Pyre
New member
I have noticed a few questions about car audio. I have a fair amount of experiance with car audio and accessory wiring. So I took the time to make a beginners guide to try to answer some of the questions that I saw, and share a little of what I learned over time.
If you feel that something is missing, incomplete or have something to add, feel free to post a response.
INSTALLING AFTER MARKET RADIOS:
NEVER CUT OFF FACTORY PLUGS. They make aftermarket adapters that plug into the factory plug for just about any model and make. SOME cars do require special adapters for things like the chimes, the steering wheel controls, the factory built in amps, etc. Generally the newer the vehicle, the better chance you have of needing the special adapters. If you can not get the plugs or adapters, or they are out of your price range, then there are three alternatives.
ALTERNATIVE 1:
Have a car audio proffessional install the audio system for you. This can be expensive. Check around for prices. The advantage here, is there is normally a warranty, and the company that installed the audio system is repsonsible for fixing any issues they cause. If they dont warranty thier work, FIND ANOTHER INSTALLER! Any good installer will give you a list of parts you require, such as harness adapters, and can explain the possible risks and benifts of using or not using them.
ALTERNATIVE 2:
You can leave the factory harness intact, remove the radio, and get the wiring diagram and strip back a little insulation and SPLICE in your new harness... DO NOT CUT the factory wiring. By only splicing in, you leave all other wiring unmolested and basically just added a pigtail in for the new deck.
ALTERNATIVE 3:
I have run into issues where the owner of a classic vehicle wanted an aftermarket deck, but did not want to modify the dash to fit it, or loose value by removing the factory deck. The soulution here is to look for a place that you can put a second deck. Alot of times people will use the glove box / center console or make a bracket to mount it under the dash into the screws holding the kick panel and dash so there is really no modification.
If you do the glove box / center console method, make sure you measure to make sure you actually got the required clearance and room to disapate the heat. I do suggest getting an additional glove box / center console in case you want to return it to original or make mistakes in placing the holes / brackets to do this. Also, if you live in a high crime area or area where car break ins / audio theft are common, the glovebox / center console method gives you added protection. It hides the aftermarket deck, and forces a thief to take more time to break open the glove box / center console to get at the deck to steal it.
Basically to do this method, you will need to either run new power and ground, or splice into the existing ones behind the factory deck. I preffer to run new ground and power wires and splice the ignition, thus ensuring that the deck is fully powered, and it does not leech power off anything else that may tie into the factory radio.
There are two advantages to running new wiring. The first is it eliminates troubleshooting steps if the deck wont power on later. The second is it allows you to stay original, and still use the latest technology. You actually will leave BOTH fully fuctional this way.
Now that you have your power to the deck, you need to connect your speakers. This can be difficult if you have an aftermarket amp, unless you have the wiring diagram to know how to connect to it. The Easiest method here is figure out what wires go to what speaker, and splice them to the new deck, leaving the original connected. You may loose the factory amp doing that, but the aftermarket deck should be able to make up for a majority of the wattage / power of the factory amp you lost.
This will give you a way to install that aftermarket deck without touching the factory deck. Thus no harnesses required, No loss of factory components, no worries about possible mistakes in the install.
WIRE SPLICING 101
Some of you may be pros at splicing wires, others of you may not have a clue how to do it. Below is a basic set of instructions for how I personally do it, and have found it to work best for me.
1.) Identify the wires to splice.
2.) Strip (DO NOT CUT WIRE!) some insulation back. about 1/4 to 3/8 inch is plenty. Keep in mind you need to cover this again. Dont go overboard!
3.) Take the wire you want to splice in, and strip about 3/4 to 1 inch of insulation off the end you are splicing.
4.) Starting at the center of the insulation on the original wire wrap it a few times one way, then back across and over / around the wire to the other side.
5A.) This is a perfect time to soder the wires togeather if you plan to. It is recommended.
5B.) Tug gently against the wire you just spliced in. It should not pull off or really move at all. If it does, start over, and if required, strip back a little bit more insulation.
6.) Cover the splice. I have used a liquid rubber compound in the past meant for tool handles with great result (Liquid rubber is pretty messy stuff. Make sure you use plastic or drop closth so you dont get it all over your vehicle in places you dont want it.), but electrical tape works fine too provided you actually cover all bare wire.
WIRE TYPE / USAGE:
So there is no confusion by my meaning, I will define the following word as I am applying it to wiring:
*Choke* - to limit the amount of current, amperage, voltage, etc able to flow due to size limitation. Think of a multi-lane highway. If you loose a lane or two, traffic slows. Using smaller than required wiring is basically the same principle.
1.) Wire sizing.
Wire starts at a bigger number or gauge, and goes lower as it goes bigger. The smallest I have seen commonly availible is 24 gauge. The biggest commonly availible is 00. The most tryically availible automotice wire availible is 16 or 14 gauge. The price of the wire also goes up with the size.
2.) Power and Ground wiring.
