Car Stereo Wiring Explained In Detail
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.ย. 2013
- I go over a standard 16 pin harness and tell you all the functions in it. applies to: Car Stereo and Marine stereo systems, Wiring Explained In Detail.
Usually, it is best to make all of the new stereo's wiring connections via the wiring harness, but if you have to make a direct power connection, you'll need to know the difference between "switched" and "constant" power:
A switched power source is only on when the ignition is keyed. Connect your new stereo's main (switched) power lead - usually a red wire - to a switched power source, so that the stereo will turn off when you turn off the car, and not drain your vehicle's battery.
A constant power source is always on. Connect your new stereo's memory lead - usually a yellow wire - to a constant power source, so that you don't lose your radio station presets, tone control presets, and clock settings every time you turn off the vehicle.
Although rare, a few high-powered stereos require you to make a direct constant power connection at the positive terminal of your vehicle's battery. This requires a heavier gauge power wire, an in-line fuse (usually included), and a ring terminal to connect the power wire to the battery clamp. You will have to route the power wire to the battery location, which is often through the vehicle firewall and into the engine compartment in order to make the connection at the battery.
Speaker wires
Car stereos have eight wires for the traditional 4-speaker system - a positive wire and a negative wire for the front left, front right, rear left, and rear right speakers. Depending on the wiring configuration in your vehicle and the wiring harness adapter we offer, some of these may not be used.
Ground wire
A good ground connection is vital for proper stereo performance and to eliminate unwanted noise. If you are not using a custom wiring harness, look for a bare, unpainted bolt or screw that contacts the bare metal of your vehicle's chassis. Loosen the bolt, slip the ground wire underneath (this is almost always a black wire), then tighten the bolt. If your ground wire doesn't contact bare metal, your stereo won't operate. A loose or weak ground connection can result in signal noise interfering with your music.
In-dash video - tapping into the parking brake wire
If your new stereo has a touchscreen or video monitor, you will also need to connect a wire to your emergency/parking brake wire. This wire acts as a switch to turn on the video monitor when the parking brake is engaged.
This wire can be in different locations in different vehicles, depending on the brake configuration. The wire is usually found where your parking brake is. In vehicles that have a hand brake between the front seats, you'll have to remove the center console to get to it. In vehicles that have a foot-pedal parking brake, the stereo's wire will need to be routed to it under that dash. Either way, it isn't too hard, just take your time. And once again, award-winning tech support team can be a big help in locating it and helping you get to it. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Thank you this helped immensely! I had a 1988 Kenwood (KRC-757) and it had slightly different wires such as one blue I don't know what it does, but I managed to get it running by putting positive on red plus yellow and negative on black. Thank you! :D
Hey by chance did your early kenwood have plugin speaker wires similar to the krc 999?
Very helpful, thank you! I wire a lot of audio already but the wiring in my 96 Mustang GT is a nightmare because of the previous owner.. This will help me a lot with putting in a different aftermarket stereo than what is in there now.
Thanks for the tutorial. now I'm off to tackle my wife's Grand am and 20 degree temps. See ya on the busted-Knuckle side!
I found your video first, and at less than eight minutes, it looks like the shortest video I've found on this subject so far. Thank you for being concise and on point. The bundle of wires on my most recent HU purchase doesn't look so intimidating now.
this video helped me install the stereo in my jeep. I had no clue where to start before watching this video. Many of the videos out there will show you how to install with a vehicle specific adapter (which I didn't really want to go buy) but this video helped me understand how it all works and which wires are for what. This allowed me to do all the wiring myself in less than an hour without going and buying an adapter. Thank you Lessco Electronics.
Dylan Adams youre welcome
For me I used..
Power = blue w/yellow stripe wire from the deck(dash) and connected it to the red wire and yellow wire twisted together from the stereo(after market stereo) EARTH = black to black.
For the BACK SPEAKERS = red from the deck(dash) connected to
Pink from stereo(aftermarket 1).
White from deck(dash) connected to pink w/black stripe from stereo.
Yellow from deck(dash) connected to green w/black stripe from stereo. And grey from deck(dash) connected to green from stereo.
FRONT SPEAKERS = green from deck(dash) to grey from stereo.
Purple from deck(dash) to white w/black stripe from stereo.
