Just bought a new Pioneer HU (DEH-P6800M) and started my first HU install... so I took my middle console apart (props to Lance Dogg ) to put the HU in. Unfortunately the previous owner didn't use a wiring harness, so I had to try to match the colors from his alpine harness to my new pioneer harness. When I was done, the HU worked and so did the 4 interior speakers, but I had 2 wires that weren't connected to anything. One I think was orange and the other was blue/white with a tag that said "remote". Is this all going to continue to work properly or should I go back and connect the wires to somthing??

 

Thats normal , you may not use all the wires. The remote is a signal wire if you have an amp installed . If you dont, you wont use it so don't worry. Do you remember what the orange wire tag said?

 

I don't think that it had any tag on it... also I looked at the wires that were connecting to the harness from the car and there were some not connected also...

 

Its probably illumination. I think what that does is , when you turn on your headlights the display will dim a bit and when you turn off your headlights it becomes bright again.

There is also a dimmer wire which when you use your dimmer dial, the radio display will dim with the rest of the car. Dimmer and illumination are not needed to make the car stereo work, they are just nice to have.

As long as all 4 speakers work and the radio can keep station memory, all the vital wires are hooked up properly.

 

thanks... i'll check on the illumination to see if that is what that other wire is. do you know what color i am supposed to connect it (the illumination wire) to on the wires from the car?

 

Yes the orange wire is illumination but
do not connect it. If you do your dash lights will not work. Then you will have to go back and disconnect it. Trust me i had to fix this problem on 4 or 5 of my friends cars.

 

your leftover wires would be your dimmer/illuminaton and your remote wire, the only time you will use remote is for factor amps, aftermarket amps, or a power antenna.

other than that, if you have sound and everything works, you are just fine.

 

Not on the factory harness since it is color coded differently that a standard wiring harness.

 

I wonder if its car or headunit specific because I never had a problem with my illumination connection.

 

Both really. It depends on what type of voltage is coming from the car an what type of voltage the radio can accept.

Usually on the more expensive radios there is the orange/white. But there can also be just an orange wire on the harness. Or both..

So yes it is both vehicle and radio specific...

 

Nice... thanks for the help. Apparently I got the "more expensive radio"... gotta love the BBY employee discount! Now I don't have to pop open the center console and rewire the stuff!

 

I just have a question about that... I installed a new HU and plugged in the Orange wire but my dash lights still work. Does that mean they might stop working?

 

no, its different on all cars. it is just illumination. on different models of vehilcles they may need to be disconnected, but if your dash lights work fine now, you are golden

 

Thanks i was just wondering.

 

Have any of you guys had a problem with the poineer HUs?? Recently mine would just randomly go to "MUTE". Like the word "MUTE" would show up on the screen. I was able to change it to poineers "ATT" which lowers the volume to 90% of the original volume, but there was no way to turn off the "ATT" whether I tried the remote or every button, then sometimes it would randomly go back to normal volume and then back to "ATT"... anyone run into this??