I've got a 340 and have quite a powerful stereo system. Does anyone know if it would do any damage to run it without have the engine running?
if so, how long could i run it for? i've heard it can damage your ignition coil, is this true?

Thanks, Rick

the only thing i imagine it will do is drain your battery quite quickly

like 5lab says it WILL drain your battery very quickly

but it sounds like its hooked up to the ignition (stereo only works when ignition is on) if it is then dont run the stereo with engine off for long periods cos it will damage your coil

all stereos i've seen have run off both the +12v line (for power) and ignition wire (just for signal) so i dont really see how it would damage it - make sure you turn it off before you start the car thou

5lab you have confused me the way mine is wired it will only operate on ignion my ignion supplys the main feed and the 12volts is just the memory or is that what you said

rickm, i would sugest you rewire it just to be safe

You can run the radio without the engine running for quite a long while (hours) as all it will do is eventually drain the battery, but most radios are rigged in to the wireing on wires that only become live once the ignition is switched on to prevent battery drain but as I said, it will takes hours to drain a good battery. My radio is rigged up to run with ignition off and has been on all night and there was no problem starting the next day, just remember to check the radio before you get out of the car as if the volume has been turned down you won't know it's on, that's what I did!

No damage will result in this way of wireing, and as for who told someone that the coil could be damaged, well that's impossible as the coil does'nt get any current until the ignition is switched on, and you don't even have to switch the radio off before starting, all it will do is stop for a second then resume play. One thing to look out for is that you don't hook up to a wire that will give interference to the radio, if unsure of which wire to connect to, then always play it the safe way and fit an inline suppressor to cut interference.

Rig it up and enjoy!

yes but if it is wired to the ignion it will bugger the coil!!!

No! Why would it, the radio does'nt put current to the coil. The coil only gets it's current once the ignition switch is switched on. The radio will have no effect on the coil what so ever. The only thing a radio will have an effect on, and this is only if you decide to go wild and start putting in loads of ICE (in car entertainment) i.e. subwoofers, tweeters, amps and such, is the alternator as this then would have to be upgraded to take the extra power reqired to keep charging the battery and supplying all the ICE.

You can trust me on that as I install ICE systems and have installed a lot of BIG systems before now.

I think Special means that if the radio is wired so it ONLY works with the ignition on (like mine ), If you park up and want to listen to the radio then you need to have the ignition on although you are not starting the car , I must admit that I to thought having the ignition on without running the engine for any length of time damaged the coil .

the ignition is probably still only providing SIGNAL, and not POWER.

ok thanks, got a few different opinions back so going to re-wire it just to be safe. oh yeh, just rememberd i don't know how, Morgan105?

When I get my new stereo I am going to wire it direct from the battery to both the live feeds (power and memory )with an inline fuse near the battery

This is what i'd make from it...

If the install is indeed big (and therefore running at least one amp) then the amp would be the significant draw of current. This should be hooked directly to the battery via a fuse, and have the remote active wire connected to the back of the head unit. No contact with ignition system

So the amp can be discounted from the state of affairs

The head unit doesn't draw much in the way of current, whether the main power is coming via the battery or through the switched live on the ignition. Even if it did, the current being drawn would come direct via the fuse breakout box from the battery to the headunit, current is 'pulled' through a circuit, voltage is 'pushed'. As such, the coil would be no where in the line of that current, and wouldn't be damaged by it.

The only way (again, as I have calculated, I could be wrong without a further investigation) that the coil could be damaged by leaving the stereo on, is indirectly, by the fact that the coil gets damaged by leaving the ignition on without the engine running. As I don't know much about the in depth bits inside the ignition system (well, enough to make a balanced judgement) I'll see what others have to say upon it!

right now then clerly some people are not grasping this !!

regaurdless of wether the stereo is wired to ignion or not leaving the ignion on for long periods will damage the coil

if leaving the ignion on did not damage the coil why bother having acc on your ignion barrel you might as well have an on off switch

5lab,
seeing as its my car i know how my stereo is fitted so when i say 12volts is the memory and the ignion supplys full power it does ok


chris

The only way (again, as I have calculated, I could be wrong without a further investigation) that the coil could be damaged by leaving the stereo on, is indirectly, by the fact that the coil gets damaged by leaving the ignition on without the engine running.

this is what i have been trying to say


by the way ive had a crap day at work (cant tell can you)