vanberge

So I got my new Clarion deck delivered yesterday and I was getting started on soldering up the wiring harness.

I ran into a few things that I wanted to run past somebody else since I'm not that knowledgeable on electrical systems etc.

1: The factory side of the harness has one blue wire labeled (Amp or power antenna lead). Meanwhile, the harness that goes to my radio has 2 wires. A Blue labeled "Amp" and then a Blue/White labeled "Auto Antenna". Since I have neither an amp OR an automatic power antenna, what do I do with these wires? Just tape them off and leave them? Connect the radio's amp wire to the blue wire of my factory side harness? Connect both the blue/white and blue radio side to the Blue factory side?

2: The ground wire on the clarion harness had a metal claw hook type thing that I would envision bolting down to something metal on the radio enclosure. But, the factory side harness had a ground wire so I just cut the claw hook off and soldered those two together... Am I right on that?

3: (mostly an observation) the only time the colors of these harnesses did not match was my radio side has only one "illumination" lead which was orange/white. The factory side had orange for "illumination" and then orange/white for "illumination dimmer". I took this to mean my radio just doesnt dim.


Any advice/comments? Am I on the right track?

BlueIntegraBoy

iTrader: (5)

I hope you are using a female radio harness that you'll be soldering to your Clarion harness. That way you don't have to screw around with your factory harness.

One of these:



1. Tape off the wires, you won't need them unless you do add an amp in the future
2. Yes, bolt the ground to a dash bolt (make sure it bolts to the metal frame). There's no need to solder and hack up your factory harness.
3. Aftermarket radio doesn't dim with factory dimmer switch.

Overall, it seems that you got it.

vanberge

That looks very similar to the harness that clarion sent me.
Then there's another larger female harness that appears to plug into my factory harness. (where I was using the term 'factory side').

Both of these female harnesses have a black ground wire. So at this point I had planned on just soldering them together.

Should I solder them together and then bolt it to the frame?

BlueIntegraBoy

iTrader: (5)

Ok, great you did buy a female harness that connects to the factory harness. Your Clarion harness should be male. For a cleaner look, you can solder those two ground wires together.

vanberge

Ok I have to admit I'm still unsure of the ground...

The harness I got that plugs into my factory harness had a black ground wire (no wing type nut connector)

The harness to my clarion unit has a ground wire. This is the one with the wing bolt-down thing.

Couldnt I just solder these two together then tape them off? Wouldnt that connect it to the electrical ground feed on the factory harness?

Just not sure of best practices etc.

scott240sx

Whenever the factory side has a ground wire I use it for a cleaner installation. You can do it either way, but in reality it's not going to make a difference which way you decide to do it. A lot of Nissans and other makes do not have a ground in the harness and instead ground to the dash support bars which is why clarion has included the extra piece. You don't need it so just cut and solder.

vanberge

Awesome...

Thank you guys for the help!