How to Connect Car Audio to a Wire Harness

Connecting a wiring harness is one of the easiest parts of replacing your car stereo. With the advent of custom wiring harnesses that are sold based on the wiring in most vehicles, connecting them is simply a matter of matching the color of wires that are already part of your factory car audio system. With a little patience, you can have an aftermarket unit up and running in your vehicle in no time.

Things You'll Need

• Crimping tools
• Soldering iron
• Solder
• Crimping caps
• Wire stripper
• Voltmeter (optional)

Instructions

1. Prepare all exposed wires with a wire stripper to expose enough wire to make a good connection. When wiring a harness, you can use crimping caps or solder each connection. Soldering will ensure that the connections are good while crimp caps are quick and easy.

2. Connect the power wire from the vehicle to the wiring harness. This will allow the head unit to be turned on and off with the power button. With a switchable power wire, the car stereo will not work when the car is switched off. You can also bypass this feature and connect the power wire from the car directly to the stereo, which will provide constant power to the head unit.

3. Secure the ground wire to the wiring harness or use a close bolt or screw so that the bare end of the wire is touching metal. You can connect this wire to any ground source, but without it, your car stereo will not work, and you will have to remove it and eventually connect the ground at some point. Make sure it is in tight, if using the harness, as loose connected ground wires can introduce unwanted noise into your audio system.

4. Connect each of the colored speaker wires to the corresponding wire located in the harness. If they do not match and you are not sure which color goes with what, you can use a voltmeter to make sure none of them carries any power. If they do not, you can connect them and test the connections once the stereo has power. You can quickly adjust any that are not correct before inserting the head unit into the dash.

5. Connect the emergency brake wire if you are using a head unit that has video. This is a safety feature that will only allow you to use the video when the car is in "Park" to prevent any distractions while driving. Bypassing this safety feature will remove any responsibility of the manufacturer in case of an accident.

References

• Crutchfield: Car Stereo Installation Guide