How long does the radio stay "hot"? Battery drain issues.

[elandem]

When I turn off my '99 and pull the key, the radio turns off. I can push the radio power button and it comes back on. I read another thread that indicated that the radio would play for an hour. Doing a little experimenting, I shut my car off yesterday at 5 p.m. and locked it. This morning at 7:30, I unlocked it, got in, pushed the radio button, and it came on (before key inserted). That just seems weird to me, but maybe it's the way it works. Can someone confirm?

I'm trying to identify a battery drain problem, and am wondering if this could even be an issue.

Especially when it's cold, the radio will come on when I start the car, but the display is bright, and unreadable. And the channel buttons don't work. After warm up, it might start working. Sometimes (but not always) turning it off and on a few times gets it going and the display comes on correctly where I can read the station number. Thoughts?

So far, disconnecting S176 at the battery completely stops the drain (5 day experiment with no battery drop). I've experimented with fuses, with limited success. Is the relay panel under the drivers side dash somewhere that might shed some more light? Struggling.

[D2Beetle]

Originally Posted by elandem

When I turn off my '99 and pull the key, the radio turns off. I can push the radio power button and it comes back on. I read another thread that indicated that the radio would play for an hour. Doing a little experimenting, I shut my car off yesterday at 5 p.m. and locked it. This morning at 7:30, I unlocked it, got in, pushed the radio button, and it came on (before key inserted). That just seems weird to me, but maybe it's the way it works. Can someone confirm? ...

Consider this your confirmation. If I remember correctly the radio receives power from two sources, the ignition switch and something else; I would have to look it up.