Power and Ground wires should NEVER be smaller than the original wiring. Most factory wire is 24-16 gauge wire. I never use anything under 12 gauge and prefer to use 10 gauge for Decks or accessories. The reason for the heavier wire is it can handle more than will be put through it, and it wont "choke" your audio system.
3.) Speaker Wiring.
Speaker wiring on the factory harness again should be 24-16 gauge wire. There is actually very little current running through the speaker wires. However, bigger is better here. I normally rewire with 14 or 12 gauge wire. This is a bit overkill for just an aftermarket deck, but has two advantage. It does not "choke" your sound, and is heavy enough you can add an after market amp to the speakers.
4.) Aftermarket Amplifiers.
Many people do not realize that there are many variables to these. The first and most important is powering them. 8 gauge is minimum, and in some cases 00 gauge is actually required. The higher the wattage, the bigger the wire, the better performace.
5.) Wire lengths.
Keep all wires as short as possible. The longer the wire, the longer it takes the juice to flow through, and the longer it takes to get where you need it.
6.) Fuses.
ALL power (positive) wires should have a fuse in. Fuse links, or even consider adding it to your fuse box / pannel. This protects your add on accessories from getting fried. a fuse is much cheaper than any accessory you wire in.
7.) Type of wire to use?
Generally if you go to the store and pick up some automotive / cheap speaker wire, it is just plain stranded copper wire with a plastic or rubber jacket to insulate it. You can can get either stranded or solid. Generally you will use only stranded copper in every day usage.
For aftermarket Audio, it is worth spending a little more on your wiring for the "oxygen-free" stranded wire. This wire has a lower resistance and allows more current to flow in a smaller diameter wire. Also keep in mind that most of the better oxygen-free wire will have a softer jacket and be more flexable than typical automotive wire.
8.) How much cant I wire in?
Keep in mind that your charging system has a limit on what it can handle before you exceed the ability of it. Your alternator charges the battery, keeps the car running, and powers your accessories as the engine runs. When you exceed this limit, your alternator can stop providing the full charge for the battery as it feeds the accessories (best scenario) and cause a dead battery, or more often than not, it will fry out the alternator, and possibly leave you stranded.
To figure out what you can add, without the car running, use a volt meter and find out how much the car is drawing to keep the electronics, computer and misc devices happy. Write this down. Start the car, then check this number again. Subtract the first number you got from the second. As a rule, subtract 10 ( this is a conservative number.) from the total for charging the battery. What is left is what you have to play with. If you are planning on adding alot of goodies and accessories, consider upgrading your alternator.
Though my post was a bit long winded, I hope that it helps anyone else that is planning on doing aftermarket audio or accessory wiring.
If you feel that something is missing, incomplete or have something to add, feel free to post a response.
INSTALLING AFTER MARKET RADIOS:
NEVER CUT OFF FACTORY PLUGS. They make aftermarket adapters that plug into the factory plug for just about any model and make. SOME cars do require special adapters for things like the chimes, the steering wheel controls, the factory built in amps, etc. Generally the newer the vehicle, the better chance you have of needing the special adapters. If you can not get the plugs or adapters, or they are out of your price range, then there are three alternatives.
ALTERNATIVE 1:
Have a car audio proffessional install the audio system for you. This can be expensive. Check around for prices. The advantage here, is there is normally a warranty, and the company that installed the audio system is repsonsible for fixing any issues they cause. If they dont warranty thier work, FIND ANOTHER INSTALLER! Any good installer will give you a list of parts you require, such as harness adapters, and can explain the possible risks and benifts of using or not using them.
ALTERNATIVE 2:
You can leave the factory harness intact, remove the radio, and get the wiring diagram and strip back a little insulation and SPLICE in your new harness... DO NOT CUT the factory wiring. By only splicing in, you leave all other wiring unmolested and basically just added a pigtail in for the new deck.
ALTERNATIVE 3:
I have run into issues where the owner of a classic vehicle wanted an aftermarket deck, but did not want to modify the dash to fit it, or loose value by removing the factory deck. The soulution here is to look for a place that you can put a second deck. Alot of times people will use the glove box / center console or make a bracket to mount it under the dash into the screws holding the kick panel and dash so there is really no modification.
If you do the glove box / center console method, make sure you measure to make sure you actually got the required clearance and room to disapate the heat. I do suggest getting an additional glove box / center console in case you want to return it to original or make mistakes in placing the holes / brackets to do this. Also, if you live in a high crime area or area where car break ins / audio theft are common, the glovebox / center console method gives you added protection. It hides the aftermarket deck, and forces a thief to take more time to break open the glove box / center console to get at the deck to steal it.
Basically to do this method, you will need to either run new power and ground, or splice into the existing ones behind the factory deck. I preffer to run new ground and power wires and splice the ignition, thus ensuring that the deck is fully powered, and it does not leech power off anything else that may tie into the factory radio.
There are two advantages to running new wiring. The first is it eliminates troubleshooting steps if the deck wont power on later. The second is it allows you to stay original, and still use the latest technology. You actually will leave BOTH fully fuctional this way.
