How To Power Entune Outside Of Vehicle?

Like a doofus, I removed the stock radio from the truck (2014 DCSB) before writing down the preset stations and removing a CD. Is there a safe way to power up the radio to remove the CD and write down the presets? I really don't want to have the pull the new radio out in order to accomplish this. Getting it in with all of the extra wiring from the Maestro was a nightmare.

 

Should be pretty easy, if you've got a pin out that shows what wires the aftermarket adapter connect to on the stock harness you should be able to figure out which pin is your +12 volt in and ground, on an aftermarket harness it's usually the red and black wires, I would put a fuse in line but you could just make a quick jumper harness and run it off your battery.

 

Thanks, I do have a motorcycle battery and a Metra connector I can hook up. I was worried about the current from the battery hooking it up directly, but adding the fuse in line should take care of that. Sometimes it is the simplest things that evade us.

 

The fuse won't do anything to limit current, it will however protect the circuit from over amperage, but the radio is only going to draw as much amperage as it needs, the battery won't supply more current than the device demands, unless there's a short that drops resistance. Well that is up into the point where either you blow the fuse or your wires become the fuse.

Confusing I know, and I'm not even 100% sure I got all that right. Something something OHMs law and all that.

Just know the fuse is there for your safety, but even without a fuse so long as you connect the hot wire and the ground or neutral wire in the correct places you can't give it too much power with a battery direct connection because circuits with a load just work like that.

I think what you're actually worried about is over voltage, but the radio is a 12 volt system and the battery is a 12 volt system which means that the radio and the battery should be relatively happy anywhere in the range of 10 to 14 volts, and a 12 volt battery should never be able to exceed about 14 volts.

But yeah, I'm not an electrical engineering by education by any means but Volts, Amps, and, Current are all different things.

The important thing is to remember +12 in and ground/neutral in the right spots and you should be good to go.

 

You need a

$12 Metra 71-1761 87-94 Toyota Vehicle Harness

Metra 71-1761. That’s about it.

Yellow and red wires to battery +
Black wire to battery -

no fuse needed. No worries about damaging anything

 

I have that Metra connector. I was worried about the current because the last time I tried to power an old Alpine outside of the vehicle doing the same thing that has been suggested, to remove a CD, it kept blowing the radio's fuse. With the stock radio not having a fuse in the radio itself, I didn't want to inadvertently mess it up. Someday when I sell the truck I will put the stock radio back in and pull the Kenwood I just installed.

 

If a fuse was blowing, then there was a deeper issue. wires were getting crossed or the radio had an internal issue. You want to make sure unused wires in the metro harness stay capped and aren't exposed. you want to make sure the radio chassis doesn't touch the battery.

 

Yah, I don't know what the deal was. The power and ground wires were isolated from each other so who knows. Other than being severely dated the radio was working perfectly when it was removed.