I decided to try to install a new stereo receiver, following the directions at installdr.com. I thought I had gotten everything set correctly, but when I went to start the car, the stereo wouldn't turn on. I bought a wiring harness and dash mount kit and thought I wired it correctly. The receiver is this one. On the harness, I didn't hook up the orange (illumination) and the blue (power antenna) because there weren't corresponding wires on the receiver's harness. I thought it had to do with the grounding wires, so I tried disconnecting them and grounding them to a metal part of the car, but that didn't work either. One thing I noticed, the digital clock is dimmer too, but when I touch the grounding wire to a metal part of the car, it becomes bright.

Does anyone have any quick ideas of what I'm doing wrong. Obviously, I'm new to this, so any help would be appreciated.

Ben

 

I think (this is a guess, because I'm figuring this out now), the problem is the harnesses from the radios have orange/white, and so you use that because it matches orange/white in the car. But I'm beginning to suspect you connect the orange on the radio to the orange/white in the harness. I will experiment with that and let you know what I find.

 

I think you'll get better answers over in A/V Elect. so I'll move it there.

 

Thanks Jim.

Just to cap off this discussion, what I discovered after fiddling with this for an hour is:

Use the Orange wire if you need a 0-12v source that varies as you adjust the dash-light rheostat when you turn on the lights.

Use the Orange w/White wire if you need a 1.5 steady control voltage that turns on when you turn on the lights.

The '98 Accord has both, the exact usage will depend on the application. For something like an in-dash video or navigation unit, you want the Orange w/White. For an application where you need the lighting to vary as adjust the dash lights, you'd use orange.

 

thanks for the input.