Pink from deck(dash) to white. And blue from deck(dash) to grey w/black stripe.
Now this worked for me but you know how they say it CAN DEPEND on your model, make or car/stereos as some are DIFFERENT! Remember unplug your car battery before connecting all wires. Other then that hope this helps someone.
Thanks so much for this! got a bit confused at one point installing a stereo into my car. Turns Out my toyota has diffrent coloured constant, earth and key power wires lol but thanks to your information and a wiring diagram of my car i found online i was able to successfully install my stereo :)
Thanks for explaining the harness connection includes not only power, but also audio. Makes a shit ton more sense, since Pioneer AVH series stereos do not explicitly provide this explanation.
witch is positive and negative on the subwoofer on the rear on a 2007 ford escape xlt sport
For my adapter that came with the aftermarket deck came with a blue striped cable but not with the solid blue one and my adapter that goes to the factory harness has a solid blue cable but not a striped blue cable for my 2000 honda accord.. Isnt my blue cable for am/fm? What should i do ?? Please
Blue to power antenna - factory harness
Blues/White to amplifier - factory harness
usually each code color are the same for any brand of radio.
I plug the blue to the Blues/White
i installed my JVC radio today and it work perfect.
Juan Canada still don't get it.
This is a really useful, worthwhile video. Eventually I'm going to hook up a Pioneer car radio/CD player and your video is just what I needed to know. Thanks a lot, Tom
Thank you for the info. I appreciate the help. Im a complete amateur but your video has been extremely helpful.
in my pioneer harness I've got an orange with white. on my other harness going to the factory harness I've a solid orange...should I connect those 2 together? ??
Jmustan03 j
Jmustan03 i
Yes that is for the dimmer for the illumination when your lights turn on.
If you don't care about the receiver remembering, can you combine yellow and red to a single positive 12v source? I ask because that's all I have from my old boat radio.
This set up powers the receiver but I can't get sound to the speakers. the receiver and speakers are brand new kenwoods. not enough amps from the old power source?
thanks in advance, you really know your stuff!
Steven Collova Provided that the 12v source can provide enough amperage, this will work and will obviously erase data each time it's turned off. If you're tapping to a fuse such as the cigarette lighter, be sure it can provide enough amperage for both the head unit and the cigarette lighter. Otherwise if you draw too much power consistently for long enough it will blow the fuse regularly. This is the only issue I would see if you don't care about presets being saved, good luck hope this helps.
ashokk sethi Thank you! I tried a bench test suggested by Kenwood and I think it's a faulty unit.
Hmm, bcae1 website is a great source for troubleshooting, I have learned a great deal from him. Google bcae1. good luck hope you're able to get it fixed and don't have to buy a new one like I did when mine said miswiring for no reason.
Steven Collova uuun
uuuu7.
Thank you for this video. Your explanation of the wires and colors were excellent. Not every guy has had experience installing car radios. It would be awesome if you could explain the wiring and colors for cars with steering wheel controls.
Thanks bunches! I'm an EE and i couldn't find the wire diagram for my stereo. I thought, "I wonder if it is just standardized." That's where you came in.
I have an after market stereo but when I turn off the car the stereo stays on and the red is connected to red and yellow to yellow. What do I do ?
Differentiate between BAT and ACC power.
Switch the red to yellow and yellow to red
@@nascar9059 I want my radio to play even when car is off - so that I turn the radio off manually.. If I understand correctly I can achieve this by switching red and yellow wire? Right now my radio shuts down the moment I turn off my car...
To achieve what I wanted is quite simple - peel (not cut) both red and yellow wire and join them together. Insulate. :)
Ok I do have a pink wire wat is it for
ground... wire mate
YEA NORMALLY BLUE OR WHITE BLUE THOSE ALWAYS FOR AMP REMOTE CONTROL THING XD ITS A TINY WIRE
back up camera
It's for blinker fluid level sensor.
Ibraheem Al hadede lmao
thanks man saved me lots of time it's been a min since I've done any of this
Very informative and well presented. Thank you!
I'm getting ready to install my own stereo, all the videos I've watched so far have said "Just Match Colors" That wasn't good enough for me! Thanks for this video I feel way more confident in doing it myself knowing with the colors mean lol
You're welcome, I am glad it was helpful.
