first off i am a full on novice when it comes to stereo install. this is my third time installing a stereo but first time im doing it alone. ok i am hooking up my harness now. is ground ground? can i hook all my grounds on the harness to the on ground on the deck? ground/amp ground?? also does the illumination and dimmer wires from the harness go on the same wire on the deck? my deck doesnt have a wire saying dimmer only one saying illumination. thanx all

 

If the radio has a dimmer wire then hook it up to the dimmer on the harness. Hook up the appropriate wires to the headunit as the instructions say. The ground should already be connected to a ground somewhere in the headunit housing on some metal. If not, take the ground wire from the harness and connect it to the metal in the headunit housing. Sometimes you may lose your dimmer controls on the radio if you are going with a aftermarket h/u.

 

1. Dimmer makes the display darker at night and brighter during the day (I know it sounds backward, but that's what it does).

2. Illumination turns the back light on in the display when you head lights are on. So you can see it at night

3. Your amps and what not should be grounded to the chassy in some fashion. Keep all of your component grounds as short as possible and put them all on the same spot on the chassy (I use distribution blocks for this).

4.) Your head unit should ground through the factory harness ground wire. You can add an extra ground from the radio's case to the chassy or dash of the car, but it's no nessecary. Too many grounds (location wise) can create what's known as a ground loop (aka noise).

Just keep it simple and clean and everything should be fine. Good luck!