When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
ive been trying to solve an after market head unit issue on my 2009 dodge journey sxt. I purchased a metra wiring harness that brought a separate red ACC/ignition wire. My radio factory harness doesnt have a red ACC/ignition wire. the way i currently wired the vehicle to get it to turn
- aftermakret harness yellow and red connected to constant
this keeps the head unit on after turning off the car. ive had to jump start the car every other day this week (more than 4 times so far since installing the head unit)
i took the headunit off and no battery issue. i finnaly found something that points me in the right direction as far as the factory radio harness. but yet again, ITS ANOTHER DEAD END. its been dead end after dead end after dead end.
at this point im begging for someone to atleast comment for me to give up. the document i found (atatched) gives me a full description of what the cables are and what they do.
ultimately what i want to figure out is exactly how and where to connect the separate red/acc/ignition cable to stop the drainage.
on this document that im attaching i see "radio ignition" with the location as (CAN BUS)
what is "CAN BUS" ??? so i can finally address my issue.
A Controller Area Network is a robust vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other in applications without a host computer. It’s how all the different modules talk to each other. A communications protocol if you will.
I owe this to anyone searching this forum site for answers. To be honest, you wont find any here besides this post. I will copy and paste this message to all post i added in search for this answer in different questions. It turns out that the 2009 dodge journey radio acc ignition switch is controlled by some internal computer in the car called CAN BUS or DATA. you'll find different references for it but the 2 i just mentioned are it. What that means is that if you are installing aftermarket radio/head unit you wont get AMP power, antenna power, illumination or ignition cut off. you can wire the radio using metra harnesses but you'll have a hard time getting the things i mentioned above. The only way this will work (AS I JUST GOT IT WORKING) is by purchasing a "
it brings the harness and everything you need for the 2009 odge journey sxt model.
took a long time to find the answers but i can ensure that this is all you need for installing an after market radio/head unit. without this, no matter how you wire the ACC red cable of your aftermarket harness either to fuse, or pink/white under the steering wheel or to a relay your cars battery will drain out after 2 days time.
Is there not a fuse in the fuse box that only comes on when the car ignition is turned on. Pretty much car has at least one. Most cars have an available fuse in the fuse box just for running aftermarket accessories. Then it would be a simple matter of running a wire from that fuse to the aftermarket stereo acc wire.
Failing that I know that there are 2 twelve volt power outlets underneath the stereo location. The bottom boe.being powered all the time and the top one is only powered when the ignition is on. It's fairly simple to tie into the to 12 volt power outlet and run a wire up to the aftermarket stereo. Being careful not to use the power outlet for high energy devices. I.E. cigarette lighter.
Last edited by Wsneakersw; Sep 4, 2024 at 10:55 PM.
what is 2009 dodge journey (CAN BUS)
