only function of the orange/white wire is to make the display automatically dim when the vehicle's lights are switched on.  If you don't connect it to anything at all, it won't affect the operation of the CD player other than the dimming feature.

Your battery shouldn't be draining as long as the CD player switches off automatically when the key is turned off.  You should have the yellow wire connected to a constant power source, and the red wire should be connected to a key-switched power source.

Hope this helps!

Brian