no memory to radio on c3

[t.welsh]

i bought a c3 1.1 04 recently and decided to upgrade the sterio system and its fine apart from when i start the car and turn the new sterio on id have to set up all the radio stations and equalliser again. also when i turn the car off the sterio stays on. its really annoying. im not sure weather the leads have all the right prongs on it as its just a standard one. but i checked at halfords and it says that the c3 works with standard leads. i have also noticed that there are two wires a brown and a blue that are capped off on the leads. any help would be gorgeous.....

[Peter.N.]

You should have a permanant 12 volt supply to retain the memory, sounds as though its missing.

[Ross_K]

i have also noticed that there are two wires a brown and a blue that are capped off on the leads.

The brown and blue would be the wires for the phone mute and the electric aerial.

Anyway, back to the main problem.

Permanent live keeps your settings when you turn off the ignition.
Switched live cuts power to the radio when you turn off the ignition.

Yours is doing the opposite so I would say it sounds like the permanent live feed and the switched live feed are the wrong way round - usually a "feature" on Sony radios.

[CitroJim]

Yours is doing the opposite so I would say it sounds like the permanent live feed and the switched live feed are the wrong way round - usually a "feature" on Sony radios.

I've been caught out exactly like this on Sony units in the past

[niggle]

The Sony CD radio I fitted in my Blingo recently to replace the OEM radio cassette (on a 55 plate ) had instructions that deal with just this issue of switched and permanent live feeds, with swappable wires included in the connections. Some cars are wired differently such as VAG group ones I think.

Meanwhile although the memory works fine on mine it does not switch off with the ignition, but fortunately it has not had any of the other problems you can get with the Blingo multiplex wiring system and an aftermarket stereo, eg. with the central locking.

I have ordered a kit from http://www.nexxia.co.uk/ to connect it so that the steering column controls work and its possible this may fix the not-switching-off issue as well: will report back.

[wheeler]

There is no true ignition feed at the back of the radio on a C3 thats why it stays on for a while after you turn the ignition off, if you wire up the sony radio as per the instructions that came with it you will have no problems with it & it will work perfectly.
see here > http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... =radio+van

[niggle]

Well it turned out that Nexxia could not come up with the goods so have ordered from http://www.thebassbin.com instead- fingers crossed. Good news is its about £6 cheaper from there.