Weird Car Power Issue with Radio

[mike689]

For the longest time my car's dash clock hasnt worked and i just didnt bother trying to get it fixed, but today i was fiddling with the wires when trying to install my new head unit and when i touched the red and yellow wires coming from the car together the clock turns on, and when i take them apart it turns off. Also, the only way i can get power to my new head unit is to take the red and yellow wires coming from the head unit, twist them together, and then twist them with the red wire coming out of the car. When i measured the voltage coming from the red and yellow wires coming from the car i got about ~12 VDC for red and ~1.5 VDC from the yellow. For some reason the head unit will not work if i hook red/red and yellow/yellow and it wont work if i connect red/yellow and yellow/red either. I fell like it might be a problem with the yellow constant wire coming out of the car.

Anyone know what might be wrong? If you need any further details just let me know.

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[mike689]

Bump.

 

[shortyg83 10+ year member]

Yellow wire should goto battery. Red wire is remote turn on from fuse panel. Or thats what it shouldbe.

 

[SethPhillips 5,000+ posts]

what kind of car.. are these tha factory wire's from the dash of the car? need more info.