8 replies to this topic

[tam0123]

i have mini mayfair 1983, that never had a stereo in it. i'm told i need to wire the stereo from scratch. i haven't got enough money to pay a pro to do it. does anyone know how i wire a stereo from sratch & or what i need to do this?
thanks

[mattvallins]

Yup:
Its easy. To begin with, you will need to decide if you want it switched off when you turn off the ignition, or when you flick a switch.

There will be a series of wires going in to the back of the stereo, probably in 2 clusters.
1 cluster will have pairs of wires, each pair consisting of a solid colour and that colour with a stripe. These are the speaker wires, 1 pair for each speaker.
The other cluster will have the following:

Power feed- take a line from the battery or from any permanent positive place in the wiring loom (fuse box, starter solenoid etc). Put a little line fuse in this (cheap holder from electrical shops). This gives the stereo memory(keeps settings and radio channels etc) and main power supply.

Positive feed from either the ignition or a switch (which can be taken from the "power feed" above, to the switch, then to this wire). This switches the stereo on and off.

Earth- this can go to any clean point on the body shell (under the dashboard somewhere is best. use a bolt or something, or add it to another bolt thats already there).

Power antenna-This is not used, it is for if you have an electric aerial that winds up when you turn the stereo on.

Identify each of these, and any more in that cluster should be irrelevant. Make sure they are taped up so they dont short to the body though.


On the other cluster (probably a separate part of the plug) you just fix the wires from the stereo to the speaker cables. in pairs, and it works. I solder cables, but most people just use chocolate blocks or scotch clips. Do this AFTER you have routed the cables though, so you dont realise that you wanted the wire the OTHER side if a pillar or something.

[Madmax]

it took me 10 minutes to wire in my stereo from scratch last night

its the fitting of speakers thats the pain in the backside... cutting holes in the parcel shelf is not good for self confidence...

[tam0123]

thanks mate i will give it a try and hopefully no wires fry. i found making and fitting the speakers quite easy. the only pain in the backside is im stuck with a jig saw i may never use. it was going to cost me the same amount to hire one as it would to buy one so i just went and got one. stuck with it now.

[Pooky]

Jigsawing the parcel shelf is probably the noisiest thing i have ever experianced in my life!

And i've spent a week on a Harrier base!

Wiring a cd player is quite easy you just need you follow the instructions that came with it...(if you have them)...replacing the iso connector with new wires.

[tam0123]

just had a day of nightmares! the stereo doesn't what to work. i did as you said, or at least i think i did.
the stereo (aiwa model ct-x320yz)has got the following wires which are labelled:

red- power (acc)
yellow- to battery (back up) fuse 15a
black - gnd (negative ground)
blue - relay control to power antenna
brown - car telephone mute

i have connected the red wire to the ingnition switch at the same point as the white and red wire on thyen ignition switch.
i connected the yellow to the starter selonoid. (the car mayfair '83 has a remotely mounted stater solenoid). i connectected it to the cable that comes from the battery.
i connected the black to the same earth point as the wiper motor.
the speakers where straight forward.

i dont know where i went wrong can you help please.

[Madmax]

read my FAQ tam, its got all you want to know, go to the ICE section

[binge]

Jigsawing the parcel shelf is probably the noisiest thing i have ever experianced in my life!

Seconded.

I had to jigsaw the holes out by about 2 cm.
In the end, I found it too hard to do it around the petrol tank so I just bent it out with pliars. :fear:

Was quieter though. :tongue:



Wiring a sterio isnt too bad, I had to mine from scratch too. It had a sterio in but it wasnt wired up. :nugget:


I know its already been listed, but ill do it again.

you need one live feed either straight from battery or from a constant live in the car. But make sure its a chunky wire. Dont go branching it off a wire which powers a relay or somthing as they arent up to the current drawage and it will melt.

Your best bet is to buy a length of decent wire from maplins and run a fresh loom from the battery. (With an inline fuse of course)

Remote feed. Get this from either the indicator power feed (Before the ticker :wink: )

now your sterio will say which wire is for what. usually the yellow one is for the perminant feed and red one is for remote. But on my american DVD head unit, they are the other way round.

earth is easy peasy.

Your best bet is to wire it to a universal wiring block from halfords (Wont be more than £5)
That way if you change the sterio, It will be supplied with the adaptor block which will plug right into the origional block connectors.

Speakers arent too hard. Make sure they are mounted securely though. And they sound MUCH better if they are mounted onto MDF or plywood.

If they are on the parcel shelf, use the carpet shelf cover as a template to make a MDF copy of the shelf, then put this between the speakers and the metal shelf.
Otherwise you will find the boot "Drumming" as the speakers beat;.


Hope this helps. and sorry for the long post.


<|Ben|>

[binge]

just had a day of nightmares! the stereo doesn't what to work.

i dont know where i went wrong can you help please.

A way to test it is to wire it directly to your battey. Just to see if its working.


Wire both the Red and Yellow wires to the Posotive on the battery (+)
ANd wire the black wire to the Negative on the battery (-)

I found with my old JVC head unit that I had to also earth the Head unit too. I did this by screwing a small bolt (usually supplied with the Head unit). Into the hole in the back of the head unit, right in the middle.
Put a wire from this bolt to the Earth on the battery too...

<|Ben|>