1998 Accord, dash dimmer wire?
 

I'm a little confused.

I purchased the Scosche harness/adapter and it mentions that if you want to use dash illumination that you need to connect the Orange wire in the harness.

In the Scosche harness, there is an orange and orange/white. There is no explanation of what orange/white does. I can try both to see what happens (not at the same time). The radio (a JVC) uses an orange/white wire (which is probably irrelevant).

So I was going to try both ways, except I noticed in a post here, someone said you should not hook up *any* orange wire as it will cause a short circuit in this year of car.

Any idea?

I did a little more testing with a Voltage Meter and what I've determined is (I think):

Orange: Basically another dash light controlled by the rheostat. It can vary from 0-12v when the lights are turned on.

Orange w/White Stripe: Looks to be a control voltage. It looked to me when the lights were turned on, Orange w/White Stripe produced 1.5 volts.

Since this is a Nav Unit, I suspect the orange w/white strip is the correct wire backed up by:

1) The unit itself has Orange w/White Wire
2) 1.5 volts will produce less damage than 12V if I'm wrong

I'll let you know.

So the answer is as I suspected. When the 1.5v is applied, the JVC dims the display. So the Orange w/White Stripe was the correct wire, not the Orange.

Just to add onto this thread for anyone installing an aftermarket stereo:
There's 2 wires coming out of the harness adapter from the car: a solid orange (illumination) and a orange/white wire (dimmer). DO NOT hook up these wires to the stereo harness. Most aftermarket units don't have dimmer capabilites and are "self" illuminating, and more importantly, hooking up the orange wires poses the risk of blowing the multiplex (huge headache).

I know it's been stated before but I wanted to clarify so no one else makes this grim mistake.

I would gentle disagree only to the extent that if you read the installation instructions of your stereo, you'll know if your unit dims.

Having the stereo brightly lit at night is distracting, so if your unit supports dimming, go for it.

You are correct, that's why I said "most"