Radios in 2000 Fiat Ducato conversions

We have had our Symphony just over a month and the second trip is coming up.  Apart from having no handbook for the Ducato (which FIAT themselves can't provide - local dealer has tried this country and manufacturer in Italy) we are managing ok.  The van is fitted with a Sony radio (again no instruction book) and we are unable to 1) turn it on and off except with the main van ignition switch and 2) how does it work?  Looks simple but after 3/4 hour fiddling still can only just get Radio 4 and Classic FM and the reception is not that great.  Any one got any ideas please?

I still have the base vehicle handbook if you still want it? It is a Peugeot but will be the same except for the'badge'!

Has the radio got a model number anywhere on it?
If not maybe a photo would be helpful.

PB

Our van has a Sony Radio, and is in a Peugeot Symbol. If it's an old unit like mine I may be able to help.  

Mine turned off with the ignition but there was a plug in the back of the unit to supply permanent 12 volt so the radio is always on via the radio on/off switch. but only in "old Vans" like mine, a 2000 model.

Lets have the Model number I might or someone on here be able to help.

Best regards, Mike  

Once you've made a note of the model number of your Sony Head Unit (technical term for a car radio :-) ) try "heading" over to here: http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/hub/HEAD You may well find Sony have the manual available online, I found one for the fairly old unit in my previous car on their site.

If the Ducato is wired up the same way as the Pug Boxer then there isn't an accessory position on the "Ignition" key switch, it's all, including the radio, or nothing. I've taken a 2nd power supply from the leisure battery to overcome this so I can listen while parked/camping.

What year is your van? A search for "Fiat Ducato Manual pdf" suggests it might be findable online e.g. there's a list of links here http://www.filecrop.com/Fiat-Ducato-.pdf.html which might prove fruitful. (I'd ensure your ant-virus etc is all up to date and apply some care and common sense when accepting downloads from some of those sites though, particularly if you're using a Windows computer.)

Oh, and the first file on that list is in Spanish, which isn't obvious until after you get it 

snaprails wrote:Once you've made a note of the model number of your Sony Head Unit (technical term for a car radio :-) ) try "heading" over to here: http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/hub/HEAD You may well find Sony have the manual available online, I found one for the fairly old unit in my previous car on their site.

If the Ducato is wired up the same way as the Pug Boxer then there isn't an accessory position on the "Ignition" key switch, it's all, including the radio, or nothing. I've taken a 2nd power supply from the leisure battery to overcome this so I can listen while parked/camping.

Why bother with an 'extra' supply-feed from the leisure battery, you already have one, the constant 12v feed for the radio memory, all I did was to take a loop from the radio multi-plug.

modelman wrote:Why bother with an 'extra' supply-feed from the leisure battery, you already have one, the constant 12v feed for the radio memory, all I did was to take a loop from the radio multi-plug.

That's how mine was wired when I got it.  The memory backup feed is from the vehicle battery so there's a risk of leaving it switched on - especially if there's no sound output at the time e.g. CD has reached the end - and not being able to start the engine. Also on some vehicles now the memory supply is a thinner gauge wire which may not be able to carry the current drawn by modern head units, though i can't recall if that's true for the Boxer/Ducato.

I prefer to use the habitation battery when camping as SWMBO likes to have the radio/CD/iPod on most of the time when on site. If the supply is coming from the leisure batt. this is never going to be a problem (apart from her taste in music   ) and the batt is usually floating across the mains hook-up charger anyway.

I've wired the leisure battery head unit supply via a relay operated by a switch on the dash with a prominent bright red LED in it to make it obvious when it's on. When switched off this ensures no current can flow from one battery to the other via the head unit wiring when the ignition is switched on. At some point when I get a round tuit I'll automate this so that the supply from the leisure battery is cut off when the ignition is on and 
reconnected when the ignition is off. Which I should have done originally but only thought about it afterwards   

So that's why i bother but you pays your money and takes your choice

Hi,
Why complicate things, I wired my radio/ cd player from the leisure battery for memory and use, when the engine is running it's charging the leisure battery anyway so why bother switching between two systems:confused3: ,
Chris

chrisvesey wrote:Hi,
Why complicate things, I wired my radio/ cd player from the leisure battery for memory and use, when the engine is running it's charging the leisure battery anyway so why bother switching between two systems:confused3: ,
Chris

Exactly what I was thinking!

Frank

Many thanks for all your replies.  Not all of them  make sense to me (not very electrically minded) but will print off and look through with someone who is!

Hi,
Sorry we have gone a bit off topic, if you are not able to talk to whoever you bought it from you could go to halfords or a car radio specialist and ask them if they could explain how it works. It may not be the original radio as Many owners changed it to get away from the feature where it switched off after 20 minutes.are you sure that the van is a fiat as I thought that they were built on a Peugeot,
Regards,
Chris

chrisvesey wrote:Hi,
Why complicate things, I wired my radio/ cd player from the leisure battery for memory and use, when the engine is running it's charging the leisure battery anyway so why bother switching between two systems:confused3: ,
Chris

What's complicated about it? Normal "road" use radio switched on/off by ignition switch as originally designed. On site use radio switched on/off by illuminated switch. Simples.

snaprails wrote:

chrisvesey wrote:Hi,
Why complicate things, I wired my radio/ cd player from the leisure battery for memory and use, when the engine is running it's charging the leisure battery anyway so why bother switching between two systems:confused3: ,
Chris

What's complicated about it? Normal "road" use radio switched on/off by ignition switch as originally designed. On site use radio switched on/off by illuminated switch. Simples.

I still fail to see the advantage in extra relays etc. I say again , why bother?

I've just this afternoon done the same as Modelman and looped the permanent 12v feed to the pin on the radio plug that previously had the feed via the ignition switch. I've had cars wired like this from new. Yes, we will have to remember to switch the radio off, but we're old enough to have had cars that drained the battery when we left the lights on!! Annoying, but no complicated electronics to fail!!

The mod works great. Because the cig lighter socket is also wired straight from the battery, it means that when parked, we can use the radio and also use our fm transmitter to send audio from tv/ipod/pc to the radio and hence to the habitation speakers. Engine battery drain won't be problem for the amount of time we will be using this set-up.

Rgds

Mikebro 

My radio is wired direct from the vehicle battery the radio on/off switch also the selects radio/aux/cd. Turned off the radio left the van for about 10 days but when I went to start up again the battery was almost flat. I hadn’t turned the radio off as I though but selected aux I now make sure the radio is off.

Cheers Matt

QED. I think Matt just made the case for head unit to be on a switched supply, whether that be on the vehicle battery or the leisure battery.

snaprails wrote:
What's complicated about it? Normal "road" use radio switched on/off by ignition switch as originally designed. On site use radio switched on/off by illuminated switch. Simples.

Even less complicated to just switch the radio off when you're finished with it!!



Mikebro

mikebro wrote:Even less complicated to just switch the radio off when you're finished with it!!



Mikebro

Great idea, right up to the time you are distracted or just forget.

I think it's time to agree to differ,
Chris