Just watched your tutorial and would like to say Thank you for educating me on how to re-wire a radio. Having just recently bought a campervan I want to know what each wire is however accidently 'yanking' the molex connecter several wires came out, this is now going to be easier to diagnose. Cheers (UK)
You were actually very thorough despite you thinking you wernt. Good stuff.
Thank you for this great video, I just bought a Chinese GPS/radio, installed it and got nothing. After I watched your video I realized my mistake. Your description was excellent I will go over it in the morning--stay tuned.tbone188
Thanks so so much for such very clever excellent teaching and great advice , Sir. Thank you !
great clip mate,just what l wanted to know.Thanx to all at Lessco.
Thanks for the good video. Clear and concise!
thanks for explaining this, helped me troubleshoot my problem
Still helpful in 2019. Thank you
I wish I could give more than one likes but the system let me do just one, thanks for explaining it in such detail.
👍🏼👍🏼 wow very informative video I like when people stay on topic and get to the point .
Thank you Martin! Great detail as always!
Great video helped me out helps. Very informational and explained very well.
This video was a lot of help, easy to understand. Thumbs up.
Hello, i want to wire my stereo to my leisure battery, i was going to do it by running a permanant memory feed into the memory slot and then running another permanant feed with a switch into the ignition switch slot. Will this work? will be running from a 12v fuse box so no need for inline fuses etc.
We are in 2020 and this video save me more time thanks mate
by the way, very educational video. THANK YOU!
Thank you so much I had no idea about the power wires
this is the most helpful video I have seen on this topic!!:)
Great video. Explained as simple as i needed!
;)
Thank you for a quick response. I'll try new batteries while i wait for the new remote.
Very good video, thank for the " no jibber-jabber content! " and especially for your help.👍
Happy to help!
Thanks a ton, a tutorial on steering wheel control wiring would be awesome. Very helpful nonetheless
Love your videos thanks for sharing i have learned a lot from them!
Thanks for your time and video, this has helped for sure. I do have a weird question to run by you though; I’m installing a Pioneer deck in a sailboat, and the existing wiring color codes have two wires which provide the positive for one speaker and at the same time a negative for a different speaker....I’ve never seen this and don’t know how to continue. Do you know of anything like this? I can email pictures if you’d like, thank you.
Very helpful, Thank you!
happy that you explain the wires positive/negative! thanks for the knowledge! I'm trying to figure out how to wire a CD deck to my 1991 Honda. the thing is that the CD deck was given to me without any wires or connectors not sure what you call it. if there's a will then there must be a way!! right?
Very well explained thanks for the video
it was very helpful explanation..
Thanks man, it helped me installing the stereo :))
thanks for the tutorial!
Thank you for your great details video
Great video. Thanks. In my situation I only have 2 speakers. Is it ok to twin front & rear output wires or just eliminate front or rear out put wires to speakers .
thanks for the video, helps a lot.
Thanks for the video, very useful
WOW YOU ARE A FUCKING GOD WHEN IT COMES TO THESE VIDEOS, YOU GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT NO BS LIKE JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER VIDEO IVE BEEN COMING ACROSS ABOUT CAR AUDIO, COULDNT THANK YOU ENOUGH
best vid ever . thank you sire :)
Awesome video, thanks a ton!
im in the process of replacing my stock stereo with an after market stereo. however i do not have a harness. i just wanted to get a clarification on the wiring as to which wires do i match up to which. looking forward to hearing for you . thanks in advance.
Nice one brother, thank you!
You're the Best .. Bravo !!
Hi, I really appreciate the simple explanations of the wiring. I have some basic experience in automotive wiring but my new radio (Boss audio BV9967BI) did raise a couple questions. First I do have a power antenna wire. However am I to understand that a power antenna is one that is motorized and raises when the radio is on , because I don't have one of those. I have an internal antenna. Do I need to hook up the power antenna wire at all? I also have a few additional wires on another part of the back of the radio: another ground wire, key 1 wire, and key 2 wire. the wiring diagram does not account for them. Thanks.
Great video helped alot. I have question for you i just bought a sony head unit and im installing it in a 02 Nissan sentra the wiring harness has both the blue and the blue with white stripe on it but the sony one only has the blue with white do i just connect the blue with white and leave the solid blue alone?
