Hey Guys. On my 1969 Cutlass the power antenna is on a switch. It's not supposed to be connected to the stereo from what I can see. The aftermarket power antenna motor I got has a ground wire, and then 2 lives. a red and Green. To go up, both the red and green need power and to go down, just the red requires power. That's because it's supposed to be connected through the radio, so when radio is powered on, it goes up, and when off, the antenna goes down. That doesn't work for the Cutlass that has the stock switch. I need it so one wire is up, and the other is down.

Is there any way to alter an aftermarket antenna to work like this? Not easy to find an original. (not to mention very expensive if I do find one) Saw one on ebay for $450 US

 

Not easily.

What you need is a device called a magnetic latching relay. The stock switch provides a momentary ON and OFF signal. The mag latch relay will turn ON with the switch and latch in that position, providing power to the antenna. When you move the switch to OFF, the mag latch relay goes the other way and removes power from the antenna, allowing it to retract. The red wire simply connects to +12V. Hella P/N 933364027 is one such relay. You can get it from Summit for about $17. See the wiring diagram below.



The #3 and #5 terminals power the green wire on the new antenna. One gets switched +12V, the other goes to the green wire. On this particular relay, the #6 terminal gets +12V. Momentarily ground #1 to go UP, ground #2 to go DOWN. Unfortunately, your stock switch provides +12V, not ground, so you'll need to make a minor wiring mod to the switch, changing the power wire to a ground. Route the UP wire to #1 and the DN wire to #2. Connect full time +12V to the red wire on the antenna and it should work.

 

Thanks! I'm gonna learn about this and try it out. (I don't understand this as well as you)

Thanks for the Post!

 

In case anyone is ever looking for the same problem. There is a simple fix that takes two minutes and costs under a dollar. Use a diode between the red and green wires. A diode only allows power to go one way through it. I tried it out and it works perfect.

 

Ive got a factory switch, but haven't purchased an aftermarket power antenna yet. Can you go into a little more detail on the diode install? My understanding is the antenna goes up when the green wire is hot, and goes down when the green wire looses power. Black and red wires are always connected and not switched.
Thanks for the help.