Is it possible?

[Ollie_bwoii]

Just curious, but does anyone know if is it possible to put an in-line switch for the aerial as a cut off sort of thing for the motor, basically so it's not forever going up and down when I change to CD instead of Radio on the headunit?

I was sort of thinking an E30 switch to fill a blank above the headunit?

TIA.

[choppa7]

Pretty sure it'd be possible:
Remove the headunit, find the aerial wire, pretty sure its a thicker white one than the rest, chop it, stick in a switch of your choice in a location of your choice and roberts your mothers brother

Your model of car will dictate which switch blanks you have spare or which switches you want to use?

[johnt0709]

Ollie - Im sure you could just put a switch in the wire for the electric aerial - normally a couple of blanks in this area anyway.
My aerial stays up when the cds on? Must just be different head units.

Is it not a bit James Bondish though?......

[fuzzy]

no its just not possible. your taking things to far.

[pukar]

pm polsta.....he has done this "mod" successfully with a switch in the dash....

[Chris]

Maybe me being simple but if this aerial wire is just a 12v feed to the motor, why not connect it to the switched live for the head unit?

This way, when you start the car, the aerial goes up and when you get out it goes down, No worries.

Chris

[Banjo1981]

I've done this with an old "just rear" fog light switch.

I put the switch in line with the head unit signal feed to the aerial and it works a treat.

The benefits of using this switch is that it fits in with the heater panel so doesn't look like someone's taken a bit after market cr*p on my dash.

[sideshowbob]

Why don't you check the wiring on your head unit, as my Alpine headunit puts the aerial up and down when the radio is turned on. If I only want to play the CD the aerial isn't activated.
Seems alot more civilised than adding non - standard switches here and there !

[Banjo1981]

Mine is a standard switch tho, just not a standard function. It's also in one of the blank positions at the top of the heater panel so fits in nicely.

Re-reading your post Ollie, do you want it to stay up or down?

If it's up you'll need to route an ignition live to the aerial rather than the signal one from the back of the stereo, this'll mean that the aerial is up whenever the car's "on"(key in pos 2).

If down then a switch solution such as mine will do the trick as it prevents the signal from the head unit getting to the aerial unless you switched the switch.

Hope this helps

[Ollie_bwoii]

I was thinking exactly that, an old singal fog switch or something, but wouldn't know which pin to connect it too or what wire to connect it to either.

I would like it to stay up whenever the car is turned on.

[jonny323i]

im pretty sure i have a blank switch somewhere ollie that would do the job for you and would fit into the heater surround i will send it with the other items if i find it

[jonny323i]

found it looks like a cut off switch to stop the back windows working on a 4 door so dead simple wiring as its just 2 pins

[Ollie_bwoii]

If you would Jonny that would be great.

Thanks hugely, it's worth a try.

[jonny323i]

think i might hang fire sending anything to you as we keep finding things to put in the bundle lmao

[Ollie_bwoii]

I tell you what i'll pop out to the car now, and have a good look round see if there is anything I need.

[Ollie_bwoii]

Don't think there is anything else tbh.

Just post the lot when you can.

[jonny323i]

no worries i will do it tomorrow

[Ollie_bwoii]

Fantastic.

[Brianmoooore]

found it looks like a cut off switch to stop the back windows working on a 4 door so dead simple wiring as its just 2 pins

That is NOT a switch! The rear window isolator switch is square, and doesn't have a red band.

[snakebrain]

That's an E28 electric window circuit breaker. No idea why they thought you'd want to break the circuit, but every E28 has one on the trim piece under the steering wheel.

[Ollie_bwoii]

Well I think it's worth a try.

[Alex]

the easiest thing would be to wire the remote switch to the ignition live?

[Banjo1981]

the easiest thing would be to wire the remote switch to the ignition live?

I agree, if you want it to stay up all of the time then this is the best option. If you want a bit more control you can always put a rear fog switch in line with this so you can listen to the radio in the car wash or summat. The switch is dead easy as it's only 2 spade terminals on the back so it doesn't actually matter which way you wire it.