Now that you have your power to the deck, you need to connect your speakers. This can be difficult if you have an aftermarket amp, unless you have the wiring diagram to know how to connect to it. The Easiest method here is figure out what wires go to what speaker, and splice them to the new deck, leaving the original connected. You may loose the factory amp doing that, but the aftermarket deck should be able to make up for a majority of the wattage / power of the factory amp you lost.
This will give you a way to install that aftermarket deck without touching the factory deck. Thus no harnesses required, No loss of factory components, no worries about possible mistakes in the install.
WIRE SPLICING 101
Some of you may be pros at splicing wires, others of you may not have a clue how to do it. Below is a basic set of instructions for how I personally do it, and have found it to work best for me.
1.) Identify the wires to splice.
2.) Strip (DO NOT CUT WIRE!) some insulation back. about 1/4 to 3/8 inch is plenty. Keep in mind you need to cover this again. Dont go overboard!
3.) Take the wire you want to splice in, and strip about 3/4 to 1 inch of insulation off the end you are splicing.
4.) Starting at the center of the insulation on the original wire wrap it a few times one way, then back across and over / around the wire to the other side.
5A.) This is a perfect time to soder the wires togeather if you plan to. It is recommended.
5B.) Tug gently against the wire you just spliced in. It should not pull off or really move at all. If it does, start over, and if required, strip back a little bit more insulation.
6.) Cover the splice. I have used a liquid rubber compound in the past meant for tool handles with great result (Liquid rubber is pretty messy stuff. Make sure you use plastic or drop closth so you dont get it all over your vehicle in places you dont want it.), but electrical tape works fine too provided you actually cover all bare wire.
WIRE TYPE / USAGE:
So there is no confusion by my meaning, I will define the following word as I am applying it to wiring:
*Choke* - to limit the amount of current, amperage, voltage, etc able to flow due to size limitation. Think of a multi-lane highway. If you loose a lane or two, traffic slows. Using smaller than required wiring is basically the same principle.
1.) Wire sizing.
Wire starts at a bigger number or gauge, and goes lower as it goes bigger. The smallest I have seen commonly availible is 24 gauge. The biggest commonly availible is 00. The most tryically availible automotice wire availible is 16 or 14 gauge. The price of the wire also goes up with the size.
2.) Power and Ground wiring.
Power and Ground wires should NEVER be smaller than the original wiring. Most factory wire is 24-16 gauge wire. I never use anything under 12 gauge and prefer to use 10 gauge for Decks or accessories. The reason for the heavier wire is it can handle more than will be put through it, and it wont "choke" your audio system.
3.) Speaker Wiring.
Speaker wiring on the factory harness again should be 24-16 gauge wire. There is actually very little current running through the speaker wires. However, bigger is better here. I normally rewire with 14 or 12 gauge wire. This is a bit overkill for just an aftermarket deck, but has two advantage. It does not "choke" your sound, and is heavy enough you can add an after market amp to the speakers.
4.) Aftermarket Amplifiers.
Many people do not realize that there are many variables to these. The first and most important is powering them. 8 gauge is minimum, and in some cases 00 gauge is actually required. The higher the wattage, the bigger the wire, the better performace.
5.) Wire lengths.
Keep all wires as short as possible. The longer the wire, the longer it takes the juice to flow through, and the longer it takes to get where you need it.
6.) Fuses.
ALL power (positive) wires should have a fuse in. Fuse links, or even consider adding it to your fuse box / pannel. This protects your add on accessories from getting fried. a fuse is much cheaper than any accessory you wire in.
7.) Type of wire to use?
Generally if you go to the store and pick up some automotive / cheap speaker wire, it is just plain stranded copper wire with a plastic or rubber jacket to insulate it. You can can get either stranded or solid. Generally you will use only stranded copper in every day usage.
For aftermarket Audio, it is worth spending a little more on your wiring for the "oxygen-free" stranded wire. This wire has a lower resistance and allows more current to flow in a smaller diameter wire. Also keep in mind that most of the better oxygen-free wire will have a softer jacket and be more flexable than typical automotive wire.
8.) How much cant I wire in?
Keep in mind that your charging system has a limit on what it can handle before you exceed the ability of it. Your alternator charges the battery, keeps the car running, and powers your accessories as the engine runs. When you exceed this limit, your alternator can stop providing the full charge for the battery as it feeds the accessories (best scenario) and cause a dead battery, or more often than not, it will fry out the alternator, and possibly leave you stranded.
To figure out what you can add, without the car running, use a volt meter and find out how much the car is drawing to keep the electronics, computer and misc devices happy. Write this down. Start the car, then check this number again. Subtract the first number you got from the second. As a rule, subtract 10 ( this is a conservative number.) from the total for charging the battery. What is left is what you have to play with. If you are planning on adding alot of goodies and accessories, consider upgrading your alternator.
Though my post was a bit long winded, I hope that it helps anyone else that is planning on doing aftermarket audio or accessory wiring.
