help with new radio
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Freshman User
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help with new radio
I'm trying to put a new radio in my 78 f-150 custom.The wiring instructions say - black to ground -yellow -memory/battery -red accesssory/ignition. I put my black wire to ground on batt. my yellow to positive terminal on batt. my red wire to a wire that is yellow brown wire I traced the wire to the fuse box ....... radio will come on for a second then go off. There is a bigger wire that comes out of the fuse box to the ignition swith black w/ green stripe. WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING WRONG?
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 2,760
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From: Gadsden Purchase
I'm trying to put a new radio in my 78 f-150 custom.
The wiring instructions say
- black to ground
-yellow -memory/battery
-red accesssory/ignition.
I put my black wire to ground on batt.
my yellow to positive terminal on batt.
my red wire to a wire that is yellow brown wire I traced the wire
to the fuse box ....... radio will come on for a second then go off.
There is a bigger wire that comes out of the fuse box to the ignition
swith black w/ green stripe.
WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING WRONG?
The wiring instructions say
- black to ground
-yellow -memory/battery
-red accesssory/ignition.
I put my black wire to ground on batt.
my yellow to positive terminal on batt.
my red wire to a wire that is yellow brown wire I traced the wire
to the fuse box ....... radio will come on for a second then go off.
There is a bigger wire that comes out of the fuse box to the ignition
swith black w/ green stripe.
WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING WRONG?
Don't let yours be the third vehicle I know of that burned up after a CD player
install ok? :)
It's been posted here that Auto Zone has wiring diagrams on their website. :)
I guess it's to make up for them selling Haynes service manuals? LOL :)
Try hooking the black wire to the negative side of the battery and the red
wire to the positive side of the battery just to see if the friggin radio works.
Very well could be a bad radio, wouldn't be the first time!
But without a meter you don't know how much voltage you're getting on
the red wire. ...or when you're getting it. See? :)
You wouldn't try to install a radio with out a screwdriver... a meter's just as
basic but more important.
Alvin in AZ
Junior User
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 53
Likes: 0
From: Litchfield,Oh.
sounds like you did ok with the yellow and black wire, try hooking the red up with the yellow, to see if it stays on, maybe where you hooked up the red has a problem or can't handle the voltage draw, which should be minimal anyway. The factory radio power wires should be there somewhere the factory radio would have been, I have a wiring diagram which will tell you the color of the wires on your truck.
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 2,760
Likes: 8
From: Gadsden Purchase
sounds like you did ok with the yellow and black wire, try hooking the red
up with the yellow, to see if it stays on, maybe where you hooked up the
red has a problem or can't handle the voltage draw, which should be minimal
anyway.
The factory radio power wires should be there somewhere the factory radio
would have been, I have a wiring diagram which will tell you the color of the
wires on your truck.
up with the yellow, to see if it stays on, maybe where you hooked up the
red has a problem or can't handle the voltage draw, which should be minimal
anyway.
The factory radio power wires should be there somewhere the factory radio
would have been, I have a wiring diagram which will tell you the color of the
wires on your truck.
x2
Someday I need to get my plans out and study other year's color codes on
AutoZone's website. If the colors remain the same could help with this sort
of stuff better.
Used the radio pigtail to power my Dana speed control that I installed in ~'76.
$79 "on sale" from Sears and it was a hot new item! LOL :)
Saved more than that money on the first ticket I didn't get.
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/gearshift1.jpg
(got an FE, dohn need no steekeen rad-ee-O;)
(...or dumb ol' antenna to get broke off neither;)
http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/speedcontrol.jpg
YMMV
Alvin in AZ
New User
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
From: Sherwood
ok then i just did this a couple of months ago on my 73 f250 take the red wire with an end on it and put it in the green couple where the original radio hooked up. then take the black wire and screw it too anything on bare metal. and the yellow one get one of those splicing electrical connections and attach it to the cig. lighter. that's the way I had mine done and I have a 79 f250 at home that has the same wiring for the radio. this is the way for after market radios and not the factory one the factory one just snaps together.
More Turbo
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 555
Likes: 2
From: Washington state
Like it is said before.
Black find a solid metal ground to mount that wire to.
Yellow is just your constant 12V.
Red is the ignition lead, the red must be hooked to a Switched 12V. i.e. when the key is turned to "On" or "ACC" it will provide 12V, and when the key is off there in no 12V.
In lamens terms the ignition lead is just kind of a wake up and go to sleep type deal and doesn't require much power.
Or you can skip that and just hook the Yellow and red leads together and hook them to a constant 12V. If you go that route you just have to make sure you turn the deck off, or it will stay on and drain the battery, cause the ignintion key won't trun it on and off.
Black find a solid metal ground to mount that wire to.
Yellow is just your constant 12V.
Red is the ignition lead, the red must be hooked to a Switched 12V. i.e. when the key is turned to "On" or "ACC" it will provide 12V, and when the key is off there in no 12V.
In lamens terms the ignition lead is just kind of a wake up and go to sleep type deal and doesn't require much power.
Or you can skip that and just hook the Yellow and red leads together and hook them to a constant 12V. If you go that route you just have to make sure you turn the deck off, or it will stay on and drain the battery, cause the ignintion key won't trun it on and off.
Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 2,313
Likes: 12
From: Northeast LA
The easiest place I've found to ground the CD player is to ash tray slide mechanism. Slide the ash tray completely out and there is a 1/4" screw on both sides that holds the mechanism in place, just unscrew one of them and attach your ground there with a ring terminal and then tighten it back down. Slide the ashtray back in and you'll never it's there.
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Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,034
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From: NJ
When I wired my radio I ran the ground and memory out to the battery (which doesn't need to be done that way) but I thought I was having issues the other way I had it). For the red wire I simply plugged it into the original radio connector under the dash for the key on power. The other part of the connector wires to the headlight switch. You don't need that part. When wiring things in a test light and a volt meter are your best friend. Personally I use a power probe, which tells you if something is ground or power and how much voltage is coming out of a specific wire. And it also has a little light on it to shine where you are poking around.
More Turbo
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 555
Likes: 2
From: Washington state
When I wired my radio I ran the ground and memory out to the battery (which doesn't need to be done that way) but I thought I was having issues the other way I had it). For the red wire I simply plugged it into the original radio connector under the dash for the key on power. The other part of the connector wires to the headlight switch. You don't need that part. When wiring things in a test light and a volt meter are your best friend. Personally I use a power probe, which tells you if something is ground or power and how much voltage is coming out of a specific wire. And it also has a little light on it to shine where you are poking around.
While test lights are very useful and work well in our dent side vehicles, I always warn towards using them behind the dash of vehicles with air bag systems when probing randomly for power sources as you can trip air bags. and can seriously injure a preson if they are close to the bad, and on some instances people have been killed by a air bad deploying while their head was next to or against the steering wheel.
I just point that out as I would hate to have anyone be seriously injured or killed just trying to install a deck.
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