Stephen,

The Brown wire is ground, the red wire is UNSWITCHED power, and the blue wire
is instrument backlight power for the VW radios with lighting controlled by
the dash light brightness knob. I haven't found another stereo that uses the
blue wire.

The '87 has no radio wire switched by the ignition, but you can jumper one
from the fuse/relay panel. Some of the empty relay socket connect to the
switched power lead, and a spade-lug connector can lug right and be run to the
stereo. I've done this, but can't get to my car right now to tell you which
position to use. After studying Bentley I used a meter to probe and verify
which lead to use, and it works fine.

Tom
'87 Camper
'91 Carat
'97 VR6 EV Winn
'62 bug

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From:   Vanagon mailing list on behalf of Stephen Jones

I'm trying to install an Alpine stereo in my '87 Westy.
Anyway, on the Alpine stereo I have a connection for a
Battery Lead, Ground Lead and a Switched Power Lead (Ignition).

Looking at the stock VW stereo, there are three wires, that
I can't quite identify, marked as follows:

/--\
|--|    (Circle with line through it) - Brown Wire
\--/

+       (Plus sign, I know should be easy) - Red Wire
        (? positive battery lead, or positive ignition)

\|/
- -     (Looks like the sun) - Blue Wire
/|\

All other wires are speaker wires.  Any help identifying the
Brown, Red or Blue wires would be appreciated.  I plan on
tackling this Sat morning so ASAP would be nice.

Is there something special to wiring it so that the power
does not cut out when the ignition is off?

Thanks,
Stephen Jones
'87 Westy (El)