Install went great. Purchased the correct harness and had no problems. As for the Key1 wire. It was for the steering wheel controls. I don't have that so no need for it. I have the Pyle PLDN74BTI unit. There was a pink wire coming from the harness so I connected to it. I can watch Video while driving now, without a bypass. OOOOPs! Did I say that! LOL!. Thanks for you Video and reply. Loving the unit.
I needed this.Tnx mate.
GREAT video!!! U saved the day!!
Thank you for the upload. Great video. Thank you for the information. I have followed the instructions and all went well. but it seems every time I switch the car off and on again, all the stored channels disappear and I have to retune it. any idea? I will add that my after market Audio system came with a harness that is the perfect fit and replaced the old one with out any wire cutting etc.
Great video! Very informative i love it!
Thanks for the helpful video. Question: putting a Pioneer single DIN stereo in my 06 Ford Crown Vic. The wiring harness for the Ford has an orange wire but no blue wire, and the Pioneer has a blue wire but no orange wire. All other colors match. What do I do in this case?
Best video on TH-cam explaining this
wow, I like that one!
Happy you said pretty much all radio's; cuz I had a Jensen cassette deck "pull out" and all the speakers were common grounded.
pretty much=most.... not all.
little confused about what you said about the blu and blue and white cable. Which one would i connect up to the radio signal booster aerial. I dont have a aerial that rises once its on.
So I’m wiring up a Ken wood to a Ford Ranger. You said the brown or tan wire for the Bluetooth is mute and on the factory harness replacement or adapter I have the orange with black stripe which you said can be a mute. Would I butt connect those together or tape them both off? Also what about the illumination orange wire? I have it leftover?
Great vid Thank you
this is an amazing tutorial. .
this video helped me so much thank u
Thanks for the video. Quick qestion. Re the blue wire, power antenna. I have an E91 Bmw, but the radio signal is not very strong, I haven't atached the power antenna lead to anything, as there is an aerial slot in the aftermarket amp which I plugged the car aerial lead into. Should I also attach the blue power antenna lead? If so where? I have no power antenna in the sense of the old telescopic electric aerial in the car, so not sure if I should do something with the power antenna lead from the amp, to boost signal maybe? Any help would be appreciated. Cheers
Thank you for your great video. I have a couple questions. I am installing a car radio in a Saturn. It's harness has 4 wires that I haven't seen described anywhere. I has an Orange wire, an Orange Black, a Red White and a Red Black. The rest of the wires have been found and put together. I would appreciate any ideas that you may have. The Speaker wires were exactly what you said and the Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black wires were also there and have been connected. Thank you.
I have two door speakers in my grand am one right by the window the other down on the bottom of the door. do I need a special harness/radio to get all speakers to work or do they both run off the same channel?
Thank you n God blessss!!!
Hello thanks for the quality video!
However, I have a '99 Jaguar XJ8 and i've found a harness but, it outputs to ISO 10487 connectors. Do I need an ISO to Head Unit (In my case sony) adapter or can I simply cut off the ISO connectors and rewire with the standard sony headunit harness? Are colors the same for the ISO? Are there other options?
Hello quick question about my car audio install. I’m using an Xelon Audio headunit with the stock door speakers. Currently only one of the speakers is generating noise when turned on, so I thought it was 3 bad speakers, but upon further money spent I realized either the wiring was bad or something else. can I run a speaker wire to the headunit for a test of the speakers?
Hey man I need help, I'm doing the crimping of the wires. So I can connect both black wires together right? Confuses me some say you need to put on metal in your car. Other thing I don't have a red wire coming from the aftermarket harness but I do from the adapter harness, what do I do about that? Thanks.
Hi!
How do you find a speed pulse wire, where should you source it from?
Thanks in advance :)
Thank you for your videos, they are very helpful. I'm having issues with engine/alternator whine. I don't not have an amplifier. The only thing I did was switch out the older aftermarket unit for a new one with USB. please help!
nick ward measure the ground impedance, how many ohms is it? is the new radio a chinaman special or a quality brand btw?
