Permanent live feed for Kenwood Stereo

[Blinkey]

Hi
I have just purchased a 2001 Lunar Lexon EB and am lucky enough to have a Kenwood CD Radio already fitted. It is isolated on the mains panel with a rocker switch but my problem is that there is no permanent live feed for the memory to save the stations.
My question is how to sort it out? Do I wire in a permanent feed from the leisure battery but risk draining the battery between uses/charges (it's a brand new decent 'meaty' battery as I have a mover fitted). Or do I fashion a rechargeable battery pack and feed the stereo from that and just charge the batteries up every now and then?
Any ideas or suggestions gratefully received

 

[Surfer]

I would have thought that the radio would have had a built in memory and would not require a live feed at all times. After all in a car it does not have a live feed 100% of the time.

 

[Parksy]

Don't forget that the caravan will be sited in different areas so local station frequencies may differ anyway. The BBC stations are often fairly constant or at least easy to find and if you have a caravan tv with freeview you can also receive digital radio stations on it.
I'd be more inclined to preserve battery life and know that the alarm is going to be working.

 

[forestgump]

make sure the live feed dose not drain your battery over lay down time ,

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Hence the switch fitted as described above

 

[waffler]

We have a sony in our van with a permanent live for memory. Have twice had a flat battery and now have the radio out!. It's quicker to retune than change a battery.

 

[forestgump]

mr watson how did your post get in front of mine {time) hence the above.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Most car radios have 2 12V feeds
One is permanent live for memory retention
I fitted a direct from the van battery 12V + for the memory on the Bailey Senator built in radio as every time it was attached to the car the habitation relay switched off the two feeds as they had been spliced together
I seperated them and now the memory is retained

I fitted one for my friend who keeps his van in storage and put an on/off switch in the lead so that he could switch it off over long periods of inactivity
I'n editing this to see what happensto the time !!

 

[WatsonJohnG]

I don't know
Its strange
it was meant as an agreement not a rebuff in any way
By the way its Mr G
Watson is my middle name added to JohnG when another JohnG appeared some years ago

I did make my post before you but the time is somehow wrong

We are both on the same side trying to answer a problem
Regards
I have my van at home on charge most of the time but thank you for bringing this back to my attention as the van has been at the dealers for some weeks and I must get them to charge up the battery before I collect so that the mover will allow me to park the van after this period of radio memory drain

Ok now have another look at the disputed time and you will see that it is after your reply of today
It seems that if an edit is made then the date on the original posting becomes the date of the edit
I added that I was editing to see what happened to the time
No doubt you may reply Elementary my dear Watson

Interesting

 

[Blinkey]

Thanks for all your replies people! I think I might fashion a rechargeable pack and install a switch so it doesn't drain the battery. Best of both worlds!

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Blinkey, the answer is run the yellow lead from your radio to any permenant live , this will hold memory in your radio.
You must remember when you got to diferent areas you will have to retune anyway.
When you park up for any length of time remove the front from radio this will stop battery drain

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Hi Roger
Does removing the front then mean that the memory is lost and all stations need retuning every time its removed?
I wouldn't have thought that would be the intention of the designer
If not then the battery drain will occur
When I get the van back from service/repair later this week I'll try it
The Avtex TV sends an FM signal to the radio so the the Tv sound comes through the radio amp and speakers if desired
Losing power means having to retune all channels and to the FM from the Avtex TV and that is why I wired the memory seperately and directlv off the battery
I would have much prefered the Avtex to have had phono output

 

[JTQ]

Our latest van was supplied with a dealer fitted Pioneer radio/video DVD player where they had crudly joined the two power feeds to a single supply. With the unit switched off it was taking a massive 330 milli Amps [only took 800 with it on at sensible sound volumes ( 1700 playing an audio DVD)].
So it was a hell of a drain even when on site off EHU; thats how I found out!
I put a switch replicating the cars ignition switch in the appropriate feed, leaving the memory retaining feed permenantly supplied. Wired up like that the drain when off was just 2 or 3 milli Amps, quite a difference.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Very informative--thanks
My Bailey as posted above was also connected with the power feeds joined
Its amazing the short cuts taken when brochures tell you about all the advantages of equipment and then the maker avoids the expense of proper wiring to enable the vaunted product to work well
Cynically I believe that the main function of many caravan accessories is to appear on the brochure spec sheet with only one criteria and that is its the cheapest one to be sourced
Seperate wired radio memory feed is not a selling point that is visible
Its surprising the amount used when switched off
Regards

 

[Blinkey]

Again, thanks all for the replies!
John, thanks for your reply, removing the front panel to retain memory won't matter as the radio is isolated via the mains panel. I haven't tried leaving it switched on there to see if it stays live but from one of the other replies it might drain the battery considerably!
Sir Roger, thanks for your reply, it's an RDS radio so wherever I go if the memory is connected it will search automatically for the freqency that saved station is on (without me having to do it!).
I'll have a play this weekend as I'm off for our FIRST outing in the caravan

A little anxious but hopefully I'll remember all the procedures I need to go through to get us up and running!!!
Thanks all

 

[DeliDave_]

Most radios only need 8volts to retain the memory I work on cars occasionally and clip a 9volt PP3 battery to the leads before removing the battery to keep the radio memory (and security code) to be fair its usually fords (and sir rogers BMW by royal appointment)