Switched power in the trunk?

[Wishno87]

Anyone know of a good source of switched power in the trunk area of an E30? Would rather not have to run one from the engine bay. Need one to switch on the battery isolator for my camper charging system.

[R1dd1ck913]

Power antenna plug.

[pandaboo911]

Power antenna would be my guess. There's a wire coming from the radio that provides 12v when the radio powers on to extend the antenna. I believe it's white

[Wishno87]

Not sure what's going on but on my car the red one has power and the white one has nothing. The red one also seems to be constant.

It's an 87 325i.

[StereoInstaller1]

Red is constant, white is behind the radio

[Wishno87]

Is there anything accessible from inside the trunk then? If I'm coming from the back of the radio I may as well come from the engine bay or ignition switch.

[101]

There's nothing else with switched power in the trunk to my knowledge besides that power antenna connector. As mentioned above, the red wire is constant 12v+, and white wire is switched when the radio is turned on. Assuming you still have an OEM radio or that lead connected to your aftermarket unit.

[pandaboo911]

Switched power in the trunk?

Again the power antenna has a 12v signal coming from the radio that tells it to extend. Thats basically switched because your radio will turn on at the key accessory position

It's not optimal, you may have issues starting the car if your camper puts some load on the battery, because the radio turns off while cranking, causing the isolator to stop isolating, while cranking. If that makes any sense

[StereoInstaller1]

Ya, a typical "isolator" would parallel the batteries, causing the car to drop to the campers level.

Run a wire, make sure it stays live while cranking.