69 Valiant Radio Help

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1969_Valiant

1969_Valiant

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Thanks for helping me with my earlier post about my Valiant's radio.

Once I removed it from the dash, I cut the wires as close as I could to the radio. I connected the red wire (power?) from the dash to the yellow power wire of my Kenwood MP522 radio harness, but the radio did not power on when I turned the car over. I tied the orange wire(illumination?) from the dash to the illumination wire of the harness and tied the ground wire of my radio to a metal part of the dash. I know the radio works because I removed it from the vehicle myself and it was fine.

Does anyone have an idea what I'm doing wrong here? Did I reverse the orange and red wires from the dash? Any replies are appreciated. Thanks for your time and thanks for your help with my earlier post.
 
Was there not a red power wire on the Kenwood head unit? If I recall correctly, the head units will typically have both red and yellow: Red for main power, Yellow for a constant small draw (to keep the time and radio presets). Also, I think orange wires are typically for dimmer control.

I'm not directly familiar with that particular Kenwood unit, but did it have installation instructions with it? If not, a quick google search might bring up a pdf version of the instructions.
 
After reading your post again, this is how I understand that you've connected things:

RED (dash) - YELLOW (head unit)
ORANGE (dash) - Illumination wire (head unit)

I don't have the wire diagram for your car, but it's entirely possible the orange dash wire is actually equivalent to a newer car's yellow wire (constant). I'd be surprised if these older cars had a dedicated illumination wire for future accessory add-ons. I could be wrong. If it was me, I'd try this:

RED (dash) - RED (head unit)
ORANGE (dash) - YELLOW (head unit)

Again, you didn't mention anything about a red wire from the head-unit but I've never installed one that did not have the red power wire.
 
I appreciate your reply. Here's what's got me....

I removed the harness from my old car's(1989 Chevy S-10 Blazer) radio and there was a split-off piece with two wires---the yellow(power) and an orange wire which terminates back to the harness(no connection on the radio side). It seemed like a dead wire, so I clipped and capped it, but why is it part of a GM 89 S-10 Blazer radio connection(my old truck that it was hooked up to)?

I spoke with my friend who installed radios in multiple cars including a 1967 Camaro and he couldn't visualize what the orange wire from my old GM harness was for( as I said--it dead-ends to nothing on the radio harness side...).

There are 4 wires that fall from my Valiant's dash--2 are from the front speaker-green and green/black. The other two are red and orange---from what I read from my earlier post replies--red is power and orange provides light to the unit when the car's headlights are turned on(illumination).

My Kenwood MP522 manual says that the red wire from the RADIO HARNESS is for the acc connection to newer cars. If there is no acc connection on my car(obviously) connect it to a power source that is active with the key forward or else it drains the battery. I didn't even connect this wire, just capped it. But this would not affect it as far as turning on---correct?......I guess I need to test my red wire from the dash(battery/power) and make sure it is still hot. I don't know what else to do.....Any ideas would help. Thanks.
 
1969_Valiant said:
There are 4 wires that fall from my Valiant's dash--2 are from the front speaker-green and green/black. The other two are red and orange---from what I read from my earlier post replies--red is power and orange provides light to the unit when the car's headlights are turned on(illumination).
Click to expand...

Light to the head unit is provided via the power source. I believe the orange (illumination) wires on newer head units are often for dimming capabilities. For example, you dim your interior dash lights and the stereo lights dim as well. Not all cars would have this capability, so I would think that in many cases this is the wire that would go unused.

Again, if it were me I'd dig around and find the manual online for the head unit to confirm. I'd also check this configuration to see if it works:

RED (dash) - RED (head unit)
ORANGE (dash) - YELLOW (head unit)
 
http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/headunitharness.asp

For your reading pleasure.




Yes. This seems to match my harness. As you see the yellow is 12v power. This would connect to the red wire in the dash, correct? And the orange wire from the dash would connect to the orange/white wire for dimming/illumination. The radio does not need the ground connected to power on, right?

I'll post the diagram of the radio harness and a photo to see if it helps any. Other than that, I'll have to wait for a friend to look at it. Again, thanks for the replies and if anyone has any other ideas, please post them. Thanks again.
 
My Kenwood , red in the car harness ito red on the stereo . yellow on the stereo is its memory power so that wire had to be added to the the cars wiring. I went to the dome lamp fuse. Those are yellow wires to the door jamb switches by the way. Orange in the cars harness to orange on the stereo for illumination. And chassis ground of course. Stereo doesn't require antenna connection to power on.
If this doesn't work, check your fuses, including to one on the back of the stereo.
 
The Kenwood KDC-MP522 manual says the yellow radio wire is for the battery and goes directly to the fuse box. The red wire is the ignition wire and goes to the acc connection of a car's ignition, then the fuse box. It says that if a car is not equiped with an acc position(my car obviously), to connect the red wire to a power source that can be turned on and off with the key.

I tried matching the red wires in both the radio and car, but still no power. When I connected the red dash wire to the yellow battery wire from my radio, I got sparks when the ground wire directly contacted the door hinge. So I'm guessing that red-dash/yellow-radio is the right power connection. What power source should I connect the red wire of my radio harness to that will only supply power when the key is forward? I was thinking the wiper motor or something. I think this is the problem because of the lack of an acc position on my ignition switch. I think the red wire needs to be connected in order to complete the circuit. I checked the fuse in the radio and it's fine. Once again, thanks for your replies. I know I'm real close here.
 
Get a test light. If the red wire for the factory radio isn't hot with the switch in run, you probably have blown a fuse. And yes the yellow wire goes to a 12 volt source . Thats for the radio memory and hot at all times.
i really dont care about Kenwood model number manual yada yada, these 3 wire colors and connections are pretty much ISO standard connections for DIN applications.
 
I agree,get a test light before you fry your stereo.On my Duster,I left the factory radio plug in intact and with a test light,found the circuit that powers on and off with the key.The yellow wire is usually for constant 12volts(for radio settings,clock,etc),that one I connected directly to the (+) post of the battery.
 
A continuity test light or a voltmeter are your best friends when checking electrical work. Yes, you need the ground connected to flow electricity through the circuit. A couple of years ago, I scored a 12 volt power supply from Radio Shack. Now, I can bench test electronic equipment in comfort.
 
The combination is----Yellow radio---NEW wire directly to battery(+), red radio----exisitng red ignition wire in dash, orange/white radio----exisiting orange dimmer in dash. Thanks again for the time you guys took to help me with this. My ride now has a radio again---and it's not just AM......Now to put the factory AM radio back in place and figure out how I'm going to house my Kenwood. I'll prob just buy a cheap center console add-on and lay it in there. Thanks again. You guys are awesome.
 
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