Just got a new Alpine CDA-7894 installed, the installer used an adaptor to go from the ISO connection on the harness I got from Mikeythemini to bare wire and then from that bare wire to the bare wire on the alpine unit. We don't have ISO connections on the back of the units here in Canada, more or less each manufacurer uses a different type of connection. I've since noticed a problem that I thought the experts here at MINI2 might have some thought on.
It seems now whenever I turn off the car the Alpine unit looses all it's station memory, reverts back to tuner when I power it on. All memory is gone, all settings are lost. Are there two power leads that come off that harness? One switched and one not? I'm also getting virtually no FM and absolutely no AM radio reception which is strange. He said the antenna lead seemed very tight so the thought of it coming off when mounting the unit seem unlikely. Furthermore when I touch the antenna at the back of the car it makes a difference to FM reception but not to AM.
Looking at the pin outs on the schematic posted to MINI2 it seems that pins 15 and 16 both provide power with 15 providing direct battery power and 16 providing accessory power. Does that mean that the Alpine unit needs two power sources? One from pins 15 so that it gets constant power to keep it's memory and the other from pin 16 to actually power the unit and turn it on? It looks like, from the Alpine manual, that there is also two power inputs. Ignition (red) that looks like it needs to hook up to pin 16 from the harness and battery (yellow) that looks like it needs to go to pin 15. Does it sound like I'm on the right track? My feeling is he might of got these crossed or something. Granted when the key isn't in the ignition the unit doesn't come on.
Furthermore, I've noticed, perhaps a coincidence, but now when I turn off the car my rear wiper makes one stroke. I don't remember this happening until the new head unit was installed. Is this possible?
Your alpine should have a permanent 12v feed and an "accessory" or "ignition" feed. It also sounds like the power for the antenna amp is not connected. Who installed the head unit? Could you draw a quick diagram of what wires are going where?
Dunno about the rear wiper - maybe it will go away when all is reconnected?
Where's the power go for the antenna amp? Is that something that's built into the alpine or something specific in the MINI? I don't see that in the schematics anywhere. I don't know how it was all connected because I didn't do the install but I'm very tempted to fix it myself.
the blue lead on the alpine is marked power antenna (intended to actuate a rising antenna). My car has the nav with the antenna in the rear side glass and the "power antenna" lead for the alpine needs to connect to the white power antenna lead in the mini plug (terminal 13). if you don't hook up this way, you won't power the antenna amp and signal will be weak (I ought to know, since i did it wrong as well)
you need to hook the yellow "Batt" lead on the alpine to the red/brown "Batt" lead in the mini plug (terminal 15)
and the red "switched power" lead in the alpine to the purple/blue "ACC" lead in the mini (terminal 16)
Perfect. I just figured out the power issue and have solved that. Just came down to figure out the antenna issue and saw your message here, perfect timing. I'm off to power my antenna!
All problems have been fixed. Thanks for everyone's help. It seems that the ISO->Bare wire adaptor the installer used had the two 12v wires reversed, I corrected that. I also figured out the antenna issues thanks to jlm. Works perfectly and sounds FANTASTIC!
Next job, some new speakers in the doors and some new 6x9 that can give me a little more punch. Not doing a sub unless JL Audio release a stealth box.
What size speaker fits in the door panel anyway? Is it 5.25 or 6.50? Any brands known to fit? I was thinking some Infinity, Polk or MB Quart.
I found this thread because I had the exact problems that Paulmon posted.
In my case, I found the installer had not connected the battery supply for the Alpine head unit to my MINI's battery feed. This meant that the unit's memory was wiped when the ignition (or accessory) power was cut.
Both ignition and battery wires of the Alpine units were joined together and then connected to my MINI's ignition wire.
Whilst re-wiring I noticed that the battery supply wire had no voltage (probably why the head-unit wasn't wired correctly). This was traced to a blown fuse (there are two fuses for the radio (only own had blown).
The battery feed was connected to the head unit and all is now well.
I also had the rear window wiper do one sweep when the car was switched off. It now longer does this. Not sure whether replacing the blown radio fuse or the separation of the head unit's ignition and battery supply wires fixed this.
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I'm off to power my antenna! 
