http://www.dakotadigital.com/manuals/ODYR-05.pdf
found it

PWR - Connect to 12V Power Source - (ignition?)
DIM - Connect to tail light circuit (running lights?)
SND - connect to point where you want to monitor the voltage (battery?)

 

MAD..ive had my sony HU for 4 years and no problems...........actually im prob going to pull it out and take it apart one of the next few weekends and clean the lens and paint the face black as opposed to the silver it is now......buttons to remain silver (mine is from before sony started using all the bling for buttons)

 

Yeah,that's the way I said it would go.

The DIM can connect into the headlights.I think there's a wire on the cig lighter harness that only has power when the lights are on.You could tap into that.Or, figure out which wire on the dimmer switch only has power when the lights are on and tap that.

 

I love my head unit, but it's acting funky right now.

I hooked up my voltmeter temporarily tonight, straight to the batttery. It was 9:30 at night so I didn't wanna bump it loud.

at idle: 14.2
rolling windows down and sunroof open, holding buttons down after all open, interior dome lights on: dropped as low as 12.8
headlights on at idle: 13.8

I hit the system VERY HARD (skipped the CD player) for 5 seconds and it dropped to 12.5, no lower though.
This may not have been enough time to accurately test the voltage, but I'm going to hook up the voltmeter tomorrow and just leave it laying in the passenger seat for now. I want to monitor this.
Can you tell me if it's a good/bad reading above?

 

Well, you shouldn't hold the window buttons,etc down,after they're down/up.Not good for the motors.The headlights and stuff seem to be normal.When you were crank'n the system,was the engine on?

 

yes engine was on. I don't usually hold them down like that, I just wanted to monitor the Volts

with engine off, and everything else off except dome light, Volt meter read 12.8

 

isnt that a marine battery for use in boats?

 

yes it is........search for a pic of blacktibs car.....i know its here, but i couldn't find it. hes got a blue top in his engine bay and its a very close match to the blue on AEM intakes and the blue REDZMAN used on his interior..of course not w/ the anodized finish.

 

yes it's a marine/RV battery... but it can be used in cars. I would get blue to match the engine, and I like the fact it has separate terminals for you to run other stuff off of.