Grounding Head unit help!

[kickass audio]

What i would so is disregard the dimmer switch cables as you will NOT be able to use them with any aftermarket headunit. There arent any that i know of that are capable of using the stock dimming feature used in your dashboard controls. To ground your headunit, see if you can maybe cut off the half ring terminal that comes off your headunit itself and extend it. I would extend it to the floor and like a typical amp setup, drill a hole (MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO GAS LINES OR ANYTHING ON THE UNDERSIDE BEFORE YOU DRILL!!!) and then sand away any paint/primer from the surface and ground it there. Then to help protect against any rust/corrosion, i always give it a quick shot of spray paint on the surface over the screw hold after the ground is secured.

I would do it just like this...

1.) Cut off the half ring terminal on the wiring harness that came with your aftermarket headunit

2.) Get the same gauge wire (possibly like 16 or 18 gauge) and make a run long enough for it to reach the floor board of your vehicle.

3.) Once you have the length of the extended ground wire figured out, twist both the newly cut wire and the ground coming off your headunit together and solder them together. Once they are soldered together, wrap the joint up with electrical tape tightly or shrink wrap if you have it.

4.) Now go under your dash and pull back the carpeting a little bit to expose the floor board panels. Find a flat surface that is clear of any wires, gas lines, brake lines, etc. and drill a small 1/8 hole into the metal.

5.) Get a ring terminal that will fit over the extended wire and cut and crimp the ring terminal on the wire tightly.

6.) Get a small stainless steel screw and washer to secure the ground in place.

7.) Sand away any paint and primer from the surface of which the ring terminal will sit onto and then screw the ring terminal into the pre-drilled hole you made previously

8.) Make sure this ground is secure and cannot be rocked side to side in any way and then put some paint over the surface and if you drilled on the bottom of the floor, i recommend using some putty of somekind to seal the hole from any water that may enter..

9.) you just successfully grounded your headunit and it will function.

[kickass audio]

Can i Ground the wires on this area here? The metal bar behind the head unit? Or is that a pipe to something important? It seems like its just structure support. Anyone know? ;p

That tube that is behind your dash near your h/u is just for integrity of your dashboard should you be involved in an accident. You COULD ground the wire to this but it would be a lot easier to do like i mentioned above and just take it to the floor panel or to a spot on your firewall.

[dkahns51]

What i would so is disregard the dimmer switch cables as you will NOT be able to use them with any aftermarket headunit. There arent any that i know of that are capable of using the stock dimming feature used in your dashboard controls. To ground your headunit, see if you can maybe cut off the half ring terminal that comes off your headunit itself and extend it. I would extend it to the floor and like a typical amp setup, drill a hole (MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO GAS LINES OR ANYTHING ON THE UNDERSIDE BEFORE YOU DRILL!!!) and then sand away any paint/primer from the surface and ground it there. Then to help protect against any rust/corrosion, i always give it a quick shot of spray paint on the surface over the screw hold after the ground is secured.

I would do it just like this...

1.) Cut off the half ring terminal on the wiring harness that came with your aftermarket headunit

2.) Get the same gauge wire (possibly like 16 or 18 gauge) and make a run long enough for it to reach the floor board of your vehicle.

3.) Once you have the length of the extended ground wire figured out, twist both the newly cut wire and the ground coming off your headunit together and solder them together. Once they are soldered together, wrap the joint up with electrical tape tightly or shrink wrap if you have it.

4.) Now go under your dash and pull back the carpeting a little bit to expose the floor board panels. Find a flat surface that is clear of any wires, gas lines, brake lines, etc. and drill a small 1/8 hole into the metal.

5.) Get a ring terminal that will fit over the extended wire and cut and crimp the ring terminal on the wire tightly.

6.) Get a small stainless steel screw and washer to secure the ground in place.

7.) Sand away any paint and primer from the surface of which the ring terminal will sit onto and then screw the ring terminal into the pre-drilled hole you made previously

8.) Make sure this ground is secure and cannot be rocked side to side in any way and then put some paint over the surface and if you drilled on the bottom of the floor, i recommend using some putty of somekind to seal the hole from any water that may enter..

