Fuse Problem

[IProtege]

Hello yall,
I did a quick search but didn't find anything that had my direct problem in it so here goes. I installed some cheap cd player in my car. which works great, except that you have to push the power button on it each time you turn on the car for it to be on.[doesn't just power on when the car does.]
Now I am not sayin i did it right, but I feel fairly confident with the wiring. Only problem is. When i went to turn the car on first time after and anytime now, the dash clock, and overhead lights don't turn on. I had a friend help me find the correct fuse, and we replaced it. But I tried putting the original clock back into the car, and the clock turned back on. But now it no longer works. Which sucks, cause it's a feature i loved. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Car is a 94 protege dx.

[martiniac]

you don't have a constant hooked up for the cd player. you are running all of the power off of the ignition (which is meant to send a signal telling the player to draw power from the constant... not run the player) There are tons of constant power supplys you can tap into or you can run a new one from the fuse box easy enough. unfortunately it doesn't sound like this is the total answer to your question. It seems to me that you also have a short somewhere. i can only imagine the collection of intertwined black taped connections you have going. when dealing with 12 volt systems be neat.. and always use but connectors.

I have an extra original clock if you are interested.

[jumpncrash]

well teh problems are probably related, his constnt that he should be using is the same one that provides power to the clock. So it probably shorted out ont eh fram in the console since its not hooked up to anything. I'm not sure what color the wires are though and I don't feel like tearing apart my console to look, but it should be pretty easy to find with a multimeter.

Nick

[IProtege]

Well that constant seems like i can hook that up in no time. And to be honest, I actually don't have a black electrical tape nightmare, it's all connected with connectors. I even bundled them so it wasn't some hay day of wires. Granted I did not solder them. But once I get a soldering gun, I will.
On to the clock, Well once I find out if it's a short or not for sure, and if the clock is kaput or what. Then I'll get to you on that sale. But do you have any idea how much it would be to get an electrical expert to find the short for me. Or is that something I might be able to do myself you think? [not dumb. but not an expert]
But overall thanks for the assistance on the constant and the short.

[martiniac]

Well that constant seems like i can hook that up in no time. And to be honest, I actually don't have a black electrical tape nightmare, it's all connected with connectors. I even bundled them so it wasn't some hay day of wires. Granted I did not solder them. But once I get a soldering gun, I will.
On to the clock, Well once I find out if it's a short or not for sure, and if the clock is kaput or what. Then I'll get to you on that sale. But do you have any idea how much it would be to get an electrical expert to find the short for me. Or is that something I might be able to do myself you think? [not dumb. but not an expert]
But overall thanks for the assistance on the constant and the short.

I didn't mean to be rude in my portreyal of intertwined electrical taped wires. I apologize. 9x out of 10 when someone asks me to take a look at their "set up" it is nothing short of a nightmare. When I read your post I was at work and quickly wrote my 2 cents.

There is absolutely no need to solder a stereo install. Alarms are a different story but for a stereo it's just not necessary if your connections are butt connected and crimped correctly.

It's really hard to say where the short is originating without being able to get in the car and figure it out. If you want an 'expert' opinion, I would suggest putting in some phone time and calling around to the local 12 volt install businesses. Good luck!!

[IProtege]

Don't worry. I took no offense. Yah, that's what im gonna do this weekend. Urrrgh, phone time. lol.

[Wilyb]

R u still blowing fuses or are you simply not getting any juice?
(short circuit or open circuit?)

[IProtege]

yah, it doesn't seem like I'm getting any juice to those components.

[Wilyb]

then it's an open circuit... meaning either no ground or no live...u would blow fuses if it was a short