Great clip.. my boat stereo was easy. I am adding a touch screen to my older bmw 2006 330ci...is the blue (black strip) just a ground? Do you recommend where I attach this? I have a brown and two oranges(back and ILL) what do I attach those too? I can’t follow just the older model wires.. thanks for your help
Great video. How to do an In Dash DVD GPS stereo Parking Brake bypass? On the common 30, did they use a positive signal connected to the terminal or a negative. It says that you should use always a negative to connect a terminal or common terminal to a relay. 5 pin SPDT relay
Great video. I have question about whining noise coming out from my speaker. How do I eliminate the noise? And I have 2 wires KEY1, KEY2 where should I connect them. Thanks
so helpful,keep a gud job sir,god bless
I ordered the gmos-lan-01 harness from axxess and putting in a pioneer AVH-280BT in my 2013 suburban.
from the main portion or the axxess it has 1 red wire labeled (ignition/switch) but the axxess also come with a separate set for the speakers , dimmer, mute, ect. but this set comes with an additional 2 red wires marked the same as the 1st. do i connect all 3 to the the one wires going to the head unit?
Nice run down indeed! however, I've got a problem with my head unit, at least i think it's my head unit, that has been plaguing me for some time now. I haven't heard or read anything similar to my problem so i will do my best to describe it, here goes. Since i've gotten the truck (2002 ford escape) i noticed that the audio fuse was plugged out, not questioning why it was i just got the correctly rated fuse and popped it back in and everything started to work well. Until some weeks had passed and when i would shut down the engine i would get a loud enough "pop" from my rear speaker....this is the speaker that's connected to the amp. I didn't think much of it cause when i would be driving the stereo works like a champ, until a "loud" squeal started to join the pop and the only thing that would kill the noise would be to pull that 10amp fuse. As annoying as this was it happened randomly until recently after i got my alternator rebuilt it started to happen "EVERYTIME" i would shut down the engine. One other thing i had noticed that helped to kill the noise was if i would push the menu button once after shutdown, the clock would come on then when it faded out the noise would cut with it too. Im hoping that you could at least shead some light on this for me or maybe point me in the right direction. thanks
hey man great video on explaining i have a question on some head unit wiring i have a jaguar 2003 s type and and the radio has many functions and i cant seem to find a reliable source of information regarding the radio if yhere is anything you can do to help id appreciate it
Great video. Learned a lot!! My wire harness has 2 extra wires Orange ( which says illumination dash light) and orange black but my new stereo harness only has an extra orange white wire. How do I connect? Or don't connect? Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Dan.
Installing in an RV to the house battery and fuse box. Can all the + power wires (yellow, red, orange) be connected together to one fuse in the box or do they each require a separate fuse? Also, if I don’t have a powered (retractable) antennae, do I need to connect the blue wire at all? Thanks for any help.
iv taken a daewoo stereo out and it has illumination + and an illumination - wire. can you explain these. do these provide light to lcd? is it the same as the one dimmer wire?
Hi Lessco, I'd like to use my old car radio cassette to listen to cassette tapes in a NEW vehicle with no tape player. -I'm planning on hooking the old unit's preouts (L +R) to the aux-in of the new car (3.5mm). Big question is can I set up the power supply to this old unit by connecting the red and black leads somehow into the cigarette lighter socket??
I have a Kenwood Excelon KDC-X711 and I misplaced the wiring harness. Kenwood doesn't carry it anymore since it has been discontinued. Do you have any advice on where to get an aftermarket wiring harness for this KDC-X711 or can I make a wiring harness? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Hi, I'm trying to install my after market radio and I have a couple questions. My car has a factory amp, so I had to order a special wiring harness for it. It is a common signal ground system with four separate positives and one common negative. Does this mean I wire the positives per usual, and connect the negatives to the chassis ground? That's the only open negative. Do I leave them unattached? What do I connect the phone mute wire to? And on my after market radio, the remote turn on (+) and power antenna (+) are the same wire- blue/black. On the harness, however the amp turn on is blue/white and the power antenna is just blue. Do I connect all three to each other in this case? Thank you in advance!
I have a 92 f150 and I bought the wire harness for the after market radio to connect to the f150 plugs when I attach the wires should I go color to color?
i have a 2010 dodge journey w.o. infinity system, i cut my factory wire harness, now i am trying to rewire the metra 70-6522 with the reverse harness(70-6522). I am having problems with figuring out the factory colors with the metra harness. they are not the same.. I figured bc they wiring is for the infinity nav system particularly. Any suggestion.