Could someone clarify/point me to the differences between the Empeg 2 and the Riocar - I have one of each , and they will only power up in their own respective sleds, which makes interchanging emepgs between cars impossible as I have them wired at the mo.

Cheers
Mk2 Rio 60gb blue
Mk2 Empeg 40gb green
Mk1 20gb Waiting for someone to fix

I bet your empeg will work in either sled, and your riocar will only work in "its sled". As long as this is the case, you need to look at the sled that the riocar won't work in. Either 1) The fuse in the sled's wireing has blown or 2) it's wired wrong, and the constant power isn't even hooked up. Check the FAQ for a better explanation.

Matthew

To be clear, they should both work in both sleds, but there are some minor differences that could make a slightly failed installation appear for that not to be the case.

I'll bet your right, the Rio won't work in my car (dunno bout the empeg in g/f's car as I never go in her car if I can help it and don't let her borrow my empeg!).
And my empeg needs the ignition on to work, rather than just press and go as I seem to remember it used to be in a previuos car.
I'll check it tommorrow.
Thanks!

Guillotine, I suspect you might have a blown fuse or a wiring error. Please click here for more details.

Your problem description seems exactly in line with the symptoms in that FAQ entry.

Not wanting to dig the harness out of the car dashboard, would it be ok in principle to wire pin1 (perm power input) to 14 ignition sense internally in the Riocar, so that both are powered regardless of whether 1 or 14 are wired in the car loom - seems ok to me but thought i'd better ask!

I wouldn't do that. There are certain things that the player does that expect the two power inputs to be separate. You'll get various strange behaviors from the player. Not the least of which is that you'll get a nasty speaker-damaging "pop" each time you turn off the ignition or pull the player from the sled. Also, if you ever sell the player to someone else, then it won't work right for them. Finally, doing work inside the player is much more risky than doing work to the sled and wiring. The player innards are harder to fix if you mess it up.