Quick stereo wiring question
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Quick stereo wiring question Hey guys I started wiring my aftermarket radio but I have a question. The adapter plug has an orange wire that says illumination/dash light but the radio plug doesn't have one. Should I just cap it off or do I have to hook it to something? Thanks
OK, according to Pioneer the radio side of the harness (the one that came with the radio) should have an orange with a white line wire on it that would connect to the orange wire on the adapter harness.
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That's just the "dimmer" hook up. All it does is make any lighting on the head unit get dimmer when you cut the headlights on. It's a nifty feature, but you don't have to hook it up for the head unit to work. The screen will just be the same brightness all the time.
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Teching In
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That wire is hooked to the orange with a white line on the car side. Should I put the orange and white together on the car side and connect them to the radio orange with white?
Joined: Nov 2003
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From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
This particular question has been asked and answered dozens of times...
The standards for aftermarket head unit wiring have two colors designated for display illumination... orange and orange with white. Orange is used to connect to the factory dash dimmer circuit for those HUs that dim in sync with the rest of the dash. Orange/white is used to connect to the parking/running light circuit as a simple on/off indicator of when the lights are on. HUs then have a dim setting and a bright setting for their display that they switch between depending on whether the vehicle's lights are on or off. The vast majority of aftermarket HUs (including Pioneer) use the orange/white wire for simplicity.
So if you already have the orange/white wire from the head unit connected to the orange/white wire in the adapter harness then it is correctly wired. Just leave the plain orange wire disconnected. DO NOT cross connect different colored wires!
The standards for aftermarket head unit wiring have two colors designated for display illumination... orange and orange with white. Orange is used to connect to the factory dash dimmer circuit for those HUs that dim in sync with the rest of the dash. Orange/white is used to connect to the parking/running light circuit as a simple on/off indicator of when the lights are on. HUs then have a dim setting and a bright setting for their display that they switch between depending on whether the vehicle's lights are on or off. The vast majority of aftermarket HUs (including Pioneer) use the orange/white wire for simplicity.
So if you already have the orange/white wire from the head unit connected to the orange/white wire in the adapter harness then it is correctly wired. Just leave the plain orange wire disconnected. DO NOT cross connect different colored wires!