9.) you just successfully grounded your headunit and it will function.

Thanks for that! Will get on it.

[kickass audio]

sorry for all the posts but i stumbled upon another post about the same issue by you where you were wondering about the reverse gear signal wire going into your radios harness. You HAVE to use this with your backup camera or else the camera will never be engaged. Now for this you can tackle it one of 2 ways.

1.) Get a 2 way rocker switch at radioshack and hook it up to a 12v+ source that will stay energized all the time. Connect this to one of the connectors on the switch and the other connector will go to your headunits reverse gear wire. When you apply a +12v to this wire, it will engage the camera feature on your radio to show you where you are backing up into.

2.) Get a long run of wire (16-18 gauge) and extend the wire to the rear of your vehicle to where your wires are for your stop/backup lights. You will need to remove the light bulb that is illuminated when you kick the car into reverse and use a DMM to detect which wire is supplied with power when you are in reverse and which one is grounded when you are not in reverse. Once you locate which wire is switched, take the reverse gear signal wire and use a wire tap to connect it to the wire of the light bulb.

I recommend you perform the first one as it will be a lot easier for you. Also, no offense but i think step 2 will be somewhat over your level of skill to perform.

[dkahns51]

I did alot of research on the reverse signal wire and they all said that the reverse back up wire is a Brown/yellow stripped wire that is by the kick pannel... or i saw mine at the harness. So I might try that.. not 100% yet so im not going to hook it up.

[kickass audio]

I did alot of research on the reverse signal wire and they all said that the reverse back up wire is a Brown/yellow stripped wire that is by the kick pannel... or i saw mine at the harness. So I might try that.. not 100% yet so im not going to hook it up.

Before you hook it up, just get a cheap digital multi meter from autozone or something and get a set of clips that will pinch the wire so you can penetrate the wire with the probe past the insulation. If that brown/yellow wire has 0 voltage in it when you are in any other gear than reverse then its a good start. If it has 12v of power on it then it is deff not your reverse wire.

To test the voltage of the wire simply do this...

1.) Set your DMM to the 20vdc setting

2.) Take the black wire and ground it to the frame/body of your vehicle

3.) Take the positive (red) lead off your dmm and attach the insulation piercing clips you purchased to the end of the lead.

4.) Once attached, hook it onto the brown/yellow wire and see what the voltage reads on your DMM screen. Like i previously said, if you have the car in park, the wire should not have any voltage going through it. If this is the case then place the car in reverse and hold your brake down so you dont back up into something. Look at the screen of your DMM again, it should now read a +12v reading. If this is the case, you successfully found the wire you need to tap into in order to make your reverse camera work on your radio.

[dkahns51]

I did alot of research on the reverse signal wire and they all said that the reverse back up wire is a Brown/yellow stripped wire that is by the kick pannel... or i saw mine at the harness. So I might try that.. not 100% yet so im not going to hook it up.

Before you hook it up, just get a cheap digital multi meter from autozone or something and get a set of clips that will pinch the wire so you can penetrate the wire with the probe past the insulation. If that brown/yellow wire has 0 voltage in it when you are in any other gear than reverse then its a good start. If it has 12v of power on it then it is deff not your reverse wire.

To test the voltage of the wire simply do this...

1.) Set your DMM to the 20vdc setting

2.) Take the black wire and ground it to the frame/body of your vehicle

3.) Take the positive (red) lead off your dmm and attach the insulation piercing clips you purchased to the end of the lead.

4.) Once attached, hook it onto the brown/yellow wire and see what the voltage reads on your DMM screen. Like i previously said, if you have the car in park, the wire should not have any voltage going through it. If this is the case then place the car in reverse and hold your brake down so you dont back up into something. Look at the screen of your DMM again, it should now read a +12v reading. If this is the case, you successfully found the wire you need to tap into in order to make your reverse camera work on your radio.

Home depot, Auto Zone and Radio shack didnt have the Insulation piercing clips . Napa was closed same with another store. Lame sauce... TBC

Edit: My DVD does not work even with park break on... so there is another trouble shoot i gotta figure out.

Edited July 17, 2011 by dkahns51