Stereo & Electronics - Stereo installation questions. Dead battery and CD Changer

I'm trying to install a Sony MP-80 head unit, CD Changer and speakers. My wife is pissed off because of all the time I'm taking and I'm pissed off because things are not going right.

First question: when you install an aftermarket head unit, is it normal to be able to use the CD eject function, even when there is no key in the ignition? I think I remember being able to eject CDs from the Monsoon CD player but I can't remember. The stereo won't turn on without the car running or in accessory position. The reason I ask is because my battery was dead this morning and I'm trying to figure out whether it was because I worked on the stereo for about 5 hours yesterday without disconnecting it (D'oh!) or if the head unit drained the power overnight. I'm pretty sure I wired everything up correctly. The stereo acts the same way as it did in my VR-4 except for being able to eject like I said earlier. The warning chimes sound when you shut the car down. It powers off, or seems to. What do you think?

Secondly, my changer doesn't work or communicate with the head unit. I have the Sony CDX-757MX. It's supposed to connect via the BUS cable and audio cables and just work but no, that would be too easy! It's getting power because the magazine eject works but it's not playing CDs. The head unit says it's not able to connect/communicate with the changer. None of the functions work. It just sits there trying to talk to the changer. I'm going to call Sony on this one. Maybe the changer is defective or I have a bad cable. It says in the manual that they're supposed to be compatible. Any ideas?

I'm working on a write up showing how I installed everything in my 02 Trans Am Convertible and I'm hoping to finish it so maybe the next person to try this will have an easier time of things.

Wow i dont know about that whole CD changer issue, but i have the same HU in my car and it can eject when the car is off. Does it hold memory, becuase the first thing i would think is that the 12+ constant and switched are reversed. In any event, alteast you know someone else with the same stuff that works. My stereo wont turn on without the car being in ACC either but i'm pretty sure thats how it is supposed to be.

Wow i dont know about that whole CD changer issue, but i have the same HU in my car and it can eject when the car is off. Does it hold memory, becuase the first thing i would think is that the 12+ constant and switched are reversed. In any event, alteast you know someone else with the same stuff that works. My stereo wont turn on without the car being in ACC either but i'm pretty sure thats how it is supposed to be.

Yes, it holds memory I think. I'll double-check that. Thanks for the info on the eject thing. That's good to know. Most likely it's me running down the battery. My car's got 67k miles and it's the original battery so I guess it's time was about up anyway. That said, this is the 2nd time I've run down a battery messing with a stereo and my better half was not impressed.

I wish I could get this thing working. I have Sony XS-D170SI components in the doors and they sound amazing! I'm hearing parts of songs I never heard before. I have the wiring done on the rear speakers but I need to fabricate a couple of spacers so the speaker magnet doesn't interfere with the convertible top mechanism.

I'd like to add an amp and a sub or two but I might need to let things calm down for a while before attempting that!

Oh, and to top it all off, the passenger window motor seems to be going out. It'll power down but it keeps running out of juice on the way back up. It'll go a few inches then stop. Wait a few seconds and try again and it does the same thing. Repeat x5 and it'll eventually go back up. Is it possible I messed something up when I took off the door panel and installed the speakers? I had the panel off for about a month. The window worked before that, albeit not that great but it didn't stall like it does now. I can't think of anything that would interfere with it. I used Dynamat around the speaker and the existing speaker bracket. Hmm...