Hey HT,

adding a stereo to my 93 integra which had no radio before. I purchased the car swapped, and the wiring has been messed with quite a bit. Wiring the radio properly and the unit does not get power. The 12v constant yellow power wire does get 12v, the ACC power wire does show 12v when the key is to acc, and the ground wire is properly grounded (all confirmed with multimeter).

But the only way I can get the stereo to work it to connect both the yellow (constant) and red(switched) power wire together. When this is done; the radio is always on and doesn’t turn off when the key is taken out. Radio fuses are good I believe so I’m kind of at a loss (still suspect a fuse but the multimeter shows proper power to the wiring) The car is a show car at this point so I decided to just not dig any further and add an ON/OFF switch to the radio.

My question is - I added the switch to the GROUND wire between the factory harness and the aftermarket head unit so the ground is essentially cut off when the switch is off. It is working properly and as should but is this the proper way of doing this?

I read to add a fused wire from battery or 12v constant to yellow wire and put a switch to the power.... it just seemed easier and less clutter to switch the ground ... is this good ? The switch is rated for like 16a if that matters

thanks !

 

are you sure you have a switched 12v?
if you can not find a a switched 12v from the dash, just pull it from another source like the fuse box.

heck, if its a show car, why have a radio at all.

but to answer your question, yes..it is ok to put an external switch to your ground.

 

thanks for the reply and I haven’t had a radio in a long long time and it’s nice for the few times a year I actually drive it to have the Apple car play to listen through my phone. And as far as if I’m sure I have switched power , I THINK I saw 12 volts with key to ACC, LOL

 

On a 93 Integra, Constant 12V should be a Wht/Blue wire (white wire with blue stripe running through it). Switch 12V should be a Yel/Red wire.

 

Thank you for that - I should have been more clear when I said the red and yellow wires I was referring to those colors when the stereo wiring harness adapter was plugged into the factory harness , on the aftermarket adapter yellow is 12v constant and red is switched 12v power